That other direct connector is about to open (and other fun stuff)

Pardon our shameless cliffhanger, but we won't get to the good stuff until later.
This morning's conference call revealed some big-time closures over the upcoming weeks. We'll give you the Cliffs Notes from what we had:


I-10 at Camp Bullis

Full closure of the westbound main lanes beginning Friday night, May 18, and continuing through Monday morning, May 21. We'll have a full closure of the eastbound main lanes June 1-4. During both closures we'll have Camp Bullis closed under I-10.
These closures are to set bridge support beams for the expansion of the main lanes. Traffic will exit Camp Bullis, continue through the intersection and re-enter the highway.
We are ensuring proper coverage by off-duty police to control traffic at the Camp Bullis intersection.


US Hwy 281
On the southbound frontage road of US Hwy 281 at Loop 1604, the left-turn lane will remain closed continuously through May 26. The south-to-north turnaround remains open.
This allows crews to work on bridge support structures overhead.


I-35 at New Braunfels Ave
We have one more bridge pour coming, but no timeframe yet from the contractor. We're working to get that so we can get the notice out and finish this project up.


Loop 1604 northwest
Expect routine overnight closures at Wiseman Boulevard while crews reconstruct the intersection and install new signal poles.
Nightly closures of the US Hwy 90 main lanes at Loop 1604 will happen through the next week or so; we'll also close nightly the west-to-east turnaround at Loop 1604. All this is for bridge work.

By the way, that little spot on the northbound main lanes of Loop 1604 just north of Marbach, where traffic squeezes down to a single lane, should open back up to two lanes by the middle of May. Webber Construction ran into a utility conflict while doing some road expansion work and have gotten that conflict resolved. Look for that to open up and provide the relief folks have clamored for by the middle of this month.
Also ... that south-to-north turnaround at US Hwy 90 should be opened by the end of the month. We know it's a month later than we'd hoped; we ran into some issues with the new traffic signals system.
Thank you for your patience on this one, and thanks for not breaking out the hammocks when stuck in traffic.


I-410 at US 90
No major closures happening beyond the nightly closures of all main lanes of I-410 at US 90; we should be done pouring concrete there by the end of next week if all goes well.


I-35 SAMMC
Overnight work continues to finish the overhead highway lights mounted to the center median. We're also working on some ramps and the frontage roads. All of this should only impact overnight traffic.
On the bright side, Lane Construction is saying they should be finished with all work by the end of June.


I-410 at Hwy 151
Here's the big one:
The new eastbound Hwy 151 connector to northbound I-410 will open this weekend.

That's right; it's happening. And it's happening much earlier than expected. The overall project completion wasn't set to happen until the end of this summer ... but we're seeing enough light at the end of the tunnel to believe we'll have this one knocked out by mid-summer at the latest. We even reported an estimated completion of this one direct connector as the end of this month when we toured the project with our staff last month, and we still beat that expectation date.
If you ask us, that's pretty cool.
Of course, in order for us to get that connector opened up we'll need major closures on eastbound Hwy 151 and northbound I-410 starting Friday night and wrapping up by Monday morning.

The bottom line: Monday's morning commuters won't have to go through the intersections of Hwy 151 and I-410 or of I-410 and Military Drive to reach the northbound lanes of I-410. Traffic will be in its final configuration instead.
This leaves one last spot of work for the project: the southbound I-410 entrance from Culebra Road. You'll see increased effort on that ramp and should see it open up by the end of June if all goes well.
Once that ramp is done Williams Brothers will go back and lay the final surface of asphalt for the project. Yes, traffic is in its final configuration ... but the road surface itself isn't final. Please don't call us to tell us how bad it is - it's temporary until the project is finished.