History: gas stations Humble Oil
by Brian
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More on the Humble service station
As Patrick noted in an earlier post, the Express-News did a story recently about the old Humble Oil gas station south of downtown. Several years ago, yours truly stumbled across it while photographing the adjacent section of I-10/35. At the time, I speculated that it might have been built in the early ’50s when the expressway ended at that location and went out of business in the early ’60s. However, the E-N article says city staffers believe it to be from the ’30s and was abandoned in 1977. Either way, it’s obviously a relic that time has forgotten. Here is the page I put up after I discovered the place, which includes a lot more pictures of it:
“What matters may not be beautiful”
An old San Antonio gas station, faded and flaking in the sun, weeds licking its foundation, has risen to the top out of almost 2,000 historical sites entered in a national online photo contest.
After months of submissions to the “This Place Matters” contest, the National Trust for Historic Preservation picked 12 finalists and last week put them up for a public vote. Voting ends this Friday, so anything can happen, but by today the San Antonio photo of a Humble Oil station led with 14 percent.
Roads Safety: cars Roads Safety
by Patrick
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Most owners mistreat their cars
Are you running your car ragged?
Chances are, you might not even know it if you were, a recent AAA survey indicates. Some 62 percent of motorists run their vehicles hard but just 6 percent know they do.
That means almost two in three people often drive:
- Fewer than five miles in normal temperatures or less than 10 when it’s freezing.
- In stop-and-go traffic in hot weather.
- Slower than 50 miles per hour over long distances.
- On roads that are dusty, muddy or have salt, sand or gravel spread on them.
- Towing a trailer, carrying a camper (if a pickup truck) or with items latched to a roof rack or stowed in a carrier.
Now, many motorists know they drive like that, they just don’t know that they ought to be replacing parts and fluids more often, AAA says. Owner’s manuals usually list two different maintenance schedules — one for normal driving and one for severe workouts.
So most cars likely don’t get the upkeep they should.
How about that. Looks like I’ll be going over my maintenance recommendations.
Aviation Travel: San Antonio International Airport TransGuide website
by Brian
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Transportation website makeovers
New airport website
Two local transportation-related websites have gotten or are about to get long-overdue overhauls. First, sometime last month, San Antonio International Airport launched their vastly improved website. Besides being much more professional-looking, the new website is substantially easier to navigate, is less cluttered than the old one, and just works better overall. Along with the new airport site is a companion site called “SAOnTheFly“, which is dedicated solely to the award-winning concessions program at the airport. It’s here that I found the feature I like best– the very slick interactive terminal maps. Congratulations to those involved in these new sites!
Another site getting a much-needed makeover soon is the TransGuide website. Visiting their website, you’ll see a big “TransGuide website upgrade coming end of October 2009” banner with a “beta” preview of the site already online alongside the soon-to-be “legacy” site. I’ll have more details of the new TransGuide site on a future posting.
Roads: construction FM 1957 pass-through financing Potranco SH 211 widening
by Brian
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Good and bad news for Potranco
If your commute involves Potranco Rd. (FM 1957) outside Loop 1604, then I have the proverbial good news and bad news for you. The good news is that the Texas Transportation Commission approved a pass-through financing agreement with Bexar County last week that will allow the county to fund and manage the widening of Potranco from two to four lanes between Loop 1604 and SH 211 in far western Bexar County. This agreement will allow the expansion work to get done much, much sooner than if it had to wait its turn for “traditional” (read: gas tax) funding, which is growing more scarce every year. After the project is completed, TxDOT will reimburse the county for about 65% of the costs on a prorated basis over several years. The Potranco widening is lumped-in with another much-needed project: the completion (finally) of SH 211. I hear that developers in the area are picking-up the remainder of the tab on the two projects.
The bad news? It looks like work won’t start for about two years as Bexar County finalizes the plans for the two projects. So relief is still a few years away, but at least the ball has started rolling.
Construction and closures Roads: closures construction Loop 410 Roads
by Patrick
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Loop 410 closed Saturday
Workers will close eastbound Loop 410 on the Northeast Side this Saturday so they can set bridge beams.
Crews will divert motorists to a frontage road from 2 a.m. to as late as 6 p.m., according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Traffic will probably start backing up on the freeway’s main lanes shortly after sunrise.
To skip the mess, drivers can use Wurzbach Parkway or Austin Highway. Or, like I’ll do from the Northwest Side, you can swing wide to Loop 1604.
Click the map to find routes.
Check TransGuide for current highway conditions.
Welcome!
Welcome to On the Move! I’m excited to be part of this new forum for discussing the ever-changing and sometimes contentious scene of transportation issues here in San Antonio and Texas. I’m especially proud of the other contributors to this blog: Patrick Driscoll, former transportation issues writer for the Express-News and instigator of this endeavour, and Hugh Hemphill, curator of the Texas Transportation Museum. Both bring their unique expertise and experience to this blog.
Here we go
This is the start of a journey by three guys (bios) interested in transportation.
We’re not sure where it’s headed, which is a good thing, since most of the fun lies in uncharted areas. But we’re starting from a realization that transportation is a web that binds and builds communities and commerce. How we get around, and the ways to make it happen, helps shape everything from our personal lives to the economy.
That’s a nice broad topic, strewn with beaten paths and roads less traveled, to explore. We’ll probably wander afar. But we’re sure to tread in San Antonio and Texas, talking about toll roads and light rail, the latest construction and closures, telling tales from the road and who knows what else.
So welcome. Drop by any time. Join the conversation. Nudge us in new directions.