After a bit of a break... LANE CLOSURES for next week.

First of all, my professional apologies. I was out-of-town for almost a week and neglected to update the blog with closures or anything else for more than a week. It happens, on occasion, and I will do better.

That said, here's the forecast for next week's construction-related closures:

Interstate 10

Saturday-Monday, July 27-29

6 a.m. until 5:30 a.m. continuous

West-bound main lanes between Wurzbach and Woodstone roads

The left two lanes will close to make room for cranes setting concrete bridge panels. Expect delays.

Monday-Friday, July 29-August 2

9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly

West-bound main lanes between Wurzbach and Woodstone roads

The left two lanes will close to make room for cranes setting concrete bridge panels. Expect delays.

Friday-Monday, August 2-5

9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly

East-bound main lanes between DeZavala and Huebner roads

All lanes will close while bridge crews pour the bridge deck. This is a total closure of the highway. Drivers will exit Fredericksburg Road and re-enter the highway near Huebner Road. Expect long delays.

Saturday-Monday, August 3-5

9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly

West-bound main lanes between Wurzbach and Woodstone roads

The left lane will close while crews pour the east-bound bridge deck. Expect delays.

Interstate 35

Sunday-Monday, July 28-29

9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.

Main lanes, both directions, between Judson Road and FM 3009

Rolling, alternating lanes will be closed while crews sweep the roadway. 

Tuesday-Thursday, July 30-August 1

9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly

South-bound main lanes between Schertz Parkway and Cibolo Creek bridge

The right lane will be closed while crews prepare to open ramps between Schertz Parkway and FM 1518.

Interstate 37

No closures scheduled.

Interstate 410

No closures scheduled.

Loop 1604

No closures scheduled.

U.S. Highway 90

No closures scheduled.

U.S. Highway 281

No closures scheduled.

Farm-to-Market roads

No closures scheduled.

As always, all planned lane closures are pending weather.

The week's construction-related closures

Interstate 10
Tuesday-Thursday, July 16-18
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
East-bound main lanes between UTSA Boulevard and DeZavala Road
The left lane will be closed while crews move concrete traffic barriers.

Tuesday-Thursday, July 16-18
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
West-bound main lanes between Huebner Road and UTSA Boulevard
The two left lanes will be closed while crews move concrete traffic barriers.

Thursday-Friday, July 18-19
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.
West-bound main lanes between Huebner Road and Woodstone Drive
The two right lanes will be closed while crews move concrete traffic barriers.

Interstate 35
Sunday-Wednesday, July 15-17
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
North-bound main lanes at Loop 1604 (northeast San Antonio)
The right lane will be closed while crews move concrete traffic barriers. This closure includes the entrance ramp from Loop 1604 onto north-bound I-35. Traffic should exit Pat Booker Road and use the frontage road. Expect long delays.

Wednesday-Friday, July 17-19
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
North-bound main lanes between Cibilo Creek and Schertz Parkway
The right lane will be closed while crews move concrete median barrier in order to open the north-bound exit ramp to Schertz Parkway and the north-bound entrance ramp from FM 1518, which have been closed for several months.

Wednesday-Thursday, July 17-18
9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily
Frontage road turnaround on south side of Medina River
The turnaround on the south side of the Medina River will be closed daily while crews lay pipe under the roadway. Take next available exit and turnaround.

Monday-Tuesday, July 15-16
9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Frontage road turnaround on the north side of the Medina River
The frontage road turnaround on the north side of Medina River will be closed while crews lay pipe under the roadway. Take next available exit and turnaround.

Monday-Friday, July 15-19
8 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily
South-bound frontage road at FM 306 (Comal County)
The right-turn lane onto FM 306 and off of FM 306 will be closed while crews install conduit for upgraded traffic signals at this intersection. Traffic turning right at this intersection will use the normal through lanes. Expect long delays.

Interstate 37
No closures scheduled.

Interstate 410
No closures scheduled.

Loop 1604
No closures scheduled.

U.S. Highway 90
No closures scheduled.

U.S. Highway 281
No closures scheduled.

Farm-to-Market roads
No closures scheduled.

All planned lane closures are pending weather.

Nakoma turnaround at U.S. 281 to close for six months

Saturday the right lane of north-bound U.S. Highway 281—along with both lanes of the Bitters Road exit and the left lane of the north-bound frontage road—will be closed while crews knock out the first two spans of the north-to-south turnaround at Nakoma Drive.

