San Antonio Area
Freeway System
Historical US
87/I-10 West Photos |
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This page last updated
April 26, 2010 |
Below are
historical photos of the US 87 (I-10 West) freeway. These photos
were compiled from a number of sources, including old
newspapers, planning documents, reader contributions, the TxDOT
photo archive, and the personal collection of a former local Highway Department engineer.
Locations are given using the present-day roadway names.
The photos are arranged roughly from downtown outward.
Click
here
to return to the historical photo galleries page.
Click
here to return to the I-10
West media gallery page.

Map
showing original US 87 expressway
(ca. 1952)

Approaching I-35 looking east
At this time, I-35's
predecessor (the US 81 expressway) had not been built, so the
expressway simply
curved to the south at what is now the "Downtown Y" interchange
downtown and terminated at Martin St.
The small black & white sign to the right of the roadway just ahead
simply reads "Expressway" with a right arrow.
Just beyond that is a pedestrian bridge, and just past that is a
left hand exit for Santa Rosa Blvd. that
is in the same approximate location as today's left hand exit for
Santa Rosa Blvd. from the I-10 access road.
(1951)

Approaching I-35 looking east
This
location is a little further west than the one above.
(1962)

At Poplar St.
looking east
(1967)

Looking southeast at the Poplar St. exit
(1962)

From the railroad
overpass near Culebra Ave. looking east at the Colorado St. exit
(ca.
1955)

Looking northwest over the curve at Culebra Ave.
(Date
unknown)

At
Culebra Ave. looking east
(1967)

At Culebra
Ave. looking
north
Note the grassy median that started here on the original
expressway.
(1951)

At
Culebra Ave. looking north
(1967)

Looking south at Culebra Ave. overpass
Again note the grassy median in place at the time.
(ca.
1955)

South of Cincinnati Ave. looking north
There used to be bus stops on both sides of the I-10 mainlanes
at Cincinnati. This is a picture of the northbound bus stop.
(1955)

North of Cincinnati Ave. looking south
This picture shows the southbound bus stop.
(1962)

At
Cincinnati Ave. looking north
The grassy median was being replaced with safer concrete and
steel guardrail. You can see the aforementioned southbound bus
stop on the left. We also get our first view of the arched pedestrian
overpass that's still in use today.
(1968)

At the
pedestrian bridge north of Cincinnati Ave.
This is the east side of the freeway.
(1951)

South of Woodlawn
Ave.
looking south
(ca.
1955)

Ramp meter
at the Woodlawn Ave. entrance to eastbound I-10
All ramp meters in this area were removed during double-decking
of the freeway in the late '80s.
(1981)

At
Woodlawn Ave. looking south
The ramp on the right is the same one in the photo of the ramp
meter above.
(1967)

South of Woodlawn Ave. looking north
At this time, the freeway ended just past the
Woodlawn/Fredericksburg underpasses. You can see just past the
underpasses where is turns to the left and climbs-up to
Fredericksburg Rd.
(ca.
1955)

At Woodlawn looking
northwest along Fredericksburg Rd.
This photo shows where the original US 87 freeway ended.
Just beyond the overpass, you can see the ramp that
curves up to Fredericksburg Rd. that was mentioned in the previous
photo. That ramp reached Fredericksburg Rd. via Magnolia St.
and you can still see elements of that curve today.
(See the bottom of this page.)
(1951)

At
Fredericksburg Rd. looking north
By this time, the freeway had long since been extended
northward.
(1967)

At
Fredericksburg Rd. looking north
This area is where the double-decked freeway starts today.
The curved wall between the freeway and frontage road near the
bottom center of the picture
was part of the Magnolia St. curve discussed above.
(1967)

From the
pedestrian bridge between West Ave. and Fresno Dr. looking south
(1968)

Pedestrian overpass between West Ave. and Fresno Dr.
(Date
unknown, probably ca. 1961)

Looking
northbound (now westbound I-10) near Crossroads Blvd.
(1968)

I-10/Loop 410 interchange under construction looking north
I-10 outside Loop 410 was still under construction, and work on
I-10 inside 410 had not even started yet.
(ca. 1959)

I-10/Loop 410 interchange looking northeast over Wonderland Mall
(ca. 1961)

South of DeZavala
Rd. looking north
The roads in this photo are now the frontage roads for I-10 West.
This picture was taken from the top of the hill approaching DeZavala
on the westbound side. You can see DeZavala itself on the
right between the middle and farthest vehicles. The inward
indentions of the frontage roads in the distance are still in place today between DeZavala and UTSA Blvd.
(1966)
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