This
project is currently in design The
project below is still in design. Descriptions below are based on
preliminary schematics released on May 19th, 2021 and,
as
a
result, details may change before the project goes to construction.
This
page will be updated when future schematics for this project are
available.
With growth in southern Comal
County booming, and with the recent
completion of the 281 expansion in Bexar County, this stretch of US 281
will see increased traffic and congestion over the coming
decade. To handle that projected traffic and improve safety, TxDOT is
currently planning
to upgrade this stretch of 281 to a freeway.
This project will dovetail with the freeway recently completed in Bexar
County, thereby
providing a continuous freeway corridor from SH 46 all the way to
downtown San Antonio.
This project is currently in design and is not funded, so no
timeline is currently available.
A future project is envisioned to extend the freeway even further north
to
FM 306.
Background
and previous plans
The
overpass at SH 46 was built in 1978 in conjunction with
widening
this stretch of US 281 from a two lane road to the current four lane
divided highway. The overpass at FM 1863 was built in 1999.
In
2000,
TxDOT announced plans to upgrade US 281 in Bexar County to a
non-tolled,
six-lane freeway
from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Pkwy., and to build a
standalone overpass at Borgfeld Dr., with long-term plans to
upgrade 281 to a full freeway in phases all the way to FM 306 at the
Comal/Blanco county line.
However, due to rapid worldwide construction cost increases that
developed suddenly around 2003 that resulted in funding shortages for
planned highway projects, the state
required new freeway projects to use tolls where possible, so the
expansion project from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak was changed to
include tolled mainlanes, and was extended from Stone Oak
Pkwy. to Borgfeld Dr. This sparked a decade-long battle
with toll
road opponents
that
delayed the project multiple times. With new revenue becoming
available, that project finally got underway in 2017 as a non-toll
project and was completed in phases between 2021 and 2023.
Current
expansion plans
To accommodate the anticipated increase in traffic along this stretch
and improve safety,
TxDOT is planning to upgrade US 281 from the Bexar county line to SH 46
from a four-lane divided highway to a four-lane freeway. The freeway,
which would close all crossovers along this stretch,
would include the addition of access roads, entrance and exit ramps,
improvements to the existing overpasses at SH 46 and FM 1863, and
construction of a new overpass at Mustang Vista. A short extension of
Mustang Vista would be built to the west of US 281 to connect to an
extension of Short Hill. This will allow traffic from Casey Rd. to
cross US 281 and to allow traffic from northbound US 281 to reach Casey
Rd. without having to turn around at SH 46.
This
project also proposes to
widen
FM 1863 between US 281 and Wiley Rd. to six lanes (i.e. three
lanes
each direction) with a raised median and make improvements to
the
existing intersections at US 281 and FM 1863.
Additionally,
this
project would include a southbound access road from SH 46 to just north
of Flightline Rd. and would include sidewalks throughout the project.
Additional
right-of-way will be required, much like the expansion
in Bexar County did. However, the new center median will be
designed to be wide enough to accommodate future widenings or
other transportation improvements without having to expand
the footprint further.
This
project is currently unfunded, so there is no timetable for its
construction.
CROSS-SECTIONS
CURRENT
PLANNED
NOTE
Number of
access road lanes varies depending on location. Most locations will
have three access road lanes in each direction.
Diagrams are for illustrative purposes only and are not to scale.
Schematic
Click
on
the image below to open the detailed schematic for this
project from TxDOT with my own annotations added to help clarify and
explain the various elements. The schematic will
open in a new window that you can scroll and zoom. Note that this schematic is
preliminary and subject to change.
Video TxDOT has a good video that describes this project:
Will
this project be tolled?
No. Although earlier versions of the US 281 expansion in Bexar County
included tolled lanes, funding was secured to remove
the toll
component from that project, and planning for the expansion in Comal
County had never progressed to the point where a decision on tolls
would have had to be made. With tolling now deprecated statewide, this
project is expected to include non-tolled freeway mainlanes and access roads.
Will
this project have HOV
lanes?
No, as of now, it is not planned to extend the HOV lanes in Bexar
County north as part of this project. However, planners will
leave an "envelope" in the median to accommodate possible HOV
lanes in
the future.
The
plans show two mainlanes in each direction, but there are
already two lanes in each direction here, so how is this
an improvement?
This is
a
common misconception because it is not an
apples-to-apples comparison. Yes, this section of 281 does
indeed have two lanes each way today and will only
have two mainlanes each way when
this project is complete. However, those two mainlanes will be freeway
mainlanes, not surface
road lanes as they are today. Since freeway
mainlanes do
not have signalized intersections, they can carry about twice
as many vehicles than surface road lanes
can. Therefore, the two
freeway lanes are roughly equivalent to four of the existing lanes.
Also, much of the
traffic in the current lanes in that area is headed to or from the
intersecting roads, neighborhoods, or frontage businesses, and will
therefore be on the
access road lanes, not on the freeway mainlanes. Access road lanes are
surface road lanes, so with a
minimum of two access road lanes in each direction (and three along
most stretches), that adds two to three more
lanes to our running total.
When you add those up, the new lanes will be approximately
equivalent to six
or seven
of the existing surface road lanes in
each direction, which triples the number of lanes that are
there today.
Even if you just count the raw number of lanes and don't
account for the capacity differences for the types of lanes,
there will still be four to five lanes in each direction (two
mainlanes and two to three access road lanes) as opposed to just the
two lanes there today.
Okay,
but there
needs to be at least three mainlanes in each direction-- two
lanes will soon result in congestion like that on Loop 1604.
Planners
look at current and projected traffic volumes to determine the number
of lanes to build. The planning timeline is typically 20-25 years.
(This is the longest that estimates can be considered reliable. Also,
the lifespan of a road before it needs major repairs or reconstruction
is
also around 20 years.) Although nobody has a crystal ball and can tell
what
traffic
volumes will be two decades from now, and future traffic projections
have to make assumptions that may well not hold up,
those projections currently indicate that that two
mainlanes will be sufficient. According to TxDOT's May 2021 public
meeting for this project, projections are that this stretch of US 281
will carry about 108,000 vehicles per day in 2049, which is still well
below the capacity for a four lane freeway.
Although peak volumes by then could approach or exceed
capacity for short periods, this is considered an acceptable level of
service as the additional expense to ameliorate that would not provide
enough savings to justify it. For
comparison, US 281 at Mustang Vista carries about 44,000 vehicles per
day currently, and the recently completed section of US 281 in Bexar
County carries about 90,000 vehicles per day. As plans for this section
are fleshed-out, traffic projections will be updated and refined and,
if they increase enough, could lead to additional lanes being included.
NOTICE
The information provided on this website is provided on an "as-is" basis without
warranties of any kind either express or implied. The author and his agents
make no warranties or representations of any kind concerning any information
contained in this website. This website is provided only as general
information. The author expressly disclaims all liability with respect to
actions taken or not taken based upon the information contained herein or with
respect to any errors or omissions in such information. All opinions expressed
are strictly those of the author. This site is not affiliated in any way with
any official agency.
Freeway system
I-10 East
