If you're looking for someone to worship the ground you walk on this Valentine's Day, we'll do one better: we'll dedicate ourselves to building the ground you drive on.
OK, so that's corny. And we do it year-round, not just on Valentine's Day. But this week in particular we have a few projects with significant changes that will show everyone in San Antonio just how much we care.
I-10 Ralph Fair Road
Daily lane closures of I-10 at Ralph Fair Road are underway this week while crews hang scaffolding and other safety items to work on the RFR overpass bridge now that the beams have been placed. Those beams - TX 62's, the biggest concrete beams used on TxDOT roadways - were set quickly Saturday, with all 17 beams placed before dinner. That closure was the second-to-last major closure of I-10 related to the expansion of the RFR overpass; the next big closure is targeted for early March.
But we're talking about the here and now - and through this week (and next) drivers will see alternating lanes close between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. each day for crews to do bridge work. Alternating lanes means a single lane in either direction will close, reducing traffic to just one lane at that location. It will mean slow going during the mid-day, but the area should be smooth going overall.
The project will wrap up this summer.
I-10 Huebner
This weekend Webber Construction will close alternating lanes of I-10 over DeZavala to route traffic onto the new westbound overpass bridge. This work will reduce I-10 to a single lane in each direction at any given time, Friday night through Monday morning.
The end result will be four free-flowing lanes in each direction, with an auxiliary lane opened up on the westbound side. Eastbound traffic will not be moved to its final configuration for a few more weeks as crews finish work on some of the entrance and exit ramps in the vicinity.
For those keeping track, this traffic switch onto the new bridge wasn't slated until April; credit to the folks at Webber Construction for finishing the bridge expansion two months early. We'll consider it a Valentine for all San Antonio (or at least those driving through the northwest side) to have the bridge open and in use.
All that said, those headed to see Keith Urban Saturday may wish to add at least a few minutes to their drive.
Wurzbach Parkway
A new route - a permanent route - to and from the city's brush recycling center off of Wurzbach Parkway opened Monday morning. This route will allow Texas Sterling Construction to finish construction on the concrete center median along the Parkway and, in turn, get closer to being able to open in full the segment between Wetmore and Jones-Maltsberger.
The barrier should take 1-2 weeks to construct, depending on weather (more days like today should help quite a bit), and Texas Sterling says they'll have that segment of the Parkway ready for use about two weeks after that.
All told, we should all use the Parkway between Wetmore and Jones-Maltsberger the first part of March. The segment between Jones-Maltsberger and West Avenue will finish up this summer.
