This week's construction-related closures

I-10 – Boerne

• Thursday, October 12 at 9 p.m. until Friday, October 13 at 6 a.m. Westbound main lanes at Exit 540. The right lane will close while crews resurface the road.
• Tuesday, October 17 at 9 p.m. until Wednesday, October 18 at 6 a.m. Westbound main lanes at Exit 540. The right lane will close while crews resurface the road.

I-10 – Fair Oaks Ranch

• Monday, October 23 at 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Friday, December 29. Westbound frontage road at Old Fredericksburg Road/Buckskin Drive. All lanes will close while crews replace drain structures. Traffic will follow the signed detour route to reach its destination.

I-10 – Leon Springs

• Monday-Thursday, October 9-12. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Main lanes, both directions, between Ralph Fair Road and La Cantera Parkway. The left lane will close while crews set barrier.

I-10 – East San Antonio

• Monday, October 9 at 8 p.m. until Tuesday, October 10 at 5 a.m. Westbound main lanes between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Roland Avenue. The left lane will close while crews move barrier and striping.
• Saturday, October 14 between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Frontage roads, both directions, between Foster and Graytown roads. Alternating lanes will close while crews convert the frontage roads to one-way only. This change is permanent. When work is finished each frontage road will have only one lane.

I-10 – Northwest San Antonio

• Monday-Friday, October 9-12. 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. Eastbound frontage road connector to the westbound frontage road of I-410. The right lane will close while crews pour concrete.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 1 a.m. until 5 a.m. daily. Eastbound main lanes between Callaghan Road and Crossroads. The right lane will close while crews pour concrete. This closure includes the exit ramp to Crossroads.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 1 a.m. until 5 a.m. daily. Eastbound frontage road between Callaghan Road and Vega Drive. The right lane will close while crews pour concrete.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 1 a.m. until 5 a.m. daily. Eastbound frontage road connector to the westbound frontage road of I-410. The right lane will close while crews pour concrete.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily. Eastbound frontage road between West Hollywood and Fredericksburg Road. The right lane will close while crews work on sidewalks.
• Wednesday-Thursday, October 11-12. 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. Eastbound frontage road between Crossroads and Vance Jackson. The left lane will close while crews pour concrete.

I-35 – Selma

• Current until October 2018. Frontage roads, both directions, at FM 1103. The right lane will close while crews replace the FM 1103 overpass bridge.
• Wednesday-Thursday, October 11-12. 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily. Southbound frontage road at FM 1103. Alternating lanes will close while crews restripe the road to a single lane. This closure includes the exit ramp to FM 1103. The ramp will reopen by the end of the day; the frontage road will remain at a single lane until the end of 2018.

I-35 – East San Antonio

• Sunday-Friday, October 8-13. 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes between Broadway and I-410. The left two lanes will close while crews repair bridge joints.
• Monday, October 9 until Monday, October 23. Northbound main lanes between George Beach and Thousand Oaks Drive. Alternating lanes will close while crews lay asphalt.
• Tuesday-Thursday, October 10-12. 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily. Main lanes, both directions, between Broadway and I-410. The left two lanes will close while crews pour concrete.

I-37 – Downtown San Antonio

• Current and continuous until Friday, December 1 at 5 p.m. Northbound exit ramp to Florida and Carolina avenues (exit 140A). The ramp will close while crews rebuild the slope near the exit. Traffic will exit Cesar Chavez (exit 140B) and turn around to reach its destination.

I-410 – Northwest San Antonio

• Monday-Thursday, October 9-12. 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. Eastbound frontage road between Fredericksburg Road and Crossroads. The left lane will close while crews do concrete work.

I-410 – West San Antonio

• Current until Tuesday, October 31. Northbound exit to Culebra Road. The exit will close while crews widen the main lanes and frontage road. Traffic will exit Ingram Road, turn around and get to Culebra on the southbound frontage road.
• Sunday-Friday, October 8-13. 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes between US 90 and Hwy 151. The two right lanes will close while crews set barrier.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes between Hwy 151 and Culebra Road. The left two lanes will close while crews work on overhead highway sign supports.
• Tuesday, October 10 at 9 p.m. until Wednesday, October 11 at 5 a.m. Frontage roads, both directions, at Military Drive. Alternating lanes will close while crews install new traffic signals.

