US 281 Super-street is funded! (San Antonio, Anton: real estate, lawsuits, legal)

[TexHwyMan]

Originally Posted by dawgbert

Thanks. Can you give me a link?

Also on 411on281 there is a blurb saying video simulations will be added this week.

I'm not allowed to post it here, so I'll DM you. If anyone else wants the link, DM me.

[Bo]

Here's a release from District 9 Councilman Rowe about this:

Funding for Highway 281 "Super Street" Design Made Available

After weeks of meeting with residents along the Highway 281 corridor about a proposed "Super Street" design north of Loop 1604 I am excited to announce that a partnership has emerged to complete the project. In addition to securing funds from the $22 million in locally controlled stimulus money, VIA and City Council District 9 will be contributing to the project, which will be overseen by the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (RMA). The RMA will be responsible for any overruns on the project, which is expected to cost $7.8 - 8.1 million.

This is an exciting day for residents on the northside, and anyone who drives the 281 corridor. We have been presenting this plan to residents for months and the reaction has been almost unanimous: Do it and do it now!

This project will provide much needed relief while we await a more permanent solution to the traffic on 281. It is estimated that construction of the "Super Street" will take about nine months, following a design phase, which is expected to be completed within the next three to four months.

Residents could be traveling on the completed "Super Street" as early as this time next year.

I believe that Pape-Dawson Engineers deserve to be lauded for their time and the expenses they incurred in planning and presenting the project. Gilmer Gaston with Pape-Dawson joined me for many community meetings and presented the plan independently to several groups, including residents of unincorporated Bexar County areas.

[banker]

I just looked at this supper street and it looks terrible. This is a waste of money as these insane turn lanes will just be torn up when 281 is finally turned into a limited access highway. It seems like it would be a better use of money in the long term to work on building over passes at Evans, Stone Oak, etc so that you could use those bridges when 281 is finally turned into a limited access highway.

This is just more government waste. Thank god I don't live up 281...that will just make these intersections horrible.

[ryneone]

Originally Posted by banker

I just looked at this supper street and it looks terrible. This is a waste of money as these insane turn lanes will just be torn up when 281 is finally turned into a limited access highway. It seems like it would be a better use of money in the long term to work on building over passes at Evans, Stone Oak, etc so that you could use those bridges when 281 is finally turned into a limited access highway.

This is just more government waste. Thank god I don't live up 281...that will just make these intersections horrible.

Well that makes one on this board against them. Anyone else?

[dendox]

I am for them for what they are - a temporary band aid that will greatly help the short term goals.

The money is currently available for them and there are no environmental hurdles for the implementation of them - unlike the more substantial and permanent fixes.

It is wasteful - somewhat. However, if we don't do this now - in 5 years when the nut jobs try to overturn the newest environmental study - they will fault those in power for not implementing this now when they had the money and a chance to do it.

[TexHwyMan]

Originally Posted by banker

I just looked at this supper street and it looks terrible. This is a waste of money as these insane turn lanes will just be torn up when 281 is finally turned into a limited access highway. It seems like it would be a better use of money in the long term to work on building over passes at Evans, Stone Oak, etc so that you could use those bridges when 281 is finally turned into a limited access highway.

Except that they can't build overpasses right now because Terri Hall and her gang managed to get all the required environmental clearances revoked that would have allowed them. Therefore, only minor safety and operational changes can be made, which the super-street falls under.

Extending your logic further, any improvements made to any road are ultimately a waste of money since they will probably be torn-up someday, right? It's going to be at least three years until anything substanitive can be done on 281 (probably longer since AGUA/TURF/SOS will probably sue again once the new EIS is done), so this is a cheap, short-term fix that will get a good bang for the buck.

[banker]

If the money is now available...then pool it all and do one intersection the right way!! I would rather see just Evans be done correctly with an over pass sending 281 over Evans with proper on and off ramps than for them to spread the money out and put bandaids on Encino, Evans, Stone Oak, etc. Do Evans (which is the closest high traffic intersection to 1604) and prepare 281 for the day when it is finally a limited access freeway. I just hate expensive bandaids that will be torn up years from now.

Imagine how nice it would be to have a true overpass at Evans - with all the retail there - it would help the entire area tremendously.

[TexHwyMan]

Originally Posted by banker

If the money is now available...then pool it all and do one intersection the right way!! I would rather see just Evans be done correctly with an over pass sending 281 over Evans with proper on and off ramps than for them to spread the money out and put bandaids on Encino, Evans, Stone Oak, etc. Do Evans (which is the closest high traffic intersection to 1604) and prepare 281 for the day when it is finally a limited access freeway. I just hate expensive bandaids that will be torn up years from now.

Imagine how nice it would be to have a true overpass at Evans - with all the retail there - it would help the entire area tremendously.

Given the 1 minute time difference between our last posts, I'm going to assume you didn't get a chance to read my post before you posted this, so here's my answer to you again:

Except that they can't build overpasses right now because Terri Hall and her gang managed to get all the required environmental clearances revoked that would have allowed them. Therefore, only minor safety and operational changes can be made, which the super-street falls under.

[SAAggiemom]

WOW!!!! How did Terri Hall manage to get the clearance revoked???????????????????????????
I guess it had nothing to do with tainted methodology or a conflict of interest in the process of the ES.
If TXDOT had done nothing wrong I wonder why they were so quick to fold their tent and allow the feds to pull the clearance.
Come on Hwy guy. Don't blow your cred!

[TexHwyMan]

Originally Posted by SAAggiemom

WOW!!!! How did Terri Hall manage to get the clearance revoked???????????????????????????
I guess it had nothing to do with tainted methodology or a conflict of interest in the process of the ES.
If TXDOT had done nothing wrong I wonder why they were so quick to fold their tent and allow the feds to pull the clearance.
Come on Hwy guy. Don't blow your cred!

Because she's the one who started the ball rolling. If she hadn't jumped into bed with AGUA and SOS and sued over so-called "environmental issues", then the original clearances would never have been called into question. By doing so, she cut off her nose to spite her face.

Do you know how incredibly complex these environmental studies are? The last one for 281 was over 24,000 pages. Yes, that's twenty-four thousand pages. Of course you're going to be able to find some kind of flaw in something that big put together by human beings. Admittedly, in the second EA, TxDOT shot themselves in the foot with the whole biologist thing, but if it hadn't been that, it probably would've been something else, and the point is that the second EA wouldn't have even been needed if not for the lawsuit over the first EA, whose only "flaw" was that there were multiple studies instead of one consolidated study. In the end, I think TxDOT and FHWA decided that it would probably be faster and cheaper in the long run to just do the studies that AGUA/TURF/SOS wanted instead of trying to fight it for years and then risk losing in the end anyway. Now, they can be sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed when it inevitably goes back to court in a few years.