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Ohter San
Antonio Area Roads
I-10
West Projects (Boerne
- Fair Oaks Ranch) |
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| This page
last updated April 23, 2019 |
TxDOT
has several recently completed, in-progress, or upcoming
projects along I-10 West
between Leon Springs and Boerne to improve intersections, add new
overpasses, and convert the access roads to one-way operation. This
page contains information about these projects.
The
overarching
goal of most of these projects is to convert the access roads to
one-way
operation from Leon Springs to Boerne. As this area becomes
more developed, one-way access roads will be safer and more
efficient. For optimal operation, there needs to be
a crossover every mile or so. Otherwise, someone turning onto
a one-way access road just past an intersection and wanting to go the
opposite direction could have to travel more than
two miles out of their way; having a crossover every mile or so both
minimizes
this inconvenience and provides better access for emergency vehicles.
This is the reason why new overpasses at
Old Fredericksburg Road and Balcones Creek Road are planned (and is the
primary reason, by the way, that the overpass at
Dominion Drive was built several years ago, despite cynical
misinformation alleging otherwise.)
Note
that none of these projects will add any new mainlanes to I-10 itself. Planning
is underway for a future project that will extend the expansion of I-10
currently underway between La Cantera Blvd. and Ralph Fair Rd.
northward to Boerne. None of these projects are related to the recent Kendall Gateway
study.
The
schematics below are courtesy of TxDOT; the annotations on them are my
own.
| 1 |
|
SH
46 to Scenic Loop Road |
This project
will overhaul and redesign the interchanges at SH 46 (W Bandera Road)
and at Business
87 (S Main Street), complete the westbound frontage road between
Business 87 and
Christus Parkway, convert all the frontage roads to one-way, and change
the locations of the entrance and exit ramps.
At SH
46, the overpass will be widened to two through lanes and a left turn
lane in each direction. The access roads adjacent to the
overpass will be re-aligned inward
toward the mainlanes and portions of the old access roads at School St.
and Upper Balcones Rd. will be converted to local service streets
configured to
minimize conflicts. A westbound to eastbound turnaround will
also
be
constructed. Although not shown on the schematic, the park-and-ride lot
will be kept in its current location but reconfigured.
The
Business 87
interchange is being rebuilt as a more
conventional intersection. A new, wider overpass will replace
the
existing overpass and will end in a "T" at a realigned eastbound access
road. There
will be
turnarounds for both directions. A
new westbound
access road will
continue beyond the new intersection and join with the new
frontage
road
recently completed near Christus Parkway. The
existing entrance
and exit ramps will be relocated further south from the intersection. A
portion of the existing westbound access road at the southeast corner
of the interchange will be converted to a service street to maintain
access to local properties after the access road is realigned.
At
Scenic Loop, an eastbound to westbound turnaround will be built and the
entrance and exit ramps north of Scenic Loop will be relocated further
north.
Status:
- Work
started in June 2018
- Estimated completion: 4th quarter 2020 (32% complete)
Click above to see the schematic for
this project
| 2 |
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Scenic
Loop to Bexar County Line
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This
project will convert the
access roads between Scenic Loop Road and Balcones Creek Road to
one-way, relocate the entrance and exit ramps further south and
construct new entrance and exit ramps for Balcones Creek Road, and
construct new higher access road bridges
over Balcones Creek. The existing "lower" access roads and crossover
under I-10 at Balcones Creek will be kept.
- Projected
start: Mid 2019
Click above to see the schematic for
this project
| 3 |
|
Kendall
County Line to Fair Oaks Ranch Blvd. |
Ths project will construct a
new overpass for I-10 at Balcones Creek Road and the
access roads will be converted to one-way from Balcones Creek Road to
Fair Oaks Ranch Parkway. An
eastbound to westbound turnaround at Fair Oaks Ranch Parkway will be
also built as part of this project (not shown in the schematic.) The access roads
between Balcones Creek Road and Scenic Loop Road will be converted to
one-way in a future project (see #2 above.)
