 |
San Antonio Area Freeway System
State Highway 151 (Raymond E.
Stotzer Jr. Freeway) |
|
|
|
This page
last updated
January
01, 2010 |
 |
This
page covers State Highway (SH) 151 from US 90 to Loop 1604
in western San Antonio.
Length:
10 miles
|
On this
page:
Description
SH 151
connects rapidly-growing far western Bexar County to Loop 410
and also 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; back-office
operations for Wachovia, Chase, and the Hartford Group; Maxim
integrated products plant; the National Security Agency campus;
QVC service center; BABN Technologies; Capital Group/American
Funds headquarters; Microsoft and Lowes data centers; Northwest
Vista College; and a Santa Rosa hospital. This route also
serves the Southwest Research Institute and Port San
Antonio. At the western end of the corridor is the
sprawling but still fledgling 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, nearly all of the land fronting the corridor is
undeveloped. Outside of 410, much of the frontage is still
undeveloped, but this is rapidly changing to a mix of suburban
commercial, retail, and residential.
Roadway details
| LANES |
- 4
lanes along entire route
|
| ACCESS
ROADS |
|
Continuous
access roads along entire route. These access
roads originally served as the main highway before the
construction of the freeway mainlanes.
|
| EXITS |
|
 Click here for a list of SH 151
exits
|
| SPEED
LIMITS |
- 65
mph along entire route
|
| SPECIAL FEATURES &
NOTES |
- No
directional interchange at Loop 410
- The
interchange at US 90 only facilitates traffic from
westbound US 90 to SH 151 and to eastbound 90 from SH
151
|
|
| TRAFFIC |
|
Generally
moderate. Traffic counts have increased dramatically
over the past decade, especially after the freeway
mainlanes opened in 2004. The western end has seen
particularly astronomical increases.
|
|
| AVERAGE ANNUAL DAILY
TRAFFIC |
| LOCATION |
1990 |
1998 |
2000 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
'98-'08
% CHG |
| N of
US 90 |
25,000 |
30,000 |
32,000 |
43,000 |
42,000 |
51,000 |
+70% |
| E of
Loop 410 |
10,200 |
15,200 |
27,000 |
24,000 |
58,000 |
60,000 |
+295% |
| E of
Potranco Rd. |
16,100 |
32,000 |
23,000 |
49,000 |
81,000 |
77,000 |
+141% |
| W of
Potranco Rd. |
7,300 |
22,000 |
23,000 |
37,000 |
37,000 |
67,000 |
+205% |
| E of
Loop 1604 |
4,100 |
7,600 |
8,600 |
15,400 |
15,100 |
41,100 |
+439% |
Construction projects
No current
projects in this corridor.
Future
plans
TxDOT had
planned to build an underpass for 151 at Loop 1604 starting in
Spring 2007, but that project was deferred until early 2012 due
to funding constraints. There are also long-term plans to
build a fully-directional interchange at Loop 410 and also to
extend 151 all the way to SH 211 in far western Bexar County,
the later project currently conceived as part of the regional
tollway system.
TransGuide coverage is planned for the future as well.
History
Authorized
by Minute Order 81732 (March 14, 1984). Named for Raymond
Stotzer, a longtime TxDOT San Antonio District engineer.
It originally had the moniker "Westside Expressway." When
it was proposed, some maps mistakenly labeled the route as the
"Northwest Expressway." However, at the time, I-10
northwest of downtown officially held this designation (that
route was renamed the McDermott Freeway in the mid '90s.)
A request for
this general route was made as early as 1956. It wasn't
until the early '80s, however, that any serious proposal
surfaced. Developers of Westover Hills, realizing that a
freeway would help spur development in the area, donated land
and money to the state for freeway access roads and lobbied
officials to build a full freeway. In 1985, Sea World
announced it would build its new theme park in Westover Hills,
and state officials quickly approved construction of the 151
access roads from Loop 410 to Loop 1604. Construction
began in late 1985 and was finished in 1987. Work on the
second leg, from Loop 410 to US 90, began in late 1986 and was
finished the following year. In addition to the access
roads, overpasses over the future location of the freeway
mainlanes were also built at some of the major cross streets
near Sea World. The original construction did, however,
include the interchange at US 90.
In 1997,
construction was completed on the first short segment of the
freeway mainlanes over Ingram and Potranco. The freeway
mainlanes and overpass at Old Highway 90 opened in February of
1998, and the mainlane overpass at Pinn was finished in the
summer of 1998. The overpass at Callaghan and the
mainlanes between Callaghan and Old Highway 90 were completed in
March 2001. Modifications to the 151/1604 interchange were
made in conjunction with the Loop 1604/Culebra overpass project
in late 2003. At the direction of the Texas Transportation
Commission, a study was initiated in early 2003 to determine the
feasibility of converting SH 151 to a tollway. However,
due to local political pressure, the tollway proposal was
dropped. The mainlanes from Callaghan to Loop 410 were
completed in May 2004 and from Loop 410 to Loop 1604 in
September 2004.
|
Freeway system
