 |
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 it looks
like that project has been deferred until at least 2011 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
