Unfunded I-10 expansion plan is in the works
1/21/2010
By Edmond Ortiz - Staff Writer/Northwest Weekly
For a proposed project that currently has no identified funding source, some residents aren't happy with the Texas Department of Transportation's plan to expand a part of Interstate 10 in Northwest San Antonio.
TxDOT representatives told a crowd Jan. 13 at Clark High School that it'd be wise to have such a plan in place in case the needed $40 million becomes available.
South of Loop 1604, TxDOT aims to add a lane in each direction, reconfigure ramps, remove an entrance ramp after Huebner Road and an exit ramp before DeZavala Road, and replace two bridges.
“We've got to be prepared for any opportunity to secure more funds to improve our roads,” San Antonio District 8 City Councilman Reed Williams said.
“I don't think anybody knows if or when this may happen, but if we're not ready, it won't happen.”
TxDOT is collecting written comments from the public through Monday and is preparing documents to receive environmental clearance from the Federal Highway Administration. The state estimates the $40 million project would take three years to complete.
Clay Smith, TxDOT's transportation planning and development director for the San Antonio district, said if federal money cannot be allocated for this project, funds from Proposition 12, which Texas voters approved in 2007, could be used.
Smith added the Texas Legislature is expected to authorize additional monies during its 2011 session, but such funds likely won't be available until 2012.
A few residents sign up to speak at the public meeting, but there was much criticism of TxDOT's plan for this stretch of I-10, which the agency recently described as one of the state's most-congested highways.
“I'm a big-picture guy. It seems TxDOT and the people heading up these so-called improvements are looking at a microcosm of a big wreck,” resident Jerry Smith said.
“We're trading one problem for another,” Smith continued. “The people that live in these communities are going to be inconvenienced for three years of their lives. You're gonna spend millions of dollars of trying to improve one to (two) lanes when you'll improve nothing.”
One woman said she feels TxDOT did consider current traffic patterns and problem spots along the project's stretch of road, such as the timing of traffic lights at the DeZavala/10 junction and the highway exit from the Huebner Oaks retail center.
Katt Perry, a critic of the state's ongoing toll road plans, expressed frustration that TxDOT is considering a new, major road project while other ongoing or previously planned projects have been constant sources of controversy.
“You are not concentrating on real solutions for places like 1604 and 281,” she added.
Online: www.mysanantonio.com/community/northwest/northwest_weekly/Unfunded_I-10_expansion_plan_is_in_the_works.html
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