With the help of his colleagues on commissioners court and the County Engineer, Tom Hornseth, Kevin has been successful in building partnerships in the region to find funding for area projects. The County, through the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), has worked extensively with TxDOT and the City of New Braunfels and other area governments to invest heavily in our regional transportation infrastructure.
SH 46 Between NB and Seguin
It’s no secret that our region’s most pressing congestion point is the intersection of SH 46 and IH 35. Comal County is working with TXDOT, the City of New Braunfels, Guadalupe County, and the City of Seguin to help push the project along as quickly as possible.
Because this will be the largest infrastructure project we’ve been a part of, TxDOT is completing the schematics and working on phasing the overall project so we can fund it in segments. Similar to what we did with Loop 337 and the River Road Overpass, we’ll need to break it up into smaller projects to make funding feasible.
While it’s a long term project, the “interim” solution with two direct connectors will provide long-term relief from the endlless congestion we’re seeing today and will provide for a reliable regional connection.
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loop 337
loop 337
loop 337
Loop 337 from I-35 to Hillcrest Drive is an approximately $45 million project with several bridges to expand the Loop from two to four lanes and make the entire loop safer and more efficient with less lane crossings. It is a partnership between TxDOT, ASA (Veramendi developers), Comal County, and the City of New Braunfels. It should be complete by the end of 2020.
Of special note is the foresight of our predecessors who set aside all the right-of-way for this expanded roadway sixty years ago when the road barely went past New Braunfels High School.
The Loop 337 project is a prime example of what is possible when we work together toward a common goal.
FM 306
loop 337
loop 337
FM 306, or the Jan Kennady Memorial Highway, has been an ongoing project for many years. Broken up into sections that have allowed us to pay for each of them over time, the last section from Hoffman Lane to River Chase was completed in 2018. Comal County is now seeking funding for a proposed approximately $18 million project from Canaan Road to FM 2673 to include new bridges over the horseshoe of the Guadalupe River, but it will likely be a few years before that funding is available.
fm 2252
loop 337
State highway 46
FM 2252 is an important connector and often an alternate to traveling IH35. It crosses Cibolo Creek and provides critical local access as well as regional mobility. We've broken it into two projects to include the bridges at the Cibolo and a grade separation for the railroad crossing plus intersection improvements at Evans Road. The entire project scope is from FM 3009 to Evans Road.
State highway 46
river road overpass
State highway 46
SH 46, like FM 306, has been and remains a long-term project. As the County's primary east-west connector from IH10E to IH35 and IH 35 to US 281 and IH10W, it is critical to the region. Current funded projects are in the area of Bulverde Road to FM 3159, broken up into several segments.
TxDOT has recently completed several intersection improvements along SH 46W and several more projects are planned. Additionally, TxDOT has undertaken a study on SH 46E that should yield results in the summer of 2021. From there we expect to be able to address some of terrible traffic problems we are currently seeing at SH 46 and IH35.
river road overpass
river road overpass
river road overpass
This $14.2 million project was let in July and should start construction before the end of 2020. It's expected to take about 18 months and is being built by Hunter Industries. The current lanes in place will remain as local access lanes and a bridge will be built on 337 between them to fly over River Road.
While we would've liked to do this project at the same time as the larger Loop 337 project, all together that project total was nearing $60 million and we couldn't put that all together at one time. So, the project was broken up and we were able to put it into separate project calls and get it funded.
So, while we are sorry for the inconvenience of having extended the construction time-frame, we're happy to have it funded and about to get underway.
future projects
river road overpass
river road overpass
Comal County has on-going feasibility studies for two possible large projects. One is a connector between State Highway 46 near the road department offices and IH35 near Schwab Road. The other is a realignment and widening of a portion of Blanco Road.
Comal County is also seeking funding for a number of on-system projects all over the County and takes public comment on what roads we should be investing in every time the MPO updates its Transportation Improvement Program. That happens every two years and there is currently about $120 million in funding available for the San Antonio District. Comal County submits projects as part of that and the projects compete with other regional projects from other municipalities and counties for funding.