U.S. Hwy 90 – West San Antonio

• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Eastbound frontage road between Hunt Lane and I-410. The left lane will close while crews do overhead concrete work.

U.S. Hwy 281 – North San Antonio

• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound exit ramp to Sonterra Road. The ramp will close while crews set barrier and mark pavement. Traffic will use the frontage road ramp to reach its destination.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Southbound frontage road at Sonterra Road. The left lane will close while crews set barrier.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Southbound frontage road between Sonterra Road and Loop 1604. The right two lanes will close while crews set barrier.

U.S. Hwy 281 – Near north San Antonio

• Sunday-Friday, October 8-13. 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes between Olmos Basin and I-410. The two right lanes will close while crews stripe the road. This closure includes ramps as needed.
• Sunday-Friday, October 8-13. 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes between Olmos Basin and Jones Maltsberger. The left lanes will close while crews repair bridge joints.
• Sunday-Friday, October 8-13. 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. nightly. Main lanes, both directions, between Josephine and I-410. The right lane will close while crews restripe the road. This closure includes ramps as needed.
• Monday, October 9 at 9 p.m. until Tuesday, October 10 at 6 a.m. Main lanes, both directions, between Jones-Maltsberger and Mulberry. The two right lanes will close while crews pour concrete.

Hwy 151 – Northwest San Antonio

• Current until Friday, October 13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Westbound main lanes between Ingram Road and Military Drive. All lanes will close while crews work on the Hunt Lane overpass bridge. Traffic will exit Ingram Road, continue through the intersections and re-enter after Hunt Lane.

Loop 1604 – North San Antonio

• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Westbound frontage road at US 281. The westbound-to-eastbound turnaround will close while crews set barrier.
• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Westbound main lanes at US 281. The right lane will close while crews set barrier.

Loop 1604 – Northwest San Antonio

• Current until Friday, January 26. North-to-south turnaround at Bandera Road. The turnaround will remain closed while crews do road work. Traffic will use the signalized intersection to turn around.

Other roads – Helotes

• Monday-Friday, October 9-13. 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. Circle A Trail at Bandera Road. The southbound lane will close while crews set barrier. Traffic will be one-way controlled by a flagger.

Other roads – Boerne

• Monday, October 9 at 9 p.m. until Tuesday, October 10 at 5 a.m. Scenic Loop Road, both directions, at I-10. All lanes will close while crews place concrete. Traffic will turn around at Balcones Creek to reach its destination.

All closures are pending weather.

Northbound I-410 closure this weekend

We've gotta be honest - this one got jumbled in our schedule a bit. This alert should have gone out at least two days ago. It didn't. That's entirely on us and a schedule oversight this week.

Williams Brothers Construction will close all lanes of northbound I-410 between US Hwy 90 and Hwy 151 Saturday at 2 a.m. until Monday at 5 a.m.

This closure follows a brief overnight closure of southbound I-410 between Hwy 151 and US 90 starting tonight at 8 p.m. going until about 2 a.m. tomorrow. Only one direction of traffic will be closed at a time.

Here's the closure narrative in our traditional format:

• Friday, October 6 at 8 p.m. until Saturday, October 7 at 2 a.m. Southbound main lanes between Marbach and Valley Hi. All lanes will close while crews work on center median barrier. Traffic will exit Marbach, continue along the frontage road through Marbach Road and re-enter the highway before Valley Hi.
• Saturday, October 7 at 2 a.m. until Monday, October 9 at 5 a.m. Northbound main lanes between US Hwy 90 and Hwy 151. All lanes will close while crews reconfigure the road. Traffic will exit US Hwy 90, continue along the frontage road through the Marbach intersection and re-enter at the next available ramp. Traffic will remain in the right lane until after Hwy 151.