The closure will begin Saturday morning and should be lifted by Sunday morning. Bridge crews will operate excavator machines fitted with pneumatic jackhammers—often called “peckers” — to break apart the portions of the turnaround that will be rebuilt. The equipment will not exceed height restrictions imposed by the FAA.

The turnaround bridge at Nakoma, highlighted in red above, will be closed for six months.

The work on the Nakoma turnaround—which is being adjusted to make room for the adjusted lanes of the Bitters Road exit ramp, which will become the future Wurzbach Parkway exit ramp—will require the turnaround to close for six months. The new exit ramp will be shifted south several hundred feet, allowing traffic from the ramp to safely cross the lanes of the frontage road before reaching the future entrance ramp for the parkway. Support columns and beams for the turnaround will be moved to make room for the new ramp.

While the turnaround is closed, traffic will need to drive through the intersection—through the traffic signals—in order to move from the north-bound frontage road to the south-bound frontage road. Once the new columns are in place and the turnaround is rebuilt, traffic will return to its use.

Also on deck for this area is the construction of a south-to-north turnaround bridge at Nakoma, which is required for some of the traffic movements at the future intersection of the parkway and U.S. 281. That construction will take place in conjunction with other work in the area (some of the work has already been done, in fact).

A new Bitters Road exit will be built closer to the actual intersection, and will be braided with the entrance ramp from Wurzbach Parkway and Nakoma Drive.

More information on the Wurzbach Parkway project may be found here.

Construction closures through the rest of this week

Highlights for the week:
TONIGHT - total closure of Jones-Maltsberger at Wurzbach Parkway. Use Nakoma, U.S. 281 frontage roads and Bitters to get around it.

THIS WEEKEND - total closure of east-bound I-10 between DeZavala and Huebner. It's an exact mimic of the closure that happened in June. Exit Fredericksburg Road, follow frontage road, return to main lanes prior to Huebner Road.

Interstate 10
Monday-Friday, July 8-12
8:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
West-bound main lanes between Wurzbach Road and UTSA Boulevard
The two right lanes will be closed while crews remove and set traffic barrier.

Saturday-Monday, July 13-15
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. continuous
West-bound main lanes between Wurzbach Road and UTSA Boulevard
The left lane will be closed while crews move concrete barrier. Expect delays.

Saturday-Monday, July 13-15
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. continuous
East-bound main lanes between DeZavala Road and Huebner Road
All lanes of east-bound I-10 will be closed between DeZavala Road and Huebner Road while crews move concrete barrier and restripe the roadway. Traffic will exit at Fredericksburg Road and re-enter the main lanes before reaching Huebner Road. Expect long delays.

Interstate 35
Monday-Friday, July 8-12
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
North-bound main lanes at Loop 1604
The left lane will be closed nightly while crews install traffic barrier. This closure includes the north-bound entrance ramp from Loop 1604. Traffic from Loop 1604 will use Pat Booker Road to reach the north-bound I-35 frontage road. Expect delays.

Tuesday-Friday, July 9-12
9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily
Turnaround north of Medina River
Alternating lanes of the turnaround will be closed daily while crews lay pipe under the roadway.

Interstate 37
No closures scheduled.

Interstate 410
No closures scheduled.

Loop 1604
No closures scheduled.

U.S. Highway 90
No closures scheduled.

U.S. Highway 281
Saturday, July 13
5 a.m. until 10 p.m.
North-bound frontage road between Sandau Drive and Nakoma Drive
The left turn lane and left turnaround lane will be closed while crews set concrete barrier. The turnaround will remain closed for six months.

Saturday, July 13
5 a.m. until 10 p.m.
North-bound main lanes between Sandau Drive and Nakoma Drive
The right lane will be closed while crews remove two spans of the north-to-south turnaround at Nakoma Drive. This includes the two exit lanes to Bitters Road. Drivers should use the next available exit and turn around.

Other roads
Tuesday-Tuesday, July 9-16
8 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily
North-bound FM 2696 (Blanco Road) at Wurzbach Parkway
The right lane will be closed daily while crews excavate the roadway. This closure will occur on weekdays only and will include the right-turn lane.

Wednesday-Friday, July 10-12
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
Jones-Maltsberger between Arion Parkway and East Bitters
All lanes of Jones-Maltsberger will be closed while bridge crews place support beams over the road for the Wurzbach Parkway project. Traffic will use Bitters Road, the U.S. 281 frontage roads and Nakoma Drive as a detour. Expect delays.

