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Tuesday, January 5

Big swaps today, coming soon

Four big traffic switches are coming up - one of them today - around San Antonio. If you're driving on the northwest side of San Antonio, you'll want to know about these.

Loop 1604 at New Guilbeau
Work on the Loop 1604 expansion project between Bandera and Culebra roads has reached a point Williams Brothers Construction is ready to open the New Guilbeau Road intersection. This really is only about the actual signalized intersection at the frontage roads - the overpass is still several months from being ready for use.
The result of this impacts traffic for Shaenfield Road as well as folks headed to or from New Guilbeau:
  • Northbound Lp 1604 traffic to westbound Shaenfield Road will use the turnaround at New Guilbeau Road; the temporary turnaround that's been in use since mid-2015 will be closed permanently.
  • Southbound Lp 1604 traffic to eastbound New Guilbeau Road will turn left directly into New Guilbeau; the south-to-north turnaround south of Helotes Creek will be closed permanently.
  • Traffic from eastbound New Guilbeau onto southbound Lp 1604 will use the intersection; traffic will not need to turn right and use the turnaround at Braun Road to reach its destination.
This change is happening TODAY - 5 January - as announced in an earlier post.

Loop 1604 at Shaenfield
With work on the intersection at New Guilbeau finished WB will turn focus on finishing the intersection at Shaenfield. Look for that intersection to open up by early February (weather permitting, of course). Also keep in mind this will be a four-way intersection.
With both intersections fully operational (overpasses excepted), expect to see some slower going through the area. While we'll continually monitor traffic to optimize the traffic signals the reality is we're going from what is essentially a superstreet configuration to a typical signalized highway. Take some precautions now to get around the added traffic.
The good news is we're just a few months from having the overpasses finished (they are on schedule for this summer).

I-10 between Ralph Fair and Boerne Stage roads
Along the eastbound frontage road traffic will shift this week onto new lanes on the bridge over Leon Creek. This means traffic will move from the right lane onto the left lane - it won't really mean much for daily commuters, but folks should remain aware of what's happening so they don't get caught driving through orange barrels one morning.
The shift will allow Texas Sterling Construction to reconstruct the right half of the bridge, which should be finished by summer.

Eastbound I-10 ramp from Ralph Fair Road
Drivers coming from Ralph Fair and headed into San Antonio are familiar with the temporary ramp getting them onto the main lanes of I-10. The ramp, while a more-than-adequate length, seemed short because of barrier lining the road to protect the work zone.
TSC is nearly finished with the new entrance ramp and will have it ready to open later this month. The new ramp will be the permanent ramp and, with the exception of a final inch or so layer of asphalt, is the finished product.