The contractor is ready to go on the repair of the bridge deck surface on the Blanco Road overpass. The plan for the fix - an asphalt overlay that will smooth the road out - has been approved. The paving contractor is on board and ready to go.
We're now waiting for the supplier - the asphalt plant - to mix up a batch of asphalt that's approved for bridge decks. The batch needed for he bridge is different than the asphalt normally used to pave roadways. As of today (March 18) contractors we're waiting for Vulcan to get the approved batch ready; a specific date hasn't been offered yet.
Once the asphalt batch is approved and available, workers will only need a few days to get. Equipment on site to do the work. The target is still the end of March.
West Ave to Jones-Maltsberger
Backfill, backfill, more backfill - that's the work Williams Brothers is doing right now. That and concrete work. The work is mostly related to drain structures through various parts of the parkway - particularly around U.S. Hwy 281 - as road crews make the foundation for the road.
With most of this work out of the way in upcoming weeks, crews can focus more on the new structures being built along U.S. 281. Some of this structure work can be seen at the southbound frontage road near Nakoma, as crews are building the support structures for the future eastbound exit ramp onto the U.S. 281 frontage road.
Jones-Maltsberger to Wetmore
Most of the ongoing work involves the bridges at Mud Creek and Salado Creek, though some other tasks are cropping up as needed. Most are repairs and adjustments - like a pair of small sinkholes that cropped up after recent rainstorms.
Electricians have been instructed to turn on lights at the Starcrest intersection, providing much-needed light for drivers who've encountered occasional wildlife in the area. Asphalt crews are waiting for a string of good- weather days to finish the work at Jones-Maltsberger.
Apologies for failing to log an update last week. Several partial posts were written and left unpublished. Here are the finished versions:
I-35 SAMMC
The big highlight for now is concrete; Lane Construction is pourin all sorts of concrete through the project. Most of the work is on bridge support structures, including columns and column caps that will hold a new bridge to Thousand Oaks from the northbound I-35 frontage road.
The work at Thousand Oaks requires closures on the frontage road and the main lanes Saturday between 5 a.m. and noon to remove the side barrier of some existing structure. The contractor is pushing hard to finish the work in this Thousand Oaks/Windcrest area quickly to allow a concentration of work late in the project in the SAMMC/Rittiman Road area. We're still several months from finishing up on that northern piece, but that's the plan.
So much for the north end of the job. On the south end, the George Beach exit ramp (southbound side) is noticeably unchanged. We're planning to close the current exit and open a temporary exit much closer to George Beach. Well, we had an equipment issue involving the lighting of the planned temporary ramp a bit more than a week ago, causing project supervisors to delay the change. The electrical contractor is working on a fix, and we're waiting on a few administrative answers to determine the viability of proposed solutions. At the moment, we don't have a scheduled date for the switch, but we do know that switch will be on a Sunday night.
Just a friendly reminder the speed limit on I-35 between Georgetown and Thousand Oaks is 55 miles per hour. It's also a work zone, which means traffic fines double.
Column caps are set to be poured for the future bridge to southbound I-410. Several bridge support structures are planned in this area and most are still to be built; still, these structures are being built well ahead of schedule.
Forms are set to build another column cap on the left, like the one on top of the columns at right. Project bosses hope to set beams this summer across northbound I-35 to build this ramp to southbound I-410 near SAMMC.
And that brings us to the big, overarching takeaway for this project: we're four months into a three-year job and we're running just a bit ahead of schedule. Keeping that pace may be tough in April, though, as we're limiting lane closures for Fiesta.
I-35 Selma
If near SAMMC the focus is on concrete, in the Selma-Schertz area the focus is on asphalt. Paving crews have been working on portions of the frontage roads being widened between FM 1518 and Forum Parkway for two weeks at this point, and the work continues. Wrapped in that paving work is the expansion of the northbound Olympia Parkway exit and the completion of the southbound Forum Parkway/Olympia Parkway exit. The northbound ramp remains open for this work, the southbound ramp is closed and will reopen later this month.
