San
Antonio Area Freeway System
PROJECT
INFO: Loop 410-US 281-San Pedro and vicinity |
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This
page last updated October 28, 2020 |
Location
- Loop
410 from West Ave. to Broadway
- US
281 from Nakoma Dr. to Jones-Maltsberger (North)
Status
Advanced planning (see timeline below.)
Description
Sometimes, things work out better on paper than in practice.
Loop 410 between US 281 and NW Military is one of those cases. Designed
and built as part of the massive project to widen Loop 410 from six to
10 lanes across the North Side during the first decade of this
millennium, some operational issues have become evident over the years
mainly due to entrance and exit ramp locations. To be fair, this is a
difficult area to work with-- in less than 2.5 miles, there are six
intersecting thoroughfares plus flyovers to/from US 281 all crammed
together in an area where the frontage is heavily developed along
the busiest stretch of freeway in Texas outside of Houston.
So getting everything to work optimally out of the gate was a heavy
lift.
With
the traffic patterns and issues in the area now stable and
well-understood,
engineers have been able to better model several possible tweaks and
fixes and have settled on a package of improvements that should
iron-out most of the pain points in the area as well as accommodate
changes that have occurred since the work in this area was
completed a dozen or so years ago. Planners also looked a little
further afield and will make some adjustments along US 281 north of
Loop 410 to help streamline some kinks there as well.
Below
are descriptions of the planned changes broken-out by
segments. As you read through, you will see how
many of the changes in one segment are related to changes being made in
adjacent segments. A
snippet of the schematic for each segment is provided; click on the
image to show a larger view. The full schematics are available at the
bottom of this page.
LOOP 410
Airport to Jones-Maltsberger
The current entrance ramp from Airport Blvd. will be moved east to
beneath US 281. This is being done to increase the weaving area between
that entrance and the McCullough exit. This relocation does mean that
traffic coming from the southbound US 281 access road wanting to enter
Loop 410 westbound will have to use the next entrance ramp, which will
be past San Pedro.

Jones-Maltsberger to McCullough
The westbound exit ramp to McCullough will be expanded to two lanes and
become the exit ramp for McCullough, San Pedro, and
Blanco. This will require part of the flyover from US 281 to
be rebuilt in order to move the support columns. The westbound access
road will be expanded to four lanes from that exit ramp to McCullough.
On the eastbound side, one more lane will be added to the access road
between McCullough and Jones-Maltsberger. Both of these access road
expansions will require additional right-of-way.
Big
changes will happen at McCullough. The existing overpass will be
reconfigured to allow only for southbound traffic turning left from the
westbound access road. Traffic on McCullough wanting to go south over
the overpass will instead have to turn right onto the westbound access
road, then take the turnaround at San Pedro to return to McCullough.
There will be no northbound McCullough traffic at all on that overpass,
so traffic heading north on McCullough will have to turn right onto the
access road and then take the turnaround at Jones-Maltsberger to return
to McCullough. To help facilitate this, there will be a double right
turn lane on northbound McCullough and the expanded access road between
McCullough and Jones-Maltsberger. Traffic on the eastbound access road
wanting to turn left onto northbound McCullough will instead have to go
down to the Jones-Maltsberger turnaround and come back to McCullough.
This configuration is essentially a "superstreet" intersection minus
one of the left turns. The turnarounds in both directions will remain.
The
reason for this change at McCullough is to allow westbound traffic on
the access road to flow through the McCullough intersection unimpeded
as it will now be carrying traffic from Loop 410 headed to San Pedro
and Blanco. Blocking the McCullough through traffic from that overpass
means that the westbound access road traffic will no longer have to
stop for cross traffic; instead, the signal that remains there will
only be for the pedestrian crossing. These changes will also
significantly shorten the red time for the eastbound access road (more
on why this is important in the next section.)

