SAN ANTONIO -- Changes are coming for commuters in Stone Oak and the Timberwood Park neighborhood.
- New interchange coming at 1604 and Blanco
- TXDot anticipating San Antonio growth
- Area already a frustrating traffic experience
The Texas Department of Transportation proposed a new type of interchange at 1604 and Blanco. TXDot said that intersection sees more than 35,000 cars a day and predict that number will double by 2050.
"Well, it's definitely a challenge, there's no sugarcoating that," TXDot's Herman Rozemberg said.
TXDot is trying to keep up with the projected growth of San Antonio.
"It's really difficult right now to get around and I don't really know how they are going to improve that given how much building they are doing," said resident Linda Rosenfeld.
TXDot's plan to improve the intersection at 1604 and Blanco is called a DDI, or a Diverging Diamond Interchange.
"You go on the opposite side and you come back around with traffic lights in the middle of course," said Rozemberg. "It takes away that time that you usually have at a normal intersection to turn left. If you have to turn left you have to wait for the traffic light. With this, there's no waiting. You actually go in and come back around and keep going."
"I've seen a lot of really angry people with the merging, they just really don't understand the merging system and they don't want to leave the trucks in and there's a lot of honking," Rosenfeld said.
TXDot is focusing on traffic hot spots around the city, like 1604 and Bandera. That's where a new DLT, Displaced Left Turn configuration, will open in the next month.
"And then at 1604 and 281. I have not been north of 1604 on 281 in 6 months," said Rosenfeld. "It's just not worth even trying to get up there."
TXDot said 281, phase 1, is another hot spot.
The good news is work should finish a year ahead of schedule, by late 2020.
"Is the most congested stretch of highway in the entire San Antonio region and 15th most congested in the state," Rozemberg said.
Work on the second phase on 281 from Stone Oak Parkway to the Comal County line starts Friday, and is scheduled to be completed by 2022.
"I know that the point is to make it better in the future but this area is so congested," said Rosenfeld.
So for now drivers may be left idling but TXDot is hitting the gas pedal full speed ahead.
This project is still in the planning stages and at the earliest construction would not start until fall of 2021.
