The decade-long plan to add toll lanes on an eight-mile stretch of U.S. 281, among the most clogged roads in San Antonio, is closer to becoming a reality after the release Friday of a federal environmental study.

Now the public has until June 22 to comment on it.

The project involves converting U.S. 281 from Loop 1604 to Borgfeld Road into an expressway, eliminating traffic lights and adding toll lanes. The new expressway would be built at-grade level, but there would be elevated overpasses at major intersections.

On the southern section, from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Parkway, there would be a mix of toll and nontoll lanes: two toll lanes in the center, called managed lanes, and four, nontoll expressway lanes. On the northern segment, from Stone Oak to Borgfeld, all four new expressway lanes would have tolls. Frontage roads along the entire stretch of U.S. 281 would remain free.

Nontoll, direct connector ramps also would be built, joining the northern half of U.S. 281 to Loop 1604; right now, there are only ramps on the southern half of 281.

More Information To read the study or comment on it, visit http://www.411on281.com/us281eis/

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Bexar County Engineer Renee Green said chances are good the federal government will sign off on the study, called an environmental impact statement, sometime this summer, assuming no “new and substantive” issues are raised during the comment period about the plan.

“Looks like we’re finally going to reach a point where we get something done,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff. “I’m hopeful about it.”

The environmental study, a 6,000-plus page document, looks at the impact of the proposed plans — an elevated expressway or a no-build option were also considered — on the surrounding environment, including noise levels, groundwater and species in the area.

The study has been in the works for years, revised and delayed several times, most recently last fall, when the report was put on hold another six months for completion of a biological assessment, at the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Once the government issues a so-called record of decision on the study, then the county, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority can begin hiring contractors to actually build it.

Construction likely would begin in mid- to late 2016 if the federal government signs off on the study this summer.

“The good news is, we actually can see relief in sight for the people who drive out there,” Green said.

If built, this would be the first toll lane project in Bexar County history, but several others are planned, including added lanes on Interstate 10 and Interstate 35.

Funding remains a concern for the 281 project: Because of increasing right-of-way costs, Green said it’s very possible the project will be broken into two phases, though that’s a decision the Alamo RMA board will likely make this summer. Right now, the Alamo RMA has $228 million for the project; another $230 million is needed to do the entire project. That last batch of funding will likely have to come from a State Infrastructure Bank loan, a federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan or toll revenue bonds, Green said.

“If this project had been built 10 years ago before the cost of land in that particular area had gone up to what it is now, it could have been a lot less,” Green said.

Work on the southern section, from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Parkway, would begin first and probably be done by 2018, Green said. The northern section, from Stone Oak to about Borgfeld at the Bexar-Comal county line, is expected to be finished by 2020.

The Alamo RMA this summer will also look at a final traffic and revenue study, which could help determine the price of tolls. Currently, the county has predicted tolls would cost anywhere from 17 cents to 50 cents a mile, depending on the time of day, but that could change.

The project isn’t out of the woods yet. Lawsuits can be filed challenging the study for 150 days after the record of decision is issued.

Anti-toll activist Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, said her group won’t rule out filing litigation.

“We’ve always been thinking about it,” Hall said. “We’re not going to let a toll road go on 281.”

However, she’s hopeful there could still be a way to find money to remove tolls from the project. Legislative officials have worked out a budget that would shift about $1.2 billion to the state highway fund over the next two years, by ending diversions to other departments.

The House and Senate now are working to resolve two competing bills to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next year that would ask voters to decide to take either a portion of vehicle sales tax or general sales tax and move those to the highway fund, which could generate anywhere from $2.5 billion to $3.6 billion for roads, said Vic Boyer, president and chief executive officer of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition. But none of that money could go to toll projects, Boyer said. Money generated by Proposition 1, the highway funding constitutional amendment voters passed last fall, also prohibits any dollars going to projects with tolls.

The House and Senate have also passed a bill that, if signed by the governor, will require TxDOT to study the expense of paying off debt service on all of the state’s existing toll roads, essentially looking at how much it will cost to eliminate toll roads.

But Green said it’s unlikely there’s a financially viable way to make U.S. 281 an expressway without tolls. That’s just one of the only financial tools available to make the numbers work, she said.

“No one is going to make any money on this project,” she said.

vdavila@express-news.net

Twitter: @viannadavila