McCullough to San Pedro
On the westbound Loop 410 mainlanes, a barrier will be installed
separating the lanes coming from US 281 from the Loop 410 through
lanes. This barrier will extend to just past the current San Pedro
exit. That exit will then only be accessible to traffic coming from US
281. This will prevent the weaving of traffic there that is
the cause of the recurring congestion on the US 281 flyovers.
The lanes from US 281 will then join the Loop 410 mainlanes just past
the San Pedro exit.
On
the westbound access road, an extra lane will be added between
McCullough and San Pedro and a right-turn lane will be added at the
entrance to Chick-Fil-A. The westbound entrance ramp just west of
McCullough will be removed; this is being done to eliminate the extra
inflow of traffic between the incoming US 281 lanes and the entrance
from San Pedro.
On
the eastbound access road, the entrance to eastbound Loop 410 between
San Pedro and McCullough will be removed. This is to eliminate the
weaving and conflicts with the exit to US 281. Traffic coming from San
Pedro wanting to get onto eastbound Loop 410 will continue on the
access road and enter Loop 410 between McCullough and
Jones-Maltsberger. The shorter red time at the McCullough intersection
as mentioned above will help reduce delays for that traffic.

San Pedro to Blanco
The southbound right turn on San Pedro to the westbound access road
will be expanded to two lanes, but the far right lane will be
designated only for traffic wanting to go to Blanco Rd.; that lane will
be separated by a concrete island from the rest of the access road
lanes until it is past the entrance to westbound Loop 410, which itself
will be moved east a bit. The
concrete island will ensure that Blanco-destined traffic does not
interfere with traffic trying to enter Loop 410. The
entrance ramp is being moved to increase the weave distance between it
and the exit to NW Military and to eliminate the weaving caused by
traffic trying to merge over from the bypass overpass. Traffic coming
from that overpass wanting to get on westbound Loop 410 will instead
have to go through the Blanco intersection and enter 410 near NW
Military. The westbound access road at Blanco will be
expanded to three through lanes.
On
the eastbound side, the exit to San Pedro will be removed and moved
further back (more on that in the next section.) Traffic coming from
that new exit will fly over the access road and then have a fork to
either exit to San Pedro or go onto the bypass overpass over San Pedro
to McCullough. The driveway from Park North closest to San
Pedro will be restricted to only entering the bypass overpass over San
Pedro; this is to eliminate traffic shooting across the access road to
get to San Pedro.
The
eastbound access road coming from Blanco will not be able to get onto
the bypass overpass over San Pedro. Any traffic on that access road
wanting to continue east to McCullough will have to go through the San
Pedro intersection. This is being done to eliminate the dangerous
weaving approaching San Pedro. At San Pedro, there will be three left
turn lanes.
The
eastbound entrance ramp to Loop 410 just east of Blanco will remain but
its location will be slightly adjusted.

Blanco to Honeysuckle
On westbound Loop 410, the existing entrance from Blanco will be
shifted west and will fly over the exit to Honeysuckle, which itself
will be moved slightly further east and also become the exit for West
Ave. and Jackson Keller. (More on that in the following section.) The
flyover to NW Military will have to be rebuilt to accommodate these
changes and to move it slightly west to increase the weaving distance
between it and the upstream entrance from San Pedro.
The
southbound ramp from NW Military onto the westbound access road will be
pulled in closer to NW Military and become a sharper turn. This is
being done to improve sight distance and eliminate a double merge
(right and left side) where the exit ramp to Honeysuckle merges with
the access road.
On
the eastbound side, the existing exit to NW Military and Blanco will
become just the exit for Blanco and will fly over the access
road ramp to NW Military and then merge onto the access road. (NW
Military traffic will exit further west.) The
access road will be straightened between Oak Royal and Blanco. The ramp
from NW Military to the access road will be eliminated, i.e. traffic
coming from NW Military will have to enter eastbound Loop 410. This was
necessary to avoid conflicting with the new flyover exit for Blanco.
Traffic coming from NW Military wanting to get to Blanco should instead
use the westbound access road and then take the turnaround at
Honeysuckle.
At
the intersection of NW Military and the eastbound Loop 410 access road,
through traffic on the access road headed to Loop 410 will have a
dedicated bypass lane separated from the rest of the intersection by a
concrete island; this will allow them to continue through the
intersection without stopping.
On eastbound
Loop 410, a new two-lane exit for San Pedro will depart from the
mainlanes beneath the NW Military overpass and will ascend onto a
flyover that will go over the entrance from NW Military, pass over
Blanco, shift to the right over the access road, and descend before
reaching San Pedro. From there, traffic can reach San Pedro or the
bypass overpass to continue to McCullough as discussed above.