This work will mean continued alternating closures on the frontage road - particularly on the southbound side near Evans Road, where crews are rebuilding that southbound exit ramp to Olympia and Forum parkways.
A lot of people ask when the overall completion for this project is coming; work has been ongoing for about a year and a half at this point (the official start date is October 2012). Crews are still on pace for completion by the end of the school year, as promised when the project started.
U.S. 281 Comal
This project is best summed up with the following videos. By the way; this is a project that was initially expected to take more than two years; we're less than a year into work and nearly complete. Credit Hunter Industries for their hard work.
Southbound:
Northbound:
FM 306
Over the last two weeks a number of people have asked about lane closures announced via our digital message trailers. (Those things are actually called PCMBs, or Portable Changeable Message Boards, but we can call them whatever we want here....)
Well, here's the skinny (and I apologize for the delay):
The road will be totally closed at Goodwin Lane to allow bridge builders to pour concrete to form the bridge deck. We initially thought this concrete pour could happen without any road closures, then Hunter Industries checked out the lay of overhead power lines. With the power lines so nearby, cranes won't have an ability for extra movement - needed extra movement - from up on top of the bridge structures already built. To fix that, we're going to put the crane on the roadway itself. That means traffic on the roadway is a no-go.
FM 306 will close at Goodwin while a crane sets up here to pour concrete on the bridge deck.
The good news is this closure will be both brief and overnight. We had it scheduled Monday night into Tuesday, but it will now happen Wednesday night into Thursday, midnight until 4 a.m.
The second closure is to set beams at the Hunter Road railroad pass. Bridge support beams mark a major step closer to having that bridge built. The road will be closed from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. Thursday night into Friday morning. Those driving through will follow FM 1102 and Hoffman Road to get around the work.
Crews will hang beams on these support structures Thursday night.
Again, the closures are:
Wednesday night/Thursday morning, March 12-13; midnight until 4 a.m., at Goodwin Lane.
Thursday night/Friday morning, March 13-14; 7 p.m. until 6 a.m., at Hunter Road.
Hunter is still working with the goal to have both bridges in use by Memorial Day and in time for the summer months.
Seguin Avenue
A week and a half ago, masons took a crack at setting some of the old stone along the new retaining wall - creating a facade meant to retain the historic look the UPRR crossing had from its original construction in the 1930s. The test area looks pretty darned good, and masons will continue their work once the remaining bridge work is complete and the area is ready for the dressing.
Masons set stone along a test portion of the retaining wall along Seguin Avenue; they will continue to set stone once the work on the railroad bridge is complete.
As for the railroad overpass there, the bridge beams are in place - they were set a bit more than a week ago. Crews continue to assemble the bridge structure, and hope to have UPRR crews ready to move the tracks from the shoo-fly detour to the permanent bridge in the next week or so (if possible). This would allow for the shoo-fly to be taken down and the road under the railroad bridge to be built.
Project bosses are eying mid-April to open the road up to a single lane in each direction; they hope to have all work finished and be entirely out of the way in time for summer.
I-10 Ralph Fair Road
If this one doesn't seem immediately familiar, it's because the work hasn't yet begun. It will, though - in the next two weeks. Traffic impacts will happen almost immediately, as we set up the work area to replace (and upgrade) the FM 3351 bridge over I-10. We're also converting some of the frontage roads to one-way roads, a start to a two-plus year effort to convert all frontage roads on I-10 between Ralph Fair Road and Loop 1604 to one-way (some are already converted).
The contractor on the project, Sundt, is one of the largest in the nation. They've already found some cost savings in the contract and have helped by giving some $400,000 of the contracted price back to the state.
Updates on Fred-Med, I-10 Huebner and Wurzbach will be posted later this week.
