If you frequently use FM 218 (Pat Booker Road) in Northeast San Antonio, we'd like to encourage you to avoid the area and seek alternative routes this weekend.
As part of a project expanding Loop 1604 mainlanes from a partial to full highway between FM 78 and I-35, this weekend we will begin demolition (using heavy machinery) of the Pat Booker Road overpass/bridge. That means that Pat Booker will be closed all weekend at Loop 1604, from 9 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday (see below for maps showing the closure limits, hours and detours).
Additionally, our contractor will need to close Loop 1604 mainlanes in both directions at the intersection on a nightly basis throughout the weekend (closing Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and opening back up the next morning. So the mainlanes will remain open in both directions during each day.
The turnarounds on Loop 1604 at Pat Booker will also need to be closed -- the northbound-to-southbound closed Friday 9 a.m. through Wednesday noon while the southbound-to-northbound will be closed Friday 9 a.m. through Monday 5 a.m. and again Wednesday through Friday noon to 3 p.m.
Depending on how much progress is made on the bridge demolition over the weekend, there may still be remaining work to be done -- in that case, additional closures of Pat Booker Road and turnarounds will take place nightly Monday through Friday 9 p.m. until 5 a.m.
This 3-mile-long project on Loop 1604 has a price tag of approximately $46 million. It started this January and is estimated to be completed late spring of 2021. The area covered by the project currently sees an average of 70,000 cars, projected to grow to nearly 90,000 by 2040.
Beyond the mainlane widening work, this project will rehab frontage roads and change their configuration to provide continuous coverage, reconfigure ramps and add auxiliary lanes between ramps as well as the reconstruction of the Pat Booker overpass/bridge, which dates back to the early 1970s. The first phase of that work starts this weekend while the second is scheduled for late 2020.
Partner entities in the closure area including various municipalities, JBSA-Randolph, IKEA and The Forum shopping center have been notified of this major closure. We also have electronic signs alerting drivers, who should expect backups on Pat Booker Road as well as the Loop 1604 frontage roads. If possible, again, we're encouraging them to avoid the area and look into alternative routes.
