Hildebrand will temporarily be one-way

A sign on the corner of Hildebrand and Broadway alerts drivers to future lane closures. A sign on the corner of Hildebrand and Broadway alerts drivers to future lane closures. Photo: Helen L. Montoya, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Helen L. Montoya, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Hildebrand will temporarily be one-way 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Some advice to drivers who cruise through the Broadway-Hildebrand intersection: Now might be a good time to start recalculating your route.

Starting sometime after Jan. 14, Hildebrand Avenue from the San Antonio River to North New Braunfels Avenue will be converted into a one-way, eastbound stretch, part of a massive $15.5 million drainage and street project that begins in the area Monday. The project is part of the 2007 city bond issue.

Drivers who want to take Hildebrand west to U.S. 281 will have to use a detour.

The configuration is temporary. The road will be two-way once construction is complete — in the summer of 2014.

That means 18 months of potential headaches for the more than 60,000 motorists who travel through the intersection every day.

Ray Luna, 42, works south of downtown, but he takes the Hildebrand exit off U.S. 281 every day to get to and from his gym in Alamo Heights for a lunchtime workout.

Getting there might not be a problem. He's not so sure about the commute back to work, especially when every other area driver will be looking for a detour.

“It's going to complicate my lunchtime routine,” Luna said. “Going back, I may have to do some planning.”

City officials decided to green-light the one-way plan after an analysis by engineering firm Freese & Nichols showed that traffic would flow five times better if all vehicles moved in one direction, rather than reducing Hildebrand to one lane in each direction, said Mike Frisbie, director of the city's Capital Improvements Management Services department.

The two-way, single-lane model would delay traffic at the intersection about 270 seconds longer — or more than four minutes — than if the traffic was moving one way only, according to the analysis.

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“We can keep the overall delay about the same as it is today with one-way,” Frisbie said. “But if we go with two-way, then everybody's going to suffer.”

Drivers will still be able to turn west onto Hildebrand from Brackenridge Road, which leads to Brackenridge Park, and from the University of the Incarnate Word west of the San Antonio River.

Minor construction work has already begun on Broadway at Allensworth, where a new traffic signal will be installed. Drivers can expect alternating lane closures on Hildebrand next week, the first full week of construction.

Project goals include a new underground drainage system and more traffic lanes, among them a new left-turn lane into UIW from Hildebrand.

It's just a long haul to get to that point, said Lou Fox, special assistant to UIW President Lou Agnese.

“It's gonna be a mess,” Fox said. “There will be a lot of congestion.”

But the city has kept stakeholders in the loop, he said, and the university plans to send campus residents an email alert this week about the one-way plan.

Fox said university police will be on the lookout for any drivers who try to cut through the campus from Broadway in order to get to westbound Hildebrand. All university students, faculty and staff have parking decals. The university also plans to permanently close its entrance at Broadway and Davis Court. The official school entrance at Broadway and Burr Road will remain open.

The city has also coordinated with Alamo Heights, whose police force is also prepared for any traffic increases, particularly in residential areas where speed limits are 25 mph, said Mayor Louis Cooper.

The Hildebrand project was originally to begin in the spring of 2011 but was delayed for a year and a half, after the Headwaters Coalition and the River Road Neighborhood Association sued the city. They contend that the city violated its contract with voters because the project design changed from the original language of the 2007 bond issue.

The city has said the new design makes more engineering sense and accomplishes the ultimate project goal, which is to alleviate street flooding.

Now the city and plaintiffs are waiting for the Texas Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the case, said City Attorney Michael Bernard.

vdavila@express-news.net