Interstate 10 Monday-Friday,
10-14 March 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. daily Frontage road, both directions, between Huebner Road
and UTSA Boulevard (northwest San Antonio) Alternating lanes will close in both directions
while crews lay pipe. Expect delays.
Monday-Friday,
10-14 March 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly Frontage road, both directions, between Huebner Road
and UTSA Boulevard (northwest San Antonio) Alternating lanes will close in both directions
while crews lay pipe. Expect delays.
Sunday-Friday,
9-14 March 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly Main lanes, both directions, between Loop 1604 and
Fredericksburg Road (northwest San Antonio) The left lanes will close in both directions while
crews demolish the center median barrier. Expect delays.
Tuesday-Friday,
11-14 March 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. nightly Eastbound main lanes between Ramsgate and I-410
(northwest San Antonio) Alternating lanes will close while crews mark the
pavement. Expect delays.
Interstate 35 Sunday-Friday,
March 2-28 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. continuous Southbound exit ramp to Olympia Pkwy and Forum Pkwy
(Selma) The southbound exit to Olympia and Forum parkways
(exit 173) will close three weeks while crews install barriers and finish the
construction of the ramp. Traffic will use exit 174 to FM 1518 and Evans Road
to reach its destination. This is a
reminder of an ongoing closure.
Monday-Friday,
March 10-14 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily Southbound frontage road between Evans Road and
Forum Parkway (Selma) Alternating lanes will close while crews pave the
roadway. Expect delays.
Wednesday-Thursday,
March 12-13 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. Northbound main lanes between Loop 1604 and FM 3009
(Selma) The two left lanes will close while crews install
overhead highway signs.
Thursday-Friday,
March 13-14 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. Southbound main lanes between Loop 1604 and FM 3009
(Selma) The two left lanes will close while crews install
overhead highway signs.
Saturday,
March 15 5 a.m. until 10 p.m. Northbound frontage road between Crestwind Drive to
Windcrest Drive (northeast San Antonio/Windcrest) The left lane will close while crews replace barrier
and demolish bridge overhang. This closure includes the entrance ramp to
northbound I-35. Traffic will follow the posted detour signs to reach its
destination.
Saturday,
March 15 5 a.m. until 10 p.m. Northbound main lanes between Walzem and the exit to
westbound I-410 (northeast San Antonio/Windcrest) The right lane will close while crews demolish the
existing Thousand Oaks bridge. This closure includes the ramp from northbound
I-35 to westbound I-410. Traffic will exit Weidner and use turnaround to reach
westbound I-410.
Interstate 37 No
closures scheduled. Interstate 410 No
closures scheduled. Loop 1604 Sunday-Sunday,
March 9-16 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily Main lanes and access road, both directions, between
Bandera Rd and Culebra Rd (northwest San Antonio) Alternating lanes will close, including shoulders,
for survey work. U.S. Highway
90 No
closures scheduled. U.S. Highway
281 No
closures scheduled. Other roads Tuesday,
March 11 Midnight until 4 a.m. (Monday night into Tuesday
morning) FM 306 at Goodwin Lane (New Braunfels) The road will close completely while crews pour concrete
to form the UPRR overpass bridge. Traffic will use Common Street and Loop 337
to reach its destination. Expect delays.
Thursday-Friday,
March 13-14 7
p.m. until 6 a.m. FM
306 near Hunter Road (New Braunfels/Gruene) The road will close completely while crews set beams
to form the UPRR overpass bridge. Traffic will use FM 1102 and Hoffman Lane to
reach its destination. All planned lane closures are pending weather.
Despite the ridiculously cold temperatures this morning - San Antonio temps were lower than that of oft-frozen Rexburg, Idaho - a number of county officials joined folks from TxDOT, the city of San Antonio and from Williams Brothers Construction to mark the start of the expressway expansion of Loop 1604 on the northwest side of San Antonio.
State and local officials join in turning dirt, officially kicking off the Loop 1604 expansion project.
