San
Antonio Area Freeway System
US
281 North
Expansion Project |
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| This
page
last updated November 9, 2023 |
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Since
2000, TxDOT had plans to upgrade US 281 north of Loop 1604 to a
freeway. (A
freeway is a roadway with high-speed, divided mainlanes
that go over or under intersecting roadways and access those roadways
via entrance and exit ramps. It can be tolled or non-tolled.)
Due
to a sudden funding shortage in 2003 caused by a spike in construction costs, the state
updated their plans to use tolling of the new freeway lanes
to fund the project, sparking a decade-long battle pitting the
state against anti-toll activists and strange-bedfellow
environmentalists.
With
the
passage of new funding measures for highways in 2013 and 2015,
additional
funding became
available to drop the toll component of this project, resulting in a
project including non-tolled freeway lanes, HOV lanes, and
access roads.
Construction of the first phase began in July 2017 and
was completed in late 2021. The second phase began in March 2019 with
the last segment of mainlanes opened on May 19th, 2023.
Below
is complete information about this project as well
as its turbulent saga. Now that this project is completed, I'm leaving this page available as a reference on its history.
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Project awards
The US 281 project has received several awards including:
- Associated
General Contractors of America 2022 We Build Texas Award
- Construction
Management Association of America 2022 Project Achievement Award
- American
Council of Engineering Companies 2023 Engineering Excellence Award
On
this
page
Completed project
Background
In
2000, TxDOT announced plans to upgrade 281 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, rapid worldwide construction
cost increases that
developed suddenly in 2003 resulted in funding shortages for local highway projects, so the Texas Transportation
Commission directed TxDOT to use tolling to fund new freeway projects
wherever possible. As a result, this project was changed to include tolled
mainlanes. This sparked a long battle with
toll road opponents that delayed the project multiple times. (See the
history section at the bottom of this page for more details.)
In
2005, TxDOT accepted an unsolicited bid from a construction consortium
of Zachary Construction and Spanish firm Cintra to build the 281 toll
project at no upfront cost to the state. However, that project was
cancelled shortly after work began due to a legal challenge that raised
issues with the environmental clearances for the project.
In April
2014, after much legal wrangling and several
restarts, the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority
(ARMA), which had taken over the project from TxDOT,
released the proposed schematics of an updated tollway
concept. This alternative consisted of
a bifurcated project. The
southern half, from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Pkwy., included two or three
toll-free freeway lanes in each direction with one
tolled managed lane in each direction in the center of the freeway and
toll-free access
roads. The northern half, from Stone Oak Pkwy. to Borgfeld Dr.,
consisted of two tolled freeway
lanes in each direction and toll-free access roads. The Federal Highway
Administration
approved the project in August 2015.
During
its 2013 and 2015 sessions, the Texas Legislature passed new funding
sources for transportation (known as Prop 1 and Prop 7), which were
subsequently approved by voters. The Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning
Organization and the
Texas Transportation Commission subsequently approved using San
Antonio's share of the revenue
from
the new funding sources to pay for the US 281 project without using
tolls, and TxDOT took the reins of the project back from ARMA.
Because
the physical footprint of the new toll-free project did not change
substantially
from the approved tolled project, no new environmental studies were
required.
In May
2016, TxDOT released updated plans
for
the project, which subsequently became the final plans. These plans
included two to four
toll-free freeway lanes in each direction plus an HOV lane. In
addition, it included the completion of the northern
ramps for the
Loop 1604
interchange.
This
project ran from Loop 1604 to the Comal
county line and was divided into two phases for construction with Stone
Oak/TPC as the dividing line for
the
two phases.
PHASE 1: Loop
1604 to Stone Oak/TPC
- Timeline: Construction
began in July 2017 and was completed in late 2021.
- The first section of new mainlanes (southbound mainlanes
from Evans to Loop 1604) opened June 6th, 2020.
- The remainder of the mainlanes and the interchange ramps
opened in phases over the following year, with the official
ribbon-cutting on August 17th, 2021.
