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San
Antonio Area Freeway System
State Highway 151 (Raymond E. Stotzer Jr.
Freeway) |
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| This page last updated February 12, 2023 |
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This page covers State Highway (SH) 151 from US 90
to Loop 1604 in western San Antonio.
Length: 10 miles
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On
this page
Overview
SH
151 connects
rapidly-growing far western Bexar County to Loop 410 and to
downtown via
US 90. It is the main corridor through the exploding Westover
Hills area,
which includes Sea World of Texas, the Hyatt Hill Country
Resort, several major financial services companies, the
National
Security
Agency
campus, multiple large data centers, and Northwest
Vista College. This route also serves the
Southwest Research Institute and Texas Biomedical Research Institute. At the
western end of the corridor is
the sprawling Alamo Ranch development. Residential and
commercial
construction is booming in the corridor with major retail hubs at Loop
410 and
Loop 1604.
Inside
Loop 410, the majority of the land fronting the corridor is
undeveloped, although the area near US 90 has seen growing light and
moderate
industrial
development. Outside
of 410, much of
the frontage is now a
mix of
suburban commercial and residential.
Roadway details
| LANES |
- 4 lanes along entire route
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| ACCESS ROADS |
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Continuous access roads along entire route. These access
roads originally served as the main highway before the construction of
the freeway mainlanes.
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| EXITS |
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Click here
for a list of SH 151 exits.
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| SPEED LIMITS |
- 65 mph along entire route
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| SPECIAL FEATURES &
NOTES |
- Partial directional interchanges
at
Loop 1604, Loop 410, and US 90. Full
connectivity at Loop 410 is
provided by access road intersections. At Loop 1604, access roads
provide connectivity from SH 151 to Loop 1604 northbound and from
northbound Loop 1604 to SH 151. A signalized left turn and
ramp provides access from SH 151 to southbound Loop 1604.
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| TRAFFIC |
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Generally moderate. Traffic counts have increased substantially over
the
past decade, and have more than quadrupled in some locations over the
past two decades, with the location just inside Loop 1604 up over 700%
since 2001. The opening of the Loop 410 connectors resulted in a
significant bump in traffic counts.
Daily recurring congestion occurs eastbound between Westover Hills Blvd. and Potranco Rd. during the morning rush hour, and
westbound from Military Dr. West (west of Hunt Ln.) to Loop 1604 and on the overpass to Alamo Ranch Pkwy.
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| AVERAGE
ANNUAL DAILY TRAFFIC |
| LOCATION |
2001 |
2011 |
2016 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
'11-'21
% CHG |
| N of US 90 |
34,000 |
67,000 |
73,804 |
86,656 |
68,138 |
84,625 |
+26.31% |
| E of Callaghan Rd. |
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79,202 |
N/A |
| E of Loop 410 |
18,000 |
67,000 |
74,323 |
82,678 |
67,687 |
79,979 |
+19.37% |
| E of Potranco Rd. |
25,000 |
97,000 |
117,138 |
120,807 |
98,993 |
127,629 |
+31.58% |
| W of Hunt Ln. |
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75,000 |
98,765 |
105,118 |
95,378 |
106,950 |
+42.60% |
| E of Loop 1604 |
10,600 |
48,000 |
64,578 |
67,705 |
54,259 |
79,091 |
+64.77% |
(NOTE:
In 2021, TxDOT changed the location of several traffic counting
stations. New stations will show no history prior to
2021, and
discontinued stations will show no history for 2021.)
Media
gallery
Click
here
for photos and video of this
freeway.
Construction projects
- At Loop 410: Phase 2
of the interchange at Loop 410. Click here for
more information on this project.
- Loop 410 to Loop 1604:
Expand from four to six lanes and construct a new connector to
northbound Loop 1604. Click here for
more information on this project.
Future plans
A
plan to to
extend SH 151 all the way to SH 211 in
far western Bexar County was once envisioned as part of
the
regional tollway system
but has since been
dropped. However, regional thoroughfare plans do still show Alamo Ranch
Parkway, which is a county road, eventually connecting to SH 211,
although there are currently no
plans to extend SH 151 itself over that route.