Williams Brothers will design and build the new, free, expressway lanes between Bandera and Culebra roads. This includes overpasses at Braun Road, New Guilbeau and Shaenfield Road. The work will take about two and a half years to complete and costs an estimated $82 million.
What's interesting is the funding involved - it's a fantastic blend of state, county and city funds, including money from the local Advanced Transportation District. The state funds come from a pot of $1.9 billion identified by the Texas Transportation Commission mid-2012 that came from a meltingpot of Texas Mobility Fund bond proceeds, anticipated federal funding and savings on projects that were underway at the time.
Here's the breakdown: State funds (Categories 12 and 14) - $54,800,000 Local funds (ATD) - $27,200,000
Representative Jose Menendez, of the Texas House of Representatives, talked about the importance of cooperation between state and local officials - and the fact this project is a success story of such cooperation. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff was a large part of that cooperation, and ultimately oversaw development of the proposal that was accepted mid-2012 by the Texas Transportation Commission.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, at podium, addresses the cooperation between state and local officials that was critical to getting this work on the slate. Looking on are, from left, TxDOT District Engineer Mario Jorge, Bexar County Commissioner Paul Elizondo, Texas Rep. Jose Menendez, San Antonio City Councilman and MPO Chairman Ray Lopez, TxDOT Chief Planning and Project Officer Russell Zapalac.
Over the next several weeks, Williams Brothers crews will begin setting up the work zone. Heavy excavation and construction activities will begin mid-March, with the first focus being the construction of access roads - that is, converting Leslie Road to a frontage road.
Between now and the end of 2016 (when the work finishes), drivers in the area can expect typical delays associated with construction work. Major lane closures will be limited to nighttime closures where possible, and all closures will be posted a week in advance.
An option to add the Highway 151 intersection to the current project will kick in when the federal environmental studies finish up later this year. That intersection, if added to the contract, will finish fall 2017.
Frontage roads, both directions, between Loop 1604 and Huebner Rd (northwest San Antonio)
Alternating lanes will close while crews lay pipe.
Monday-Friday, March 3-7
9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. daily
Frontage roads, both directions, between Loop 1604 and Huebner Rd (northwest San Antonio)
Alternating lanes will close while crews lay pipe.
Sunday-Friday, March 2-7
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly
Main lanes, each direction, between UTSA Blvd and Fredericksburg Rd (northwest San Antonio)
The left lanes will close in each direction while crews demolish the median barrier. Expect delays.
Interstate 35
Sunday-Friday, March 2-28
9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. continuous
Southbound exit ramp to Olympia Pkwy and Forum Pkwy (Selma)
The southbound exit to Olympia and Forum parkways (exit 173) will close three weeks while crews install barriers and finish the construction of the ramp. Traffic will use exit 174 to FM 1518 and Evans Road to reach its destination.
Monday-Wednesday, March 3-5
8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily
Northbound frontage road between Olympia Pkwy and Evans Rd (Selma)
Alternating lanes will close while paving crews lay asphalt. Expect delays.
Saturday, March 8
5 a.m. until noon
Northbound main lanes between Walzem and the westbound I-410 exit (northeast San Antonio)
The two right lanes will close while crews demolish portions of the Thousand Oaks bridge. This closure includes the exit to westbound I-410. Traffic will exit Weidner and turnaround. Expect delays.
Saturday, March 8
5 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Northbound frontage road between Crestwind Dr and Windcrest Dr (northeast San Antonio)
The left lane will close while crews set barrier. This closure includes an entrance ramp. Signs will be posted to mark the detour route. Expect delays.
Interstate 37
No closures scheduled.
Interstate 410
No closures scheduled.
Loop 1604
Friday-Sunday, February 28-March 9
9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily
Main lanes, both directions, between Bandera Rd and Culebra Rd (northwest San Antonio)
Alternating lanes will close, including shoulders, for survey work.