During the closure of the northbound main lanes the turnarounds at Marbach will close and left turns onto or off of Marbach at I-410 will be heavily restricted by the off-duty officers controlling traffic at the intersection for the weekend. If you're looking to turn left onto Marbach off of I-410 you may want to find another way. If not you'll end up staying on the frontage road to the next available turnaround to return to the intersection. If you're in the southbound lanes that means going all the way down to Valley Hi to turn around.

The turnarounds will remain closed until the new bridge is complete spring of 2020.

This weekend’s closure allows Williams Brothers to shift traffic toward the center median over the Marbach Road overpass bridge. The Marbach Road overpass bridge is being reconstructed and widened to accommodate lanes headed to and coming from two new direct connectors being built at the intersection of I-410 and U.S. 90. A similar shift with accompanying closures on the southbound side will come October 20-23. With all lanes running in the middle of the bridge Williams Brothers will be able to reconstruct the outer portion of the bridge.

The reconstruction work starts by demolishing the outer edge of the existing bridge. Williams brother will tear out the edge of the northbound bridge October 13-16 and will wreck the edge of the southbound bridge October 27-30. Both weekends Marbach Road will close under I-410 and the frontage road on the side of the demolition activity will likely have some corresponding closures. Those details will be published in our weekly closure report.

You catch all that? Here's a little easier way to look at it:

• October 7-9 - Full closure of northbound main lanes between US 90 and Hwy 151
• October 13-16 - Full closure of Marbach at I-410, closure of northbound frontage road (will still have one lane open)
• October 20-23 - Full closure of southbound main lanes between Hwy 151 and US 90
• October 27-30 - Full closure of Marbach at I-410, closure of northbound frontage road (will still have one lane open)

Work on the $72.4 million project started January 2017 and will wrap up mid-2020.

Mail Bag: Ideas from New Mexico and our past; a history question

What retail businesses and restaurants can we expect on 281 N near TPC Parkway?
- Tania
Honestly, Tania, your guess is as good as ours. We can only bet the business corridor will continue to develop up that way the way it has over the last decade-plus.

Why doesn't TxDOT utilize the white canvas shields that block motorists views of construction projects? New Mexico employed these shields when the I-25/I-40 exchange was rebuilt. It minimized the traffic slowdown since motorist were no longer distracted by the construction since they could not see it.
- Vicky
You know, this question intrigued us. We got on the phone and actually called the good folks with the New Mexico Department of Transportation to chat a bit and are happy to share what we found.
First, the only major project NMDOT used these "gawk shields" (their term) was on the "Big I" project - construction of the major interchange of I-25 and I-40 in the heart of Albuquerque back in 2002. These were not widely used, and have not been used since.
Per the NMDOT, the shields were basically two-foot-tall planks of plywood fixed via two-by-fours to the top of concrete barriers along the work zones. While it did create a visual barrier to prevent gawking (thus the name of these shields), they don't comply with current safety regulations as a barricade. Those familiar with working on projects involving federal funding know such violations disqualify a project from receiving federal dollars.
So to answer your question directly, Vicky, we won't be employing Gawk Shields until we can find a way to get them to comply with federal safety standards - and, even then, it appears these shields would be used pretty sparingly.

When was the DeZavala exit closed to combine with the new Woodstone/DeZavala exit?
- Demetrio
Ah, geez, Demetrio. That's really digging into our memory banks!
Looking through posts back in 2014 it seems that happened June (or perhaps July) of 2014. We had a firm schedule for June 19, then had some weather issues that summer that pushed our work to mid-July.
That's the closest we can get through our searches. Hope that helps!