- Construction
cost:
About $180 million
This
phase included the following:
- Eight
(8) new non-tolled freeway lanes (i.e. four in
each direction) south of Evans and four (4) new non-tolled freeway
lanes (i.e. two in each direction)
north of Evans
- Two
(2) new high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes (i.e.
one in
each direction) north of Evans in the center between the freeway lanes
and separated
from the general-purpose mainlanes by a four-foot striped buffer area; an
elevated
"T" ramp connects the HOV
lanes directly to VIA's
park & ride just south
of Stone Oak
Pkwy.
- Overpasses
for the freeway and HOV
lanes at Redland Rd., Encino Rio, Evans Rd., and Stone Oak/TPC
Pkwy.
- Non-tolled
access roads with a varying number of lanes
- An
access road flyover northbound at Redland Rd.
that allows
through traffic on the access road to bypass the signalized
intersection;
this is utilized for traffic coming from Sonterra Blvd. to enter
US 281 and by traffic exiting US 281 headed for Encino Rio.
- Four
northern flyover connectors of the US 281/Loop 1604 interchange
The
new access roads were constructed first while traffic continued to
use the pre-existing lanes. Once the access roads were completed,
traffic
was shifted onto them while the new mainlanes and overpasses were
built. The superstreet configuration remained mostly in-place
for
the duration of construction but was removed as the project neared
completion (i.e. the intersections at Stone Oak Pkwy./TPC Pkwy. and at
Evans Rd. now function like conventional intersections.)
CROSS-SECTIONS
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PREVIOUS
(Evans
to Stone Oak)
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(Loop
1604 to Evans)
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CURRENT
(North
of Evans)
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(Loop
1604 to Evans)
NOTE
Number
of
access road lanes varies depending on location.
Diagrams are
for illustrative
purposes only and are not to
scale.
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PHASE 2: Stone
Oak/TPC to the
Comal county line
- Timeline:
Construction began in March 2019 and is substantially complete.
- The
mainlanes were opened in phases, with the last sections of mainlanes
opened on May 19th, 2023.
- The official ribbon-cutting was held on June 30, 2023.
- Construction
cost:
About $169 million
This phase included the following:
- Four
(4) new non-tolled freeway lanes (i.e. two in each direction)
- Two
(2) new high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes (i.e.
one in
each direction) in the center between the freeway lanes and separated
from the general-purpose mainlanes by a
four-foot striped buffer area
- Overpasses
for the freeway and HOV
lanes at Marshall
Rd., Wilderness Oaks, Overlook Pkwy.,
Bulverde Rd., and
Borgfeld Dr.
- Non-tolled
access roads with a varying number of lanes (typically two along most
of this segment)
- A two-way, dead-end service road that connects
the
Borgfeld underpass to the various properties that front the east side
of US 281 between
Borgfeld and the Comal county line
As with
phase 1, the
new access roads were constructed first while traffic
continued to
use the pre-existing lanes. Once the access roads were completed,
traffic was shifted onto them so the new mainlanes and
overpasses could be
built in the middle. Those mainlanes were then opened in phases as they
were completed.
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PREVIOUS
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CURRENT
NOTE
Number
of
access road lanes varies depending on location.
Diagrams are
for illustrative
purposes only and are not to
scale.
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SCHEMATIC
Click the image
above to see the complete detailed annotated schematic of both Phase 1
and Phase 2
(Schematic is large and
may take time to load)
FAQ
Also
see the HOV FAQ on the HOV lanes page.
- Is this project tolled?
No. Although earlier versions of this project
proposed various tolled lanes, funding was secured to
remove
the toll
component. Instead, non-tolled freeway mainlanes and
HOV
lanes have been added along with access roads.
- They should have built this
instead of the superstreet.
