History Roads Safety: Alamo Regional Mobility Authority Braun Road Loop 1604 superstreet Texas Department of Transportation traffic signals
by Brian
9 comments
“Whoever put traffic lights on Loop 1604 needs to be punched”
The oft-maligned 1604/Braun intersection
Well, once again, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here. I’ve been working on what I think will be an exciting new addition to my website (stay tuned for more on that soon.) However, as I was watching the Sunday morning political talk shows, my wife mentioned something that motivated me to write this post, which is one that I’ve been meaning to do for a while. While Facebooking (can that really be a verb?), she came across a new Facebook group with the same title as this post. After rolling my eyes (as I often do in these situations), I realized (also as I often do in these situations) that the creator of that group– and those who subscribe to the explicit as well as implicit sentiment of it– probably just doesn’t have the back-story to understand why things are the way they are and that my initial reaction made me just as guilty of jumping to conclusions as that person was. Whoever created the group is obviously frustrated– they even say they’re “pissed off” at the “stupid” traffic lights, and I sympathize with their frustration. But, as is often the case, there’s more to the story than meets the eye, and maybe if folks understood how things got to be as they are, they might be more forgiving. This posting is an attempt at that.
Laws and policies Roads Toll roads: CDAs MPO superstreet Tommy Adkisson US 281
by Brian
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MPO approves long-range plan; Tommy starts to get it
As reported here last week, the San Antonio-Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) policy board was scheduled to vote on the “Mobility 2035” long-range regional plan yesterday. Toll opponents were angry because the plan included numerous projects in three corridors (I-35 North, Loop 1604, and I-10 West) pigeon-holed as toll-concession projects, also known as Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) projects. As I explained previously, because current projections show little to no gas-tax funds being available during the time span of the plan, those projects had to have creative funding “placeholders” assigned to them in order to continue planning work on them, those placeholders being CDAs.
Loop 1604 “Super Street” to be studied
Diagram of a typical super street intersection (KY DOT)
Bexar County Commissioners have approved funding for a feasibility study for a “super street” on Loop 1604 from Braun Rd. to SH 151. This would be the same concept recently approved for US 281 north of Loop 1604.