1604/281 Interchange (Houston, San Antonio, West: sales, day care, high school)

[ItsTheTruth]

Originally Posted by BenjaminNicholas

Whomever designs these new ramps for the city is a dolt: Every major new interchange built in San Antonio over the last 10 years (I10/410, 281/1604) has been completely antiquated by the time it's opened. It's as if they didn't expect the city to continue to grow, so they didn't even look at the possibility of making things a bit larger than normal to handle greater capacity.

Cost. The rumor I heard was that the 410/281 interchanges would've been an extra 19 million to make two lanes in each direction and it was shot down, which if true is simple mind-blowing.

[teenwolf80]

Originally Posted by Quattro72

Totally agreed. If you have used the 635 and 75 interchange in Dallas, what we have down here is a joke and completely useless.

That's probably because a majority of highway dollars goes to Dallas and Houston. San Antonio gets jacks--t compared to those two.

Btw, I think you're vastly overrating the 635/75 interchange in Dallas.

[johnts71]

I took the new bridge from 281 on to 1604 east...probably shouldn't have cause the new exit to Redland isnt open yet

[erio3]

Originally Posted by teenwolf80

That's probably because a majority of highway dollars goes to Dallas and Houston. San Antonio gets jacks--t compared to those two.

Btw, I think you're vastly overrating the 635/75 interchange in Dallas.

you downplay EVERYTHING that is even remotely negative towards San Antonio.

tbh, San Antonio deserves less than Dallas and Houston because SA is a fraction of the size those two places are.

[&heart]

Originally Posted by the_dimwit

I drive the 281 corridor every day as part of my commute. Northbound 281 has several problems that will only be slightly improved by the new ramp opening:

1) 281/410 - The ramp coming from 410 to 281N has two lanes (one from 410E main lanes and the other from 410W access road). The merge point for the two lanes is anywhere from halfway up the ramp to the point where the ramp officially merges with 281N. This becomes a choke point that backs traffic all the way up the ramp and onto 410W.

2) 281/Bitters - The entrance ramp from the access road (just after Bitters) congests traffic beyond Bitters (to just past the airport runway light "bridge"). This seems to be, in large part, due to people slowing down as traffic merges onto 281N in a very short distance. The problem is made worse by people (like me) who jump off 281N at the Bitters exit, hug the left lane, and merge back onto 281N without hitting the Bitters intersection. (It's a easy way to shave 3-5 minutes off my commute.)

3) 281/1604 - Yes, there are traffic delays from people actually trying to get onto 1604 from 281N, but once you pass the exit ramp for 1604 the traffic is all folks who want to continue going north on 281. Traffic is often backed up from TPC/Stone Oak Parkway to just past the 281/1604 interchange. This issue has nothing to do with 1604, but is a problem caused by traffic merging together just past Sonterra Blvd. (before Redland Road) and the well-known traffic lights all the way up to TPC/Stone Oak Pkwy.

While I applaud the efforts made to make things easier on those trying to get on/off 1604 to 281, it doesn't solve the bigger problems:

1) Traffic-lighted intersections on 281N through Stone Oak Parkway.
2) Too much traffic trying to use entrance ramps that are either poorly-designed or too short for normal traffic volume

--Dim

I remember the first time I drove in this city, I had to use that ramp and thought the exact same thing while on it. "Why do the two ramps merge and not have their own lane?" A huge (and very nice) interchange with a substantial flaw. Funny how I remember this. Haha

Now it looks like i'm going to have to make the drive up there to see how the interchange looks. Weren't the first ramps supposed to open in october?

[johnts71]

they are making everyone get off on Redland heading westbound! traffic is insane right now

[TangoUniform]

It's funny that everyone on this board knows more about designing highway interchanges than the engineers themselves. Maybe you guys should quit your day jobs and apply at TxDOT.

[teenwolf80]

Originally Posted by erio3

you downplay EVERYTHING that is even remotely negative towards San Antonio.

tbh, San Antonio deserves less than Dallas and Houston because SA is a fraction of the size those two places are.

Downplay? Those are facts. People bitching about the size of ramps and I explain why and I'm down playing? Gtho out of here with that weak stuff.

Btw, the difference in funding provided is not at all proportional to the size of the metro areas of SA, Dallas and Houston.

[teenwolf80]

Originally Posted by TangoUniform

It's funny that everyone on this board knows more about designing highway interchanges than the engineers themselves. Maybe you guys should quit your day jobs and apply at TxDOT.

Engineers and designers have to work within a budget. If they had more funding for those interchanges, they'd have more lanes.

[datacity]

Originally Posted by erio3

you downplay EVERYTHING that is even remotely negative towards San Antonio.

tbh, San Antonio deserves less than Dallas and Houston because SA is a fraction of the size those two places are.

However, in the past due to politics, even money that was budgeted for projects in San Antonio and Austin has been diverted to DFW or Houston. Case in point is 281 north of 1604. TxDOT dragged their feet to the point that the costs to build eventually exceeded the original budget, and by then, our less than articulate governor had moved on to Toll Road financing. A true leader would have tried to get the legislature to a) stop diverting gas tax money to other programs and to b) pegging the gas tax to a percentage of the gas price or letting it grow by some dollar amount over the last quarter century. Instead, we have a gas tax that is a fixed amount set decades ago. With inflation, the overall tax buys less and less road infrastructure every year.