A
future project will add
turnarounds in both directions, move the entrance and exit ramps, and
convert the access roads to one-way.
- Work started in October 2018
- Estimated
completion: Mid 2020 (currently 29% complete)
Click above to see the schematic for
this project
| 4 |
|
At
Fair Oaks Parkway/Tarpon
Drive |
The
overpass has been widened to five lanes and realigned to join Fair Oaks Parkway to Tarpon Drive. The access roads south of Fair Oaks
Pkwy have been converted to one-way and
the entrance and exit ramps relocated as part of project #6 below. The
future project at Balcones Creek Road
(above)
will then convert the access roads north of Fair Oaks Pkwy to one-way
and relocate those entrance and exit ramps.
- Project substantially complete
- The
new overpass opened weekend of April 28th, 2018
- Q: Why are the
new entrance and exit ramps being removed?
A:
Those ramps were built as temporary ramps to be used to detour traffic
during the several mainlane closures during the project. They were
never intended to be (and therefore, not built to be) permanent. It may
seem like wasted money, but as mentioned, they were built to be
temporary, ergo they were cheap and the cost was more than made-up by
the reduced delays to the public they facilitated during the mainlane
closures. They will be replaced by new permanent ramps in a
different configuration that are being built as part of other projects
(see #4 above and #6 below.)
- Q: Why wasn't the eastbound to westbound turnaround built at the same time as the other turnaround?
A:
Because that's being built as part of a separate project (#3 above.)
That turnaround requires the access roads north of Fair Oaks to
be one-way, which is being done as a separate project in
conjunction with a new overpass at Balcones Creek Road.
The schematic for this project is included with the schematic for #5 below.
| 5 |
|
Fair
Oaks Parkway/Tarpon
Drive to Ralph Fair Road |
A
new overpass for I-10 has been built at Old Fredericksburg Road
connecting it to Buckskin Drive. The access roads have been
converted to one-way, new entrance and exit ramps for this intersection
added, and the exit and entrance ramps for Ralph Fair
Road/Boerne Stage Road relocated.
- Project substantially complete
- Q: Why are the signals at the new Buckskin/Old Fredericksburg intersection flashing red?
A:
These signals were installed for future use at this intersection, i.e.
planners know they will be needed in the near future as traffic grows
here, so it was more cost-effective to include them in the overpass
project than to have to come back later and install them. For the
moment, traffic volumes only necessitate a four-way stop, so the
signals are used to supplement that. Engineers are monitoring traffic
at this intersection and will switch to full red-green signal operation
when traffic volumes warrant.
- Q: When the
access roads changed to one-way, why was only one lane open for the
first couple of weeks?
A:
This was done as a safety measure while motorists got used to the new
one-way pattern. By blocking the former opposing lane, drivers were
forced to go the correct direction. The "new" lane was opened the week
of October 1st.
- Q: Why weren't
all the new ramps opened at the same time?
A:
Two of the new ramps are at the location of the ramps south of Fair
Oaks (see schematic for #5 above) and two more are located where the
former ramps north of Ralph Fair were, so those ramps had to
stay
open and the new ramps at those locations couldn't be built until the
replacement ramps at the new locations near Buckskin/Old Fredericksburg
were open (think of the game where you have to move the numbered
squares around to get them in order but only have one open square to
work with.) Furthermore, those new ramps, because
of their alignment, couldn't be opened until the access roads
were
one-way. To be able to have opened all eight new ramps at once would
have required closing the four old ramps at Fair Oaks and at Ralph Fair
for several weeks before the other ramps opened. This would have forced
all NB traffic headed to Fair Oaks to exit at Ralph Fair Rd. and use
the access road for that entire distance (and the same for SB traffic
coming from Fair Oaks) and would have forced all SB traffic headed to
Ralph Fair to exit at Fair Oaks and follow the access road that entire
distance (and the some for the opposite direction.) It should
be
obvious how bad of an idea
that would have been.
Click above to see the schematic for
this project
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