SAN ANTONIO – Economic development, land use, traffic, and urban design are the next phase for the future of the Bandera Road Corridor.
- Planning meeting for Bandera Road Corridor
- City asking community for feedback
- Hundreds of people arrived for the meeting
The city has started asking community members what they would like to see.
"We're kind of hoping that Bandera Road is going to grow up," said resident John Blanton.
Blanton is one of hundreds of people living nearby and wanting to make it better. He is recording this first planning meeting to share with his neighbors in his Home Owners Association.
"Be a full street with sidewalks and drainage and all that kind of thing," Blanton said when asked what he'd like to see.
The city is working with the Texas Department of Transportation to give people a voice in the planning process with many residents ready with new ideas.
"I don't want an overhang over my backyard basically," said resident Stacey Cleveland.
"It's just really safety and infrastructure, but especially safety," said resident Eileen Richardson.
The project impacts three city council districts and Leon Valley.
"It's one of those really critical roadways in San Antonio where it's one of the main connectors between 410 and 1604. It connects the community to Medical Center," said Rudy Nino with the City of San Antonio's Planning Department.
Local leaders are stressing that this is a project that will benefit not just one part of town, but the region as a whole as it continues to grow.
"The city of San Antonio adopted the SA Tomorrow comprehensive plan that talks about growth and development and how we're going to accommodate more than a million people in Bexar County by the year 2040," Nino said.
"We can see it's a problem because it's a major Texas highway coming in from the North and it goes right down to the center of town so it needs some improvement," said Blanton.
As those improvements come, the city wants to go about it the right way.
"Do it respectfully and with consideration to neighborhoods and the existing businesses that are currently located in some of these corridors," Nino said.
The city plans to host other community planning meetings like this during the Summer months.