When
the superstreet was built in 2010, this project was not
funded, and its environmental study was still underway and several
years from completion. Congestion had reached extreme
levels, so the superstreet was built as a quick-fix or "band-aid" to
provide some immediate short-term relief and it was always advertised
as
such. Since this expansion project was still
several years from being shovel-ready, the only other alternative at
that
time was to do nothing.
- There
needs to be at least three lanes in each direction north of Evans-- 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 years. (Twenty
years is about 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 in 20 years, the best projections show that those two
lanes (plus the HOV lane) will be sufficient. Today, the segment just
north of Stone Oak
carries about 55,000 vehicles per day. Even if that grows by 50%
over the 20 years, that would put it at about the same traffic volume
that is currently on SH 151 inside Loop 410, where
the two freeway lanes in each direction experience
no recurring congestion. And that doesn't take into
account the traffic that will divert to the HOV lanes. For
comparison,
the section of Loop 1604 North between US 281 and I-10 carries over
120,000 vehicles per day, more than double that on 281 north of Stone
Oak.
- The
plans show two mainlanes in each direction north of Stone Oak. There
were
already two lanes in each direction north of Stone Oak, so how is this
an improvement?
Because the new lanes will be freeway lanes, not surface road
lanes. See the answer to the next question for a further
explanation on why this makes a difference.
- Southbound between Stone Oak and
Evans, there will be two
general-purpose mainlanes where there previously were three-- this is
a step backward!
This is a
common misconception because it is not an
apples-to-apples comparison. Yes, the section in question did
indeed have
three lanes before and now has only two freeway
general-purpose mainlanes (plus an
HOV lane.) However, those new lanes are freeway
mainlanes, not surface
road mainlanes as they were before. Since freeway
mainlanes do
not have signalized intersections, they can carry about twice
as many vehicles per hour than surface road lanes
can. Therefore, the two
freeway lanes are roughly equivalent to four of the
previous lanes.
There will be a number of
vehicles that will use the HOV lanes instead of
the general-purpose mainlanes. With a minimum of two occupants per
vehicle, this adds about the equivalent of
two more lanes of capacity in each direction (maybe more with higher
occupancies.)
Also, a
substantial portion of the
traffic in the previous lanes in that area was headed to or from the
intersecting roads or frontage businesses and will therefore now be on
the
access road lanes, not on the freeway mainlanes. Access road lanes are
surface road lanes, which are a one-to-one equivalent to the previous lanes, so with
a
minimum of two access road lanes in each direction, that adds two more
lanes to our running total.
When you add that all up, the new lanes are approximately equivalent to
eight
surface road lanes in
each direction, which nearly triples the number of southbound lanes and
quadruples the number of northbound lanes for the section between Stone
Oak and Evans.
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 a minimum of five lanes in each direction (two
mainlanes,
two access road lanes, and one HOV lane) as opposed to
the previous three southbound and two northbound lanes, which is two to
three more lanes in each direction than what was there previously.
(Commentary:
The fewer lanes "fact" was misinformation often perpetuated by
anti-toll
and other activists either to intentionally misguide people or
simply because
they didn't know what they were talking about.)
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CURRENT
LANES BETWEEN EVANS AND STONE OAK
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BECAUSE
FREEWAY LANES CAN CARRY ~2X MORE TRAFFIC
THAN SURFACE ROAD LANES,
THE
LANES ABOVE ARE EQUIVALENT TO THIS...
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...WHICH
IS A LOT MORE THAN WHAT WAS PREVIOUSLY THERE:
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Project
history
Prior
to 1987, US
281 north of Bitters Rd. existed as a four-lane surface divided highway
with traffic signals at major intersections. In 1990, TxDOT
completed work to upgrade 281 to a six-lane freeway from Bitters to
Loop 1604. North of 1604, the road remained as a four-lane
surface divided highway with the only traffic signals at that time
being
at Encino Rio.
Since
then, tremendous development has taken place along the 281 corridor
north of Loop 1604 all the way to the SH 46 area in
Bulverde.
