Next week's construction-related closures

I-10

• Saturday-Monday, February 7-9. 4 a.m. until 5 a.m. continuous. Main lanes, both directions, at Ralph Fair Road (Leon Springs). All lanes will close while crews set bridge beams. Traffic will exit Ralph Fair Road and re-enter the highway.
• Monday-Friday, February 9-13. 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily. Main lanes, both directions, at Ralph Fair Road (Leon Springs). Alternating lanes will close while crews do bridge work.
• Sunday-Friday, February 8-13. 8:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly. Main lanes, both directions, between Huebner Road and UTSA Boulevard (northwest San Antonio). Alternating lanes will close for road work.
• Sunday-Friday, February 8-13. 8:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. nightly. Frontage road, both directions between Loop 1604 and Huebner Road (northwest San Antonio). Alternating lanes will close for road work.
• Monday-Friday, February 9-13. 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. Frontage road, both directions, between Loop 1604 and Huebner Road (northwest San Antonio). Alternating lanes will close for road work.
• Friday-Monday, February 13-16. 8:30 p.m. until 5 a.m. continuous. Main lanes, both directions, between UTSA Boulevard and Huebner Road (northwest San Antonio). Alternating lanes will close while crews open up a new overpass bridge. Traffic will be limited to one lane in each direction on the main lanes.

I-35

• Sunday-Friday, February 8-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Southbound main lanes between Rittiman Road and George Beach (northeast San Antonio). Alternating lanes will close while crews move barrier and pour concrete.
• Sunday-Friday, February 8-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound exit ramp to I-410 west (northeast San Antonio). The ramp will close while crews do road work. Traffic will travel along the frontage road to Randolph Boulevard, take a left, and use the next available entrance ramp.
• Sunday-Friday, February 8-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes between George Beach and Rittiman (northeast San Antonio). Alternating lanes will close while crews place barrier.
• Monday-Friday, February 9-13. 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily. Southbound frontage road between Rittiman Road and Tejasco (northeast San Antonio). The left lane will close to provide a safe area for trucks entering and exiting the roadway.
• Monday-Tuesday, February 9-10. 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. Main lanes, both directions, between FM 3009 and Solms Road. Alternating lanes will close while crews mark the pavement.

I-410

• Sunday-Friday, February 8-13. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes between Binz-Engleman and Rittiman (northeast San Antonio). All lanes will close while crews move and reset barrier. Traffic will exit Space Center Drive and travel through the Rittiman Road intersection, then re-enter the northbound main lanes.
• Monday-Friday, February 9-13. 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. daily. Southbound frontage road between Winnco and Binz-Engleman. The left lane will close for ditch cleaning and re-grading.
• Monday-Friday, February 9-13. 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. daily. Northbound frontage road between Binz-Engleman and Space Center. The left lane will close for ditch cleaning and re-grading.
• Sunday-Tuesday, February 8-10. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. Northbound main lanes at Military Drive (west San Antonio). The right lane will close while crews do survey work.
• Sunday-Monday, February 8-9. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. Northbound main lanes at state Highway 151 (west San Antonio). The shoulder will be closed while crews do survey work.
• Sunday-Monday, February 8-9. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. Southbound main lanes at Military Drive (west San Antonio). The shoulder will close while crews do survey work.
• Monday-Tuesday, February 9-10. 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. Southbound main lanes between Highway 151 and Military Drive (west San Antonio). The right lane will close while crews do survey work. This closure includes the southbound exit ramp to state Highway 151. Traffic will exit Military Drive to reach Highway 151.

Loop 1604

• Monday, February 9. 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Southbound frontage road at Alamo Ranch Parkway (northwest San Antonio). The left lane will close while crews do survey work.
• Tuesday-Wednesday, February 10-11. 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. Main lanes, both directions, at state Highway 151 (northwest San Antonio). The shoulders will be closed while crews do survey work.

U.S. Hwy 281

• Saturday, February 7. 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Southbound frontage road between Winding Way Drive and Bitters Road (north-central San Antonio). The left lane will close while crews pour concrete for an overhead highway sign structure. This closure includes the southbound exit to Bitters Road. Traffic will exit Nakoma and turn around to reach Bitters Road.
• Saturday, February 7. 7 a.m. until 5 a.m. Southbound frontage road between Wurzbach Parkway and Nakoma Drive (north-central San Antonio). The left lane will close while crews hang concrete beams on the Nakoma turnaround bridge.