TxDOT
has near-term plans to add a third mainlane in each direction between
Loop 410 and Loop 1604 and make additional improvements; click here
for
more information on that project. TransGuide coverage is planned for
the corridor
sometime in the future as well, likely in conjunction with the
aforementioned expansion project.
History
SH
151 is authorized
by Minute
Order 81732 (March 14, 1984). The route is named for Raymond Stotzer
Jr., a
longtime TxDOT engineer and the head of the San
Antonio TxDOT district from 1974 to 1986 who was instrumental in
getting the route approved. It originally had the moniker
"West Side
Expressway." When it was first proposed, some maps mistakenly
labeled the route as
the "Northwest Expressway", but at the time, I-10
northwest of downtown
officially held that name. (I-10 was subsequently renamed the
"McDermott Freeway"
in the
mid '90s.)
Like
many freeways in Texas, the access roads were built first, then the
mainlanes followed as traffic necessitated. On SH 151, the mainlanes
were built in piecemeal fashion as traffic warranted and funding was
available with short sections of freeway and
overpasses at major intersections first, followed finally by the
remainder of the mainlanes.
 1983: Local
real estate developer Marty Wender, noting that the
fast-growing
Northwest Side was the largest gap in the freeway system and himself
needing access to his planned Westover Hills
development, pitched the idea of a freeway connecting Loop
1604 to US 90. To help improve the chances of approval
and expedite its construction, he coordinated the donation of 85% of
the right-of-way and also donated funding to cover half the
cost of
the access roads.- 1984: The Texas
Transportation Commission approves SH 151.
- 1985:
SeaWorld announces they will build a park in Westover Hills.
Construction of the frontage roads between Loop 410 and Loop 1604
begins including the overpasses over the then-future mainlanes at
Military Dr., Westover Hills Blvd., and Wiseman Blvd.
- 1986: Construction
of the access roads between Loop 410 and US 90 begins.
- 1987: Access roads
between Loop 410 and Loop 1604 opened.
- 1988: Access
roads between Loop 410 and US 90
completed as well as the interchange at US 90.
- May 1988: SeaWorld
opens.
- 1997:
Construction completed on the first short segment of the
freeway mainlanes over
Ingram Rd. and
Potranco Rd.
- February 1998: The
freeway mainlane overpass at Old Highway
90 opened.
- Summer 1998: The
mainlane overpass at Pinn Rd. completed.
- March 2001: The
mainlane overpass at Callaghan Rd. and the mainlanes between
Callaghan Rd. and Old
Highway 90 completed.
- 2003: Modifications
to the
151/1604
interchange made in conjunction with the Loop 1604/Culebra
overpass
project. As
a result of a statewide directive, a study was initiated to determine
the feasibility of
tolling SH 151. However, due to local political
pressure-- and notably the fact that the right-of-way for SH
151 had been donated-- the tollway
proposal was subsequently dropped.
- May 2004:
Mainlanes from Callaghan Rd. to
Loop
410 completed.
- September 2004:
Mainlanes from Loop 410 to Loop 1604 opened.
- July 2016: The
flyover from southbound Loop 1604 to SH 151 completed.
- December 2016:
Overpass from SH 151 to Alamo Ranch Parkway opened.
- 2018: The flyovers
from southbound Loop 410 to SH 151 westbound and
from eastbound SH 151 to Loop 410 northbound opened in April
and May respectively.
- 2021: The
flyovers from eastbound SH 151 to southbound Loop 410 and northbound
Loop 410 to westbound SH 151 opened in September and October
respectively.
SH 151
at Wiseman Blvd. looking southeast in 2001
The
overpasses for the thoroughfares near SeaWorld were built over the
future mainlanes in conjunction with the original construction of the
frontage roads.
(Photo
by Brian Purcell)
SH 151 at Military Dr. looking
northwest in 1987
(Photo courtesy of TxDOT)
SH 151 near Callaghan Rd. looking
southeast in 2001
This shows where the frontage road entered a completed
section of freeway mainlanes.
(Photo by Brian Purcell)
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