Project roundup: Northwest San Antonio/Bexar County

Today traffic piled onto I-410, being held up by a resurfacing project along Bandera Road between Grissom and Huebner roads. Because of the traffic delays - some reported waiting about an hour to get through the work area - engineers have ordered the work be put off until a better schedule can be developed.

Initially, the mill-and-overlay work was set to last daily this week between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. A new schedule has not yet been determined. If an easier traffic control plan can be developed, crews may again get the green light to work during the mid-day. Local media outlets will be notified of any closures.

This traffic gaffe has led to a brief update on what's happening (in general) across the northwest side of San Antonio-Bexar County.

By the way, is it crazy to anyone else that the "northwest" side of this county extends as far south as it does? Anything even with or north of U.S. Highway 90 is considered "northwest" San Antonio. With that....

Loop 1604 at Marbach

With drill support shafts erected on the south side of Marbach, crews are working to build on the north side of the road the support structures for the overpass that will guide traffic through the intersection without being stopped at the signal. Most of the work being done is between traveling lanes of Loop 1604 - that is, in the median dividing current north-bound and south-bound lanes.

While the work poses some encroachment on the traffic on Marbach itself, traffic on Loop 1604 is largely undisturbed ... for now. Once the overpass structure is constructed, larger inconveniences will be imposed on traffic in the area until the project is complete (set to finish by early 2014).

A front-end loader equipped with wide-spread lifting forks moves a hollowed-out form that will allow a concrete bridge support pillar cure at Marbach Road. Steel cages making up the reenforcement of these pillars can be seen over the boom of the excavator in the background, to the left.

This is the only overpass/expressway on Loop 1604 being built with this project. A seperate project, funded by traditional non-tolled resources and set to begin later this year, will expand the busy highway to a four-lane expressway with continuous frontage roads between Bandera Road and Culebra Road. An option to include the intersection at state Highway 151 is included in the upcoming project.

A final project to continue the expressway along Loop 1604 through Potranco Road is planned to begin in the next two years. Together, the projects effectively create an expressway along Loop 1604 from U.S. Highway 90 to Pat Booker Road.

I-10 Huebner

After a tough time using traditional methods drilling soil nail walls at UTSA Boulevard, the subcontractor working on the retaining walls has turned to another method to speed along the process. Traditionally, a chisel point is used to burrow through dirt and rock. Air is used to blow out loose material before the hole is filled with an anchor pin and grout.

They may be hard to see in this picture, but drivers should be able to see the crews wearing bright yellow vests working on the concrete median barrier near UTSA Boulevard along I-10.

However, the air was causing pockets of adjacent holes to collapse, even blowing out grout. Crews will turn to an auger to clean out the holes, then refill them as appropriate. The process means doing each soil nail individually - a more tedious process - but should save time in the long haul by getting through everything without needing to re-bore any nails.

Drivers in the area will also see a drill rig digging the foundation for bridge column supports on the east-bound side of the highway. These columns will help hold up the east-to-west turnaround bridge being built at UTSA Boulevard.

The biggest change coming up will be in June, when crews will begin working on the east-bound main lane bridge over Fredericksburg Road - or over the connector pushing traffic from Fredericksburg Road onto the west-bound frontage road of I-10. This will require eliminating a lane from the main lanes, pushing some traffic onto the frontage road at the Huebner Road exit ramp. Traffic will re-enter main lanes before reaching Huebner Road, as shown in this video.

Vance Jackson Bridge

The bridge beams are set and crews are setting deck panels. In upcoming weeks concrete crews will pour the concrete that will form the permanent bridge structure. The good news: what was once believed only possible through a weekend-long closure was completed during four overnight closures last week.

The bridge structures are almost complete at Vance Jackson and Loop 1604. Crews will begin turning to the completion of retaining walls, the bridge surface and other finish work as they push to finish the job by the end of summer.

The project is scheduled to be finished by the end of summer, this year. This will allow traffic to access facilities north of Loop 1604 along I-10 directly from Vance Jackson, easing some of the traffic along the main highways in the area.