Meanwhile, US 281 in that area remained a four- and
six-lane divided surface highway with many more signals
added at
major
intersections over the years due to safety and traffic
demands.
US 281 looking north near Bitters
Rd. in 1986
The freeway ended here at this time.
Photo courtesy of Jared Riley
Original
freeway
plan
In
2000,
TxDOT announced plans to upgrade 281 to a non-tolled, six-lane freeway
from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Pkwy., and to build a
standalone overpass at Borgfeld, 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. At that time, the section from 1604
to
Stone Oak was listed by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to
be funded in 2003. However, due to a number of domestic and
international factors, highway construction costs in early 2003 began a
sudden and dramatic increase. As a result, the costs for
the 281 project quickly exceeded the available funding, and
the
project was put on hold while officials evaluated their options.
Schematic on this site ca. 2000 for the original plan to
expand US 281
Note that no overpass was planned at Encino Rio.
Conversion to toll project
In
December 2003, while TxDOT was regrouping to find additional funding
for the project, the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC), at the
behest of the governor and using new tools granted by the Legislature
and voters,
responded to the soaring costs by ordering that
"controlled-access
mobility projects in any phase of development or
construction must be evaluated for tolling. This includes new-location
facilities and increased capacity projects such as adding additional
main lanes or constructing new main lanes." (TTC Minute
Order 109519) The order specifically included "increased capacity projects
such as...constructing new main lanes." Because the 281
project fit
that description, TxDOT was compelled to evaluate it for possible
tolling. That review showed that it was feasible for tolling, so per
the TTC's order, the project was shifted to toll funding.
As
a footnote to this, it is often asserted by toll road opponents that
voters never approved tolling roads in Texas. However, in 2001, voters
overwhelmingly approved Proposition 15,
which authorized the state to borrow money to build highways, including
toll roads, which was clearly stated in the ballot language. It could
be argued that voters did not understand the extent to which the state
might use tolling, but given that toll projects are mentioned three
times in the ballot language ("turnpikes, toll roads, toll
bridges"),
it should have been evident to voters that toll projects could
be a major outcome of approving this proposition. The referendum did
not require approval from voters for specific projects, only approval
of such by the Texas Transportation Commission.
Cintra-Zachary bid
Shortly after designating the US 281 expansion as a toll
project,
a consortium consisting of local construction giant Zachary
and the Spanish infrastructure company Cintra-- who were working
together on a bid to build and operate one of the proposed Trans
Texas
Corridor projects-- submitted an unsolicited bid to TxDOT to
build the
281 tollway project, as well as a similar Loop 1604 project, in return
for a 50-year lease to operate them. Because the bid had merit, TxDOT
was required to fully evaluate the Cintra-Zachary bid
and open the project to other bidders. The Cintra-Zachary bid not only
paid for construction and subsequent maintenance and operation of both
roadways, which freed the previously-allocated state funding for other
projects, it also paid a large concession fee to the state that could
also be used to fund other projects. Based on those merits, the
Cintra-Zachary bid was accepted in mid 2005. Since the project was to
be built entirely with private funds, the tax funding that had been
budgeted for it was reallocated to other highway projects in the area.
First lawsuit
Consequently,
construction began on the Sonterra Blvd. to Stone Oak Pkwy. section in
December
2005. Shortly thereafter, workers clearing land for the project
accidentally broke a sewer line at Evans Rd. and 281. In January 2006,
work
was suspended indefinitely after environmentalists and toll opponents
filed a lawsuit arguing that the project required a full (and costly)
environmental impact statement (EIS) instead of the numerous,
less-comprehensive environmental assessments (EA) that had been
performed up to that time. Federal law only requires an EIS to be
performed if an EA finds significant impacts, which the EAs for 281 had
not. However, TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), who
were both named in the suit, jointly agreed later that month to cancel
work on the 281 project, as well as the planned Borgfeld overpass, so
that a consolidated EA for the entire corridor could be done and a
categorical determination made of whether a full EIS would
need to be performed. Consequently, the contract with Cintra-Zachary
was terminated. In early 2007, TxDOT completed and released the new EA,
which again showed no significant impacts. The FHWA approved the new
assessment in August 2007, which authorized TxDOT to build the entire
281 project in Bexar County from 1604 to Borgfeld without the need for
an EIS.