State Hwy 151

• Tuesday-Wednesday, February 10-11. Southbound main lanes at Ingram Road (west San Antonio). The right lane will close while crews do survey work.

Other roads

• Saturday-Monday, February 7-9. 4 a.m. until 5 a.m. continuous. Ralph Fair Road between Old Fredericksburg Road and I-10 (Leon Springs). All lanes will close while crews set beams over I-10. Traffic will use Old Fredericksburg Road to reach its destination.
• Monday, February 9. 9 a.m. until noon. Eastbound Alamo Ranch Parkway at Loop 1604 access road (northwest San Antonio). The right lane will close while crews do survey work.
• Monday-Saturday, February 9-14. 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Medical Drive, both directions, between Ewing Halsell and Fairhaven (Medical Center). Alternating lanes will close for road work.
• Monday-Saturday, February 9-14. 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Fredericksburg Road, both directions, between Louis Pasteur and Data Point (Medical Center). Alternating lanes will close for road work.

 All closures are pending weather.

Fred-Med: updated timeline

This morning project managers with Texas Sterling Construction let us know they intend to have the through lanes of Medical Drive ready for use in time for Easter. They will spend the rest of April dressing things up and finishing the last bits of work.

The initial project schedule showed the project finishing up this month, but recent weather patterns have washed that back. TSC crews have been doing all they can to keep the project moving, though the moving has been slow. Despite the weather crews are pushing forward the best they can; just today the last of the retaining wall panels were delivered and prepped to be set.

I-10 Huebner project cruising along

Work continues to move along on the expansion of I-10 between Huebner Road and Loop 1604 on the city's northwest side as crews with Webber Construction focus on work at DeZavala Road and UTSA Boulevard. 

At UTSA Blvd crews have been working to complete the new east-to-west turnaround, which when opened will open up an extra lane on the frontage road approaching the cross-street. Part of the work in this area means reconstructing some of the access road itself - on both sides of the road - to match the new grade of the roadway.

Some of this work will mean closing the driveway off the frontage road to Costco later this month so crews can rebuild the sidewalks, driveways and roadway. This work was initially scheduled for this weekend, but Webber wants its resources focused on work at DeZavala Road. Supervisors have pushed that work near Costco to late February.

When that work happens in a couple of weeks, traffic headed to Costco will find normal access on UTSA Blvd. hopefully the work on the frontage road will be complete by the end of February and the turnaround will be in use in March.

Meanwhile, crews working on the new westbound overpass at DeZavala Road are continuing to work at getting the bridge finished and reopening the lanes that are now closed. This is a milestone on the project, and Webber has until April to do the work; right now they are talking about their efforts the last four months to accelerate work and the resulting expectation to have the bridge finished this month. Keeping resources focused on DeZavala could mean Webber finishes this work a full two months early; those who have kept up will remember they were able to finish the eastbound side two months early as well.

In fact, if the weather and other factors hold out, Webber will have the bridge finished for Valentine's Day. Crews will begin preparing to open the bridge next week. Drivers should anticipate a slew of closures on I-10 the night of Feb. 13 through the morning of Feb. 16 while crews are moving traffic onto the new bridge. While we will keep the main lanes open, traffic will be limited to a single lane in each direction on the main lanes for much of the weekend. 

This means, when Valentine's Day weekend is done, the turnarounds at DeZavala Road will reopen, relieving considerably the pressures on traffic at the DeZavala Road intersection. It means restoring the westbound exit to UTSA Blvd, allowing a direct route to the road and relieving pressure from surrounding roads.

Oh, and the permanent westbound entrance ramp from Huebner Road will open (a temporary ramp has been in use for nearly eight months).

It means the I-10 main lanes will be in final configuration on the westbound side over DeZavala four through lanes plus an auxiliary lane to handle traffic entering or exiting the highway over DeZavala.

The eastbound lanes will remain at three lanes while crews finish building the center median through the area and complete the eastbound entrance ramp from UTSA Blvd. the eastbound lanes will be moved to final configuration early March.

Though these major items may make the project look complete, several items remain project-wide. Retaining walls at a few locations remain, and a few overhead highway signs are yet to be installed. Highway lighting will be finalized and, where disconnected, will have wiring put in at the end of the project to prevent risk of theft.

The last thing to be done is a final layer of asphalt to be placed project-wide with fresh paint for the lane striping. Project managers expect to lay that final surface and paint the roadway this summer.

Bexar metro area projects

It's been a while since a solid update has been given on the major projects in San Antonio itself, so here are a few brief items. These are brief, because pretty much all projects are just pushing along without a ton of fanfare ... for now.

