How it's going on Fred-Med

At midnight last night Texas Sterling Construction closed all lanes of Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive. This morning, traffic on northbound Fredericksburg Road was backed up nearly to Callaghan Road, but that backup subsided by midday.

Police officers are deployed at strategic intersections to keep traffic flowing through the area, and will remain in use while the road is closed. That, combined with what seems like an abundance of drivers successfully seeking alternate routes, seems to have delays down to a minimum at the Medical Center.

Dirt crews are busily digging away the dirt under what was the road surface of Fredericksburg Road. Excavation should finish up by tomorrow (Saturday) morning, allowing bridge crews to begin pushing the bridge decks into place.

The lateral slide process will take most of the weekend, and should be finished by Monday morning.

Texas Sterling Construction is on pace to have the intersection reopened by the end of next week - nearly half the allotted time to do the necessary work.

Fredericksburg Road to close up to two weeks

Texas Sterling Construction will close Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive midnight Thursday night for up to two weeks while bridge crews reconstruct the intersection.

The planned closure date was pushed back 24 hours due to rain Tuesday night and through Wednesday. Project bosses may need to push the closure another 24 hours if the wet weather continues through Thursday.

During the closure, traffic will only be able to turn right onto Medical Drive. Traffic on Medical Drive will continue to be able to travel through the intersection and continue into or out of the South Texas Medical Center. No left turns in any direction will be possible. A brief YouTube video shows one potential detour route.

Due to the closure, VIA will temporarily amend the Via Primo Route 100. The stations at the corner of Ewing Halsell and Medical Drive will have limited services. Stops at Fredericksburg Road and Marriott Drive, Fredericksburg Road and Datapoint, Fredericksburg Road and Data Pointe and at Fredericksburg Road and Wurzbach will also be impacted. Bus riders are encouraged to check with VIA to see how their commutes will be affected.

With the road closed, crews with Texas Sterling Construction will replace the road surface with a bridge deck, allowing for road builders to construct the proposed through lanes of Medical Drive at the intersection. The project’s goal is to provide an unfettered route from I-10 to emergency facilities at the South Texas Medical Center while addressing congestion in the area.

Texas Sterling has two weeks to have the bridge in place or they would face financial penalties. They may earn bonuses for having it open early as well. In order to accomplish the work in such a short window, they have proposed a new-to-Texas technique approved by the Federal Highway Administration called a lateral-slide bridge placement. The technique could mean Texas Sterling is able to have Fredericksburg Road re-opened in as little as half the allotted time of the closure.

Basic information about the process is discussed on the project’s Web page.

Rain washes out closures

Two more major closures have been pushed back due to this week's rains:

Bowens Crossing at Loop 1604:
Bowens Crossing will be closed in halves beginning Monday, Nov. 10. This will happen during the daytime only, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. with one side - the half carrying traffic off Lp 1604 - closed Monday and the other side - the half carrying traffic onto Lp 1604 - closed Tuesday.

Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive:
Fredericksburg Road will close Thursday night at midnight (technically, 12:01 a.m. Friday). Traffic on Medical Drive may continue straight through the intersection or turn right. Fredericksburg Road traffic will be limited to right turns onto Medical Drive. No left turns will be permitted at the intersection.

This closure may last up to two weeks, but Texas Sterling Construction is implementing a new-to-Texas technique to have the road re-opened much sooner.

U.S. 281 closure pushed back

One of a slew of major closures planned for this week has been pushed back due to the weather expected overnight.

The planned closure off U.S. Hwy 281 main lanes originally scheduled to happen tonight, beginning at 9 p.m., has been pushed back until Thursday night. The primary factor for this is weather - large rain storms are moving into the area overnight.

The closure is a total closure of the main lanes in both directions, with alternating closures of the northbound frontage road as well. These closures will allow bridge crews with Williams Brothers Construction to pour concrete, forming the bridge deck of the Wurzbach Parkway overpass bridge.

With the main lanes closed, northbound traffic will exit Nakoma Drive and re-enter after passing through Bitters Road. With closures on the frontage road, traffic may need to use Nakoma Drive, Jones-Maltsberger and Bitters Road to detour around the closure. Again, this is only overnight for a single night, and should not impact regular business operations along the corridor. Traffic flow will be controlled by off-duty police officers.

Southbound traffic will exit Bitters Road and follow the frontage road through Nakoma Drive, then re-enter the main lanes of U.S. 281. Again, police officers will control traffic at the intersections of Bitters Road and Nakoma Drive.

This closure should nearly complete a streak of overnight main lanes closures along this corridor that's continued over the last several weeks. Bridge crews will still need to construct the barriers along the edge of the overpass, but most of the major work on the bridge will be complete with this closure.

The bridge itself will not be opened for use until work on the approaches on either side, as well as the roadway on either side, is complete. That work is scheduled to finish up mid-2015.

Other closures planned for this week include Bowens Crossing at Loop 1604 and Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive. Those closures are still moving forward as scheduled.

Temporary closures this week for Loop 1604 expansion

Williams Brothers Construction will close Bowens Crossing during daytime hours this week to build a drain structure underneath. This will limit access significantly for residents in the neighborhoods in the area. The work is weather dependent; because of the amount of dirt work involved, heavy rains could push the work back a few days.

Thursday the lane coming off Loop 1604 to get to Bowens Crossing will close. Those trying to reach their homes through Bowens Crossing will need to use New Guilbeau Road and April Bend. Friday the lane entering Loop 1604 from Bowens Crossing will close, pushing traffic from those neighborhoods onto New Guilbeau.

Both closures will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., with the intent of avoiding impact on peak traffic hours. Those driving through the area should expect delays.

Building drain structures in halves is typical where drain structures cross streets or driveways. This location is a little unique just in the way Bowens Crossing reaches Loop 1604. Doing such work in halves allows access while getting work through intersections and driveways complete.

With the drainage structures in place, Williams Brothers will be able to continue work on the northbound frontage road. The frontage road will cross over Bowens Crossing and run right along the property line off the Chevron gas station at the corner.

The northbound main lanes of Loop 1604 in that area will be shifted over slightly from the location of the current lanes as they approach the future overpass at New Guilbeau.