ARMA takes over project
In
the meantime, the Legislature had passed legislation placing a
moratorium on nearly all new privately-built and/or operated toll roads
and requiring that local mobility authorities be given the right of
first refusal on toll projects in their jurisdiction. The Alamo
Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA), which was established by Bexar
County in 2003, subsequently opted to take control of both the 281 and
1604 toll projects, and began planning to build the 281 project from
1604 to Borgfeld as a two-phased project starting in 2008. The MPO
approved toll rates for the project in December 2007.
ARMA hires consortium
ARMA
hired Cibolo Creek Infrastructure Joint Venture in May 2008 to design
and build the 281 project. The consortium was headed by
Fluor Enterprises of Irving, Texas, and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure
Inc. of Atlanta, and included several San Antonio
subcontractors. Contrary to pervasive public perception, this
consortium-- unlike the
previous Cintra-Zachary group-- included no foreign companies. ARMA
was anticipating to start construction on the first segment, from Loop
1604 to Marshall Rd., in late 2008 or early 2009 with estimated
completion in late 2010.
Second lawsuit
In
February 2008, toll opponents and environmentalists once again filed a
lawsuit challenging the second EA. After initial arguments,
the
judge ruled that the plaintiffs' case had sufficient standing to move
forward with discovery. During the discovery process, TxDOT announced
that they found a document that had been inadvertently omitted from the
administrative record for the environmental assessment and asked for a
60 day stay to allow time to submit the document to the FHWA for review
to determine if it would change the overall findings of the study. In
early October 2008, TxDOT then reported that they had uncovered a
conflict of interest with the contractor who had performed the
endangered species portion of the study. Specifically, it was
discovered that a TxDOT staff biologist was married to an employee of
the company hired to do the a portion of the study. It was further
discovered that the TxDOT employee's supervisor was aware of the
situation and allowed it, but that controls put in place to mitigate
the
conflict were not enforced. Although it was determined that this likely
had no impact on the results of the study, TxDOT asked the FHWA to
revoke their environmental approval for the project to preempt an
inevitable legal battle. Subsequently, the defendants (TxDOT, ARMA, and
the FHWA) agreed to do a full EIS for the corridor, and the lawsuit was
dismissed as moot in November 2008. In April 2009, ARMA hired a
consultant to conduct the new EIS, bringing planning and engineering on
the
project to another stop.
Superstreet built
After
the consortium project was scrapped, ARMA, TxDOT, and the City of San
Antonio proposed several small short-term fixes that did not require
environmental studies. Those proposed improvements consisted
predominately of additional turning lanes and auxiliary lanes. Then in
February 2009, another unsolicited offer for 281 emerged. This time, it
was from local engineering firm Pape-Dawson, and it proposed a
temporary
fix for 281 in the form of a "superstreet" from Encino Rio to Marshall
Rd. Their modeling showed that a superstreet would help ease congestion
more than
the turning and auxiliary lanes plans would and thereby provide some
congestion relief
while the EIS was completed. That plan was vetted, approved, and funded
in mid-2009 and subsequently built in 2010.
Southern interchange built
During
the Great Recession, Congress approved a national
economic stimulus
plan that poured additional federal money into road construction
projects. In February 2009, the Metropolitan Planning Organization
approved allocating San Antonio's share of the largesse to be
used in conjunction with matching state funding for the first half of a
281/1604 interchange. This project built all four of the ramps
connecting 1604 to 281 inside the loop, i.e. northbound 281 to both
directions of 1604, and both directions of 1604 to southbound 281. The
use of the federal funds allowed the ramps to be non-tolled. The TTC
approved the state's share on March 5th, 2009. Construction began in
early 2011 was completed in mid 2013. It was determined that the ramps
connecting to 281 north of 1604 could not be built until the lingering
issues stemming from the lawsuits and associated environmental studies
for 281 north of 1604 were resolved. However, funding was identified
for those ramps so that construction could begin as soon as the legal
and environmental study issues were resolved and the design for US 281
was complete.