Honeysuckle to West Ave.
The westbound exit to West Ave. and Jackson Keller will be removed.
That traffic will exit further back at the Honeysuckle exit. This was
done to eliminate the weaving between that ramp and the upstream
entrance from Blanco. The existing entrance ramp from Honeysuckle/NW
Military will remain.
The
eastbound entrance from West Ave. and Jackson Keller will be removed
and replaced with an exit for Honeysuckle and NW Military. This is
being done to eliminate the weaving between that former entrance and
the exit to Blanco and to reduce the number of intersections traffic
exiting for NW Military would have to traverse. Traffic from West Ave.
and Jackson Keller wanting to get on eastbound Loop 410 will proceed
through the Honeysuckle and NW Military intersections (the latter of
which will have a bypass lane as mentioned above.)
Engineers
wanted to close the Honeysuckle underpass to all traffic except
emergency vehicles in order to eliminate the signals on the access
roads, but the City of Castle Hills nixed that. However, traffic on
Honeysuckle is fairly light, so the signals can be timed to reduce
delays on the access roads.

US 281
Southbound Nakoma to Isom
The
southbound exit for San Pedro will be moved further north to just south
of Nakoma and feed into a new a collector-distributor (C/D) road that
will be built on the southbound side between Nakoma and San Pedro. This
roadway will sit between the access road and mainlanes and will collect
the traffic exiting for San Pedro and entering from Nakoma. Just past
Rhapsody will be an entrance ramp to southbound US 281. The other lanes
will then continue onto San Pedro. The C/D road will allow the traffic
entering from Nakoma and exiting to San Pedro to weave on its own
roadway separated from both the mainlanes and access road. This is
safer and helps to prevent congestion on the mainlanes caused by
weaving. A portion of the Rhapsody overpass will have to be
rebuilt to accommodate the C/D road

Northbound Jones-Maltsberger
to Isom
The
two lanes on the flyover from Loop 410 will continue onto US 281. The
Jones-Maltsberger entrance ramp will be removed to eliminate the
conflict with traffic coming from Loop 410. Traffic from
Jones-Maltsberger wanting to get onto US 281 northbound will continue
to the entrance ramp at Isom. On the
northbound access road at Isom, a second through lane will be provided.

How
this project will help
All of these improvements are designed to streamline traffic flow
in these areas, mainly by eliminating the weaving near ramps or
providing additional space for the weaving that must remain. The
rationale for each element of the improvements is discussed in the
corresponding section above.
Timeline
This project is currently scheduled to start in late 2024.
FAQ
- Why didn't they get this right the first time?
As explained above, that stretch of Loop 410
is a
very difficult area to work with-- in less than 2.5 miles, there are
six
intersecting thoroughfares plus flyovers to/from US 281 all crammed
together in an area where the frontage is heavily developed along
the busiest stretch of freeway in Texas outside of Houston.
Trying to get all those moving parts to fit together perfectly is an
extraordinarily difficult task. Nearly all complex projects
(construction or otherwise) require some tweaking and adjustments after
initial completion, and this is no different.
Schematics
Below are
the detailed schematics for this project from TxDOT with my
own
annotations added to help clarify and explain the various elements.
Click on an image below to open the schematic in a new window that you
can scroll and zoom. .
LOOP 410
US 281
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