Toll lanes coming to San Antonio

Ted Houghton, Chair of the Texas Transportation Commission, answers questions from the media Monday Jan. 6, 2014 after a press conference at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio. State and local transportation officials announced plans to pursue construction of $825 million in San Antonio area road projects, including the first toll lanes in Bexar County. less Ted Houghton, Chair of the Texas Transportation Commission, answers questions from the media Monday Jan. 6, 2014 after a press conference at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio. State and local transportation officials ... more Photo: Edward A. Ornelas, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Edward A. Ornelas, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Toll lanes coming to San Antonio 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — As state and local officials giddily unveiled plans Monday to spend $825 million on highway projects, Bexar County got one step closer to shaking off its distinction as one of the last urban areas in Texas without toll lanes.

U.S. 281 north of Loop 1604 will be converted to an expressway with a mix of free and toll lanes. On Interstate 10, toll lanes will be added in the center between 1604 and Ralph Fair Road, and tolled connector ramps will be built to link I-10 and 1604, expanding the capacity of that interchange.

But tolls are only one part of the massive plan as officials also announced funding to switch a long section of western Loop 1604 to a nontoll expressway.

Besides the highway projects, Mayor Julián Castro announced Monday the city's plan to take over almost 22 miles of major streets now maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, including parts of Broadway, San Pedro Avenue, Culebra Road and Fredericksburg Road.

The City Council and TxDOT still have to approve the proposal. City officials have asked the state to meet certain conditions first, including that TxDOT perform maintenance on all the roads before they are handed over and that the state pay to make part of Broadway a “complete” street, one that accommodates pedestrians, bicyclists and other alternative modes of transportation.

But officials seemed confident that the plans would get the stamp of approval after months of negotiations between the city and TxDOT.

“Today is a breakthrough boost for quality of life in the San Antonio area,” Castro said.

The word of the day was partnerships, and how collaboration made this “comprehensive mobility program” possible, said Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ted Houghton: Funding for the highway projects will come from various agencies, including TxDOT and the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority.

The San Antonio region's population is expected to soar to 3.4 million by 2040, pointing to the need for highway expansion, Houghton said.

The projects normally would have taken 10 years to complete, using traditional funding methods, said outgoing TxDOT Executive Director Phil Wilson. Partnerships and the use of toll lanes cut the time in half.

“These projects are moving fast,” he said at a news conference that also kicked off the Texas Transportation Forum.

Officials Monday also emphasized that the toll lanes, which they call “managed” lanes, will be different than traditional toll-only roads on which all drivers must pay to use. Typically with managed lanes, solo drivers pay to use them but people riding public transit, such as buses, and carpoolers can travel for free. For other drivers, the price to use the managed lanes could vary, depending on the time of day or the number of vehicles on the road.

On U.S. 281, the plan is to convert the section between Loop 1604 and the Bexar/Comal county line into an expressway, removing the traffic lights.

From 1604 to Stone Oak Boulevard, there will be toll lanes in the center and nontoll expressway lanes on both sides. All the expressway lanes between Stone Oak and the county line will be toll lanes; the existing access roads will remain free.

As part of the project, a ramp will connect the expressway to VIA Metropolitan Transit's planned park-and-ride facility at Stone Oak.

The Alamo RMA will apply for a $228 million loan from the State Infrastructure Bank or through the federal government to fund part of the project, said Bexar County Public Works Director Renee Green, who is also working with the RMA.

On I-10, the toll lanes will be added in the center between Ralph Fair and 1604, and tolled connector ramps will join I-10 and 1604. The existing free interchange and free lanes will remain.

TxDOT has agreed to allocate $70 million for the project, which is matching Alamo RMA dollars going to Loop 1604. An additional $72 million in state funds that had been set aside to build toll lanes on Loop 1604 will be shifted to I-10. The rest of the funding will come from a $38 million loan.

Toll revenue will pay back the I-10 and U.S. 281 loans.

The project on the western section of Loop 1604 will eliminate the traffic lights from Culebra to U.S. 90, making that a nontoll expressway.

The Alamo RMA plans to allocate $70 million generated by a $10 vehicle registration fee, passed by the Legislature last year, to the build the expressway lanes. The rest of the money will come from Advanced Transportation District sales tax revenues, which were previously allocated to part of that project.

As of now, the timetable for construction has the Loop 1604 project starting in early 2015, U.S. 281 in the fall of that year and I-10 in late 2016, Wilson said.

Houghton also noted that the toll revenue will remain in local hands. Once the loans for the toll projects are paid off, the tolls will start “spinning off cash” to fund other projects, he said.