New managed lanes plan
In
May 2012, local officials announced they had identified funding to
expand US 281 from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Pkwy with some non-tolled
lanes. The working plan for US 281 included two to three non-tolled
freeway lanes in each direction and one or two tolled managed lanes.
The managed lanes would include direct access to a VIA park and ride
facility being planned for the corridor. It was hoped that construction
would begin sometime in 2014 or 2015 once the ongoing environmental
study of the corridor was complete and barring any further
legal challenges.
2014 funding plan
In
January 2014, TxDOT and ARMA announced funding had been secured to
expand US 281 from Loop 1604 to Borgfeld Dr. using a mix of non-tolled
and tolled/managed lanes. Some funding would come from traditional
tax-funded sources with the remainder coming from bonds backed by toll
revenue. Funding was also allocated-- mostly from a City of San Antonio
bond issue-- to complete the northern ramps for the Loop 1604
interchange; as with the previously completed ramps in the interchange,
these new ramps will also be non-tolled. With funding now in hand for
the entire corridor, construction was expected to start in late 2015 or
early 2016 contingent on the approval of the environmental study that
was scheduled to be complete in mid 2015. The funding for 281 was part
of a larger financing package that included funds for proposed managed
lanes on I-10 from Loop 1604 to Ralph Fair Rd. and for a
non-tolled
freeway on Loop 1604 from SH 151 to US 90. In the summer of
2015,
TxDOT submitted and the FHWA approved the completed EIS for the US 281
project.
Legislature approves new
funding sources; tolling dropped
During
its sessions in 2013 and 2015, with a statewide backlash building
against tolling, the Texas Legislature approved new funding
sources for highways. These
changes allocate
a percentage of sales taxes, motor vehicle sales taxes, and
oil and gas production taxes annually to the state highway fund. The
legislation also ended most of the budget "diversions" that sent money
from the highway
fund to fill holes elsewhere in the state budget.
As a result, during the summer of 2015, several local officials
indicated that
should voters sign-off on the new financing in an election later that
year, and the expected funding subsequently be
allocated by the state, removing the toll
component from the US 281 project would be the first priority. In early
September 2015, the MPO
approved a resolution to that effect, and the TTC approved the funding
change later that month. In November 2015, voters approved the new
funding source, and officials announced shortly thereafter that the
plans for 281 would be updated to remove the toll component. It was
also announced that the revised
project would now include HOV lanes.
Additional state funding
approved
In
January 2016, the TTC proposed a $1.3 billion dollar funding largesse
to help address congestion in the state's largest metro areas. San
Antonio was awarded $171 million, of which $81.3 million was budgeted
for the US 281 project north of Stone Oak Pkwy. This funding was mainly
used for right-of-way acquisition and expediting the commencement of
the project. In January 2017, the MPO
allocated the remainder of the funding needed for the northern segment.
The official groundbreaking for the southern phase of the project was
held on March 31, 2017, and work started later that summer. The
official
groundbreaking for the northern phase was held almost exactly two years
later on March 29, 2019.
Further north
Long-range
plans are on the books to upgrade US 281 to a full freeway all the way
to FM 306 at the Comal/Blanco county line. The first step toward that
eventual plan upgraded 281 from a two-lane road to a four-lane divided
highway from the Guadalupe River to FM 306; work on that project was
completed in early 2015. The next project in the chute will upgrade the
existing four-lane divided highway from the Bexar/Comal county line to
SH 46 to a full
freeway. Planning and design for that
project is now underway, but there is no current
timeline for it.
Other
sites of interest
|
Freeway system
I-10 East