I-10 Huebner

This week's progress meeting on the I-10 Huebner project was moved, so a brief post on Wurzbach Parkway will have to take its place for now. We'll have an update on the I-10 project later this week.

That said, Webber Construction is planning work beginning this weekend on the eastbound frontage road approaching UTSA Boulevard. That will impact those shopping at Costco, as the driveways off the frontage road will be blocked. Those headed to Costco will need to do so from UTSA Blvd itself, though that should only last a couple of very short weeks.

Wurzbach Parkway


Monday Texas Sterling Construction will detour traffic headed to the city's brush dump onto Wurzbach Parkway from Jones-Maltsberger. Traffic to the brush site will head east on the parkway, using a single lane, and turn right into the brush site. To exit, they will turn right and drive to Starcrest Drive, then use the turnaround and return to Jones-Maltsberger. Because it would require activating the traffic signal at Starcrest - which we're not yet ready to do - we won't be able to allow traffic to continue east through Starcrest.

The blue arrows mark the route traffic will need to take to get to and from the city's brush site over the next few weeks.

Right now we're eyeing mid-March to have the eastern segment (Jones-Maltsberger to Wetmore) open and fully operational. If weather and all that complies, that is.

Loop 1604 northwest expansion

Residents of the Bridgewood subdivision noticed a traffic switch Sunday on Leslie Road. Williams Brothers Construction moved traffic onto new asphalt between Shaenfield and Culebra roads on the southbound side of Loop 1604. (Leslie Road is being converted permanently into the Loop 1604 southbound frontage road). Driveways and road access points were kept open, but these access points may change periodically as WBC continues to do the work to reconstruct the road.

Project managers anticipate more switches - particularly just south of Braun Road - later this week. These switches will be minor, but drivers should be aware they will be happening. These minor switches will open up space for WBC to work on the outside halves of the frontage roads south of Braun Road, including some of the drain structure work.

Those who've been keeping up with this project will recall that earlier this year we announced that WBC plans to have all traffic running on the frontage roads by the end of the school year.

Fred-Med

We'll have more details Thursday ... but the big thing to know is we are working with Texas Sterling Construction to have the new through lanes of Medical Drive opened and in use within the next month, if conditions allow. We are hoping for overall project completion before spring break.

This is, indeed, a little bit behind our initially hoped-for deadline; recent weather issues have made work slow on projects across the district. Texas Sterling is still on pace to finish the project within the contract's allotted time limit.

UTSA Boulevard

We do have a project that's nearing a start-up date on UTSA Boulevard between I-10 and Edward Ximenes. This project will expand the road to four lanes - two in each direction - with a center left-turn lane. We are also adding some shoulder space for bikes and a multi-use path that will connect hikers, bikers and runners to the Leon Creek Greenway at UTSA Boulevard and Valero Way.

CPS Energy has moved its lines, and all currently necessary SAWS moves have been made. We are still waiting for telecommunications companies with lines along the road to move their lines in order to be able to begin work. Once work does begin, the project will take about a year and a half to complete.

I-10 at Ralph Fair Road: Closure Number Four

Saturday morning at 4 a.m. Sundt Construction will shut down the main lanes of I-10 at Ralph Fair Road to set bridge support beams to construct the remaining portion of the Ralph Fair Road overpass bridge.

Traffic on I-10 will exit Ralph Fair Road, pass through the intersection, and re-enter the roadway. Sundt will also close Ralph Fair Road at I-10 to facilitate traffic flow of I-10 and to provide a safe staging area for the required work equipment.

This is the fourth closure of this nature in the last six months; project managers say they should only need two more such closures to finish the work.

Traffic will follow the same route it has for the last three closures at this location. North on this map is to the right.

Once the highway is closed - which, again, starts at 4 a.m. Saturday - crews will begin setting the first of 17 beams that will form the backbone of the remaining overpass bridge. At 165 feet long, these are the largest concrete beams used on TxDOT roads, and they do take a while to place. The last beam placement - back in September - went remarkably quick and crews had the road reopened by Saturday evening.

With ideal conditions this weekend, project managers say the highway could reopen as soon as Sunday. However, drivers should expect the highway to remain closed until Monday morning - a timeline buffer to allow for any difficult weather or machinery failures.

Once this weekend's work is finished, Sundt should only need to employ this closure two more times - once to pour the bridge deck and another to form and pour the bridge deck barriers. Overall completion on the project should come by the end of the school year, with major traffic improvements coming along the way.