All planned lane closures are pending weather.

Sound wall construction to start near Marbach

Tomorrow crews working on the overpass on Loop 1604 at Marbach (far west side of San Antonio) will begin building a sound wall barrier between the highway and The Village at Big Country.

Though the work isn’t as involved as the construction of other sound walls built by the department in the past – this wall will be built by clearing the land with a small excavator and setting form panels, where others required drilling and construction of large concrete posts – the work will still be near the property lines of those adjacent to the highway.

A sound wall will be built along the edge of the right-of-way, seperating north-bound Loop 1604 from the homes in The Village at Big Country.

Project supervisors with Capital Excavation have agreed to keep equipment quiet until 7 a.m., and they plan to shut down operations daily by 5:30 in the evening. No night work is planned, including the concrete pours – all the work should be done during the daytime hours. The wall will be built by December, weather permitting.

Lane swap on deck for Fred Road overpass

Pending a materials test, bridge repair crews working on the east-bound lanes of the Fredericksburg Road overpass bridge will move their work to the inside of the bridge deck this weekend.

In order to accomplish that swap, the highway will be closed between the Fredericksburg Road exit and Huebner Road. The closure is identical to the one over the first weekend of June that allowed work on the bridge to start.

Workers are nearly done with the work on the shoulder and right lanes of the bridge. Traffic will be shifted over to allow work on the median area and left lanes of the bridge, if all goes well, by this weekend.

When the highway is reopened to traffic, crews will be working on the left side of active traffic - around the center median barrier - rather than on the right shoulder area. Lanes will be shifted over to accommodate the work space, with traffic using the new bridge deck surface constructed over the last year.

Daily commuters won't see much of a difference in the way things have been operating over the last month-and-a-half, but there should be some growing pains through the first week.

When the work started, the contractor had 70 days to have all lanes of I-10 restored to normal. To date, only 27 of those 70 days have been used, and the work is nearly halfway done.

Bridge beams over Jones-Maltsberger to be set

Bridge-building crews will close Jones-Maltsberger overnight July 10 to set concrete beams that will support the overpass bridge at Jones-Maltsberger.

The road will close at 9 p.m. and reopen in time for the morning commute. The closure of Jones-Maltsberger will be complete. Traffic will use Arion Parkway and Bitters Road to get to their destinations, and detour routes will be clearly marked.

Next week bridge support beams will span the breadth of Jones-Maltsberger, the latest step in finishing this intersection.

The work is another step toward having the intersection complete in time for the school year—a goal TxDOT engineers are pushing for. While the goal is lofty, project managers are pushing for the work to be accomplished. While bridge-building crews with Williams Brothers Construction—tasked with building the parkway between West Avenue and Jones-Maltsberger—are building the overpass, road crews with Texas Sterling Construction are working on the future intersection of Jones-Maltsberger and Wurzbach parkway.

The work of Texas Sterling includes widening Jones-Maltsberger, which is ongoing. Crews have been working on the concrete drain structures and sidewalks left unfinished by the previous contractor. These concrete fixtures will allow Texas Sterling crews to finish the future north-bound lanes before moving over to complete the future south-bound lanes.

Cement cres are working on the sidewalks and drain inlets for the future north-bound side of Jones-Maltsberger.

Project supervisors hope to have the full parkway between Jones-Maltsberger and Wetmore complete and in use by summer of 2014. Traffic will begin using the overpass at Jones-Maltsberger and travel the parkway all the way to West Avenue and beyond by the start of 2015.

More about the Wurzbach Parkway project may be found online here.



An uptick in Ingram project movement

Bridge-building crews have closed the sidewalk lining the Johnson Creek bridge on state Highway 39 near Tom Moore High School until efforts to widen the road have completed.

No convenient pedestrian detour is currently planned. In accord with Texas road rules, cyclists may use the active travel lanes of the highway to cross the bridge. Pedestrians should not use the roadway.

 

Workon Highway 39 began in January, though progress has been slow. The contractor, Relmco Incorporated of Hondo, has delayed for want of resources to put on the job. Relmco has other ongoing construction projects with TxDOT in Kendall and Bexar counties, among other work. Mid-June Relmco crews drilled bases for the support shafts that will hold up the new bridge over the Guadalupe River on Cade Loop Road. Last week they began work on the Johnson Creek bridge.

The $8.58 million project was initially estimated to finish up during the fall of 2014. The contract includes penalties to be leveled against the contractor if they don’t finish the project within the allotted time.