The amber color is difficult to read on the lighted road signs in many cases. Also, when there is a lot of information on the sign, there should be more than one sign (kind of like the old "Burma-Shave" signs) of many years ago where you can read ALL of the information - going too fast to read on one sign as they are now.
- Glenna

Holy smokes - those Burma-Shave signs are old-school! Those are still used by businesses around the country, though we've not used them on our projects for a number of years.
We actually have a standard we have to follow when using our portable changeable message boards. These standards are found in section 6F.60 in the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices. Particular to your question, we'll look at paragraphs 11-12 and 20-21.
First, we have to keep each panel active at least two seconds (no more than eight) before changing to the next panel. We typically shoot for about four seconds, sometimes five. The lettering is supposed to be visible from about a half-mile in both day and night conditions. That's typically done by adjusting the brightness of the lights. Against the black background on these signs to provide contrast, that's our best practice.
We can use LED message boards - that's allowed, but involves some additional issues - but don't because of the increased cost. Honestly, we simply request a "portable changeable message board" and let the contractor figure out which one makes most economic sense to use.

North Austin project in Seguin picking up steam

Up to now most of the work along North Austin Street (Business 123) in Seguin has been about installing drain systems and moving around utilities. This is the least flashy part of any type of road construction, and often the more disruptive. The specialized crews are often smaller and work is typically done only in a few spots at a time. Despite the appearance of sporadic work it's kept the road to a one-way road since work got started back in 2016.

The good news is all that messy stuff is part of the drawn-out early phases of the project. Curran Contracting is about ready to move into the more visible road construction phases. They do have some storm drains still to install - notably along Seidmann Street just west of North Austin - but are pretty much focusing on the actual road bed. They've already had some dirt crews getting the road bed ready by cutting the dirt down to the right elevation, but weather over the last several weeks has slowed production considerably. When you're trying to work with and stabilize dirt, a good rain pushes work back several days - crews have to wait for the ground to dry out completely to get good work done. As soon as dry weather clears out the moisture in the dirt, Curran will lime treat the subgrade. After the lime treatment is finished, the subgrade will be cement treated. If weather holds all this should be wrapped up right about the time we're all tucked away for our long winter's nap.

About the beginning of 2018 you'll see asphalt on the road. On top of the 18 inches of dirt subgrade we are placing at least eight inches of asphalt. We want this road to last a while! When we start laying asphalt we can open lanes back up to two-way traffic on the new pavement.

Let's say that again, another way.

One-way traffic is expected to be over, forever, in January. We will still have work to do, but your greatest inconveniences will be done. And for those who forgot what this $5.3 million project will look like when we're all done, here you go (click to enlarge):

Mail Bag: some quick questions on US 281

The amount of dirt and rock moving on the US 281 expansion north of Loop 1604 is impressive. I haven't noticed any changes to traffic signals or lane configurations, yet the south bound morning commute seems longer. I'm looking forward to improvements, but I'm curious about the intermediate changes.
What will be the first changes to the traffic pattern, e.g., Loop 1604 connectors, frontage roads? Thanks for keeping us informed.
- Tom
Pictures most often do the best explaining, so take a look at these step-by-step graphics as to how traffic is going to be shifted during the building process:

The current phase of work focuses on the new frontage roads and the early stages of the Loop 1604 direct connectors. Once that's done crews will re-establish the current superstreet configuration for use until we are almost ready to open overpasses.
When we get to phase two you'll see the main lanes totally rebuilt, the overpasses go up and the HOV lanes built.
When we're all done, it'll look like this:

What tree plantings (e.g., in medians, around interchanges) are included in the US 281 expansion north of 1604?
- David
We are actually not adding any trees along the corridor. Intersections will have colored and textured concrete with what we call our "hill country" aesthetics, which feature earth tones matching the natural landscape. (We actually have a guide for paint schemes that go with highways based on the neighborhood the project is in.)
We would love to incorporate more shrubbery, but then we would be faced with greater maintenance costs. The decision to omit trees in the design is pretty much an economic one.

In reviewing the 281 expansion plans I noticed there will be bike facilities. However, on the schematic I do not see any plans for dedicated bike lanes or bike paths. Will you please provide insight on any future plans for these bike facilities? It would amazing if I could safely ride my bike from Encino park to 1604 or stone oak.
- Brandon
In addition to the typical six-foot sidewalks along the frontage roads, the outside (far right) lane of the frontage roads will be a 14-foot "shared use" lane with a one-foot buffer. While these aren't dedicated bike lanes, these are designed to accommodate multimodal traffic and fit the standard used across the state.