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I-10 expansion between San Antonio and Houston

Started by longhorn, July 08, 2017, 03:19:02 PM

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longhorn

So they are rebuilding the roadbed then. I thought this was  simple add an interior lane in the median and add a layer of black top like they did with I-35 between SAT and AUS. But they are doing a full on rebuild ala I-35 Salado to Hillsboro.


Scott5114

uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

jbnv

Quote from: Scott5114 on May 22, 2021, 04:20:16 PM
Discussion of at-grade intersections on I-10 in west Texas split to: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=29359.0

I'm surprised you didn't split out the discussion of the Atchafalaya Basin bridge as well.
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MaxConcrete

www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

ethanhopkin14

Quote from: MaxConcrete on August 06, 2021, 07:26:52 PM
Photo posted on the Webber twitter account


large:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E79xbQnXoAUOGzo?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

https://twitter.com/webberllc/status/1422980728573218816

I have been periodically driving from Austin to Lake Jackson the past year to see family (choosing the I-10, Sam Houston Tollway, SH-288 route) so I have had the pleasure of driving through this.  I must say, this project is coming along pretty fast.  Way faster than the I-35 version of this between Austin and DFW.

longhorn

Much overdo between Seguin and San Antonio.  It seems  more cars and trucks are taking 130 and spilling onto I-10 headed to San Antonio. More stop and go than I recently remembered.

jlwm

The eastbound mainlanes of I-10 are striped in their final 3 lane configuration between Sealy and the Brazos River. Of course you hit another backup when it goes back to 2 lanes at the river since that section is still under construction, but it was nice to free flow on Sunday evening for that small section instead of a constant slowdown between Columbus and Brookshire.

thisdj78

Quote from: jlwm on May 26, 2022, 01:56:29 AM
The eastbound mainlanes of I-10 are striped in their final 3 lane configuration between Sealy and the Brazos River. Of course you hit another backup when it goes back to 2 lanes at the river since that section is still under construction, but it was nice to free flow on Sunday evening for that small section instead of a constant slowdown between Columbus and Brookshire.

Rode on that section this evening. It's fully open from Sealy to the river. Can't wait until they open the section to Brookshire. I agree it was a nice change as the last time I drove this route was near the beginning of the year.

MaxConcrete

For the section west of Sealy, all concrete is done and crews are now building the central barrier. So this section should be done within a few months.

As noted previously, the section from the Brazos River to Brookshire still has a long way to go. This project, being done by Williams Brothers, seems to have been in progress for a long time and I'm wondering if it is behind schedule. I think (but I'm not sure) that this section was awarded before the two sections at Sealy and west of Sealy.
www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

Bobby5280

There is very recent Google Street View imagery in the Sealy area (dated 10/2022) on the Westbound lanes of I-10. The imagery goes at least several miles West of Sealy thru the end of the construction project.

MaxConcrete

Bids opened today for widening 5 miles to 3x3 on the north side of Seguin. Looking at the plans, the pavement width is mostly 4x4, with long sections having an auxiliary lane. (But it is not continuously 4x4.) The design is TxDOT's standard template for widening existing interstates, which is to pave the median and have a center barrier, with 12-foot-wide inner and outer shoulders. This project is expensive and is over estimate.

County:   GUADALUPE   Let Date:   06/01/23
Type:   WIDEN ROAD - ADD LANES   Seq No:   3002
Time:   1711 WORKING DAYS   Project ID:   F 2023(947)
Highway:   IH 10   Contract #:   06233002
Length:   13.184   CCSJ:   0535-01-074
Limits:   
From:   FM 464   Check:   $100,000
To:   SH 123   Misc Cost:   
Estimate   $219,314,547.45   % Over/Under   Company
Bidder 1   $245,194,039.15   +11.80%   WEBBER, LLC
Bidder 2   $264,440,864.99   +20.58%   PULICE CONSTRUCTION, INC.
Bidder 3   $289,744,880.52   +32.11%   ZACHRY CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION
www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

longhorn

Would imagine every bridge though Seguin will need to be replaced. That will cost.

MaxConcrete

Bids were opened today for rebuilding and expanding 12.3 miles to 3x3 with continuous frontage roads from west of Sealy to east of the Colorado River. Main lane inner and outer shoulders are 12 feet wide, probably to accommodate traffic westbound during a hurricane evacuation.
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgchart/cmd/cserve/bidtab/06283602.htm

The job is still listed with a $330 million estimate on another TxDOT site, so I think this high cost of $35 million per mile reflects severe inflation in construction costs. Lack of bidders surely contributed to the high bids. The next job going west includes a new bridge over the Colorado river. It is scheduled for May 2024 and listed at $519 million.

County:   COLORADO   Let Date:   06/28/23
Type:   WIDEN ROAD - ADD LANES   Seq No:   3602
Time:   0 X   Project ID:   C 271-1-66
Highway:   IH 10   Contract #:   06233602
Length:   12.325   CCSJ:   0271-01-066
Limits:   
From:   US 90 (ALLEYTON RD SOUTH)   Check:   $100,000
To:   FM 2761   Misc Cost:   
Estimate   $443,597,130.05   % Over/Under   Company
Bidder 1   $429,395,799.87   -3.20%   WEBBER, LLC
Bidder 2   $488,964,288.85   +10.23%   PULICE CONSTRUCTION, INC.



www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

ethanhopkin14

I am curious every time I drive through there if they will keep the wide median west of Brookshire or not when that segment of the project is complete. 

MaxConcrete

Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on July 07, 2023, 02:46:27 PM
I am curious every time I drive through there if they will keep the wide median west of Brookshire or not when that segment of the project is complete. 

I looked at the plans, but that was years ago when the project started. I'm virtually certain the wide median area is retained.

Of course, that wide median area was originally a rest area. The rest area was decommissioned a long time ago, maybe in the 1990s or early 2000s.
www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

thisdj78

Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on July 07, 2023, 02:46:27 PM
I am curious every time I drive through there if they will keep the wide median west of Brookshire or not when that segment of the project is complete.

Judging by how they are rebuilding the Donigan Rd bridge, it looks like they keeping the I-10 alignment the same in that area. Plus a bayou/creek runs parallel with the highway in part of that median, so it probably was more cost effective to keep it as is.

thisdj78

Quote from: MaxConcrete on July 07, 2023, 05:22:44 PM
Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on July 07, 2023, 02:46:27 PM
I am curious every time I drive through there if they will keep the wide median west of Brookshire or not when that segment of the project is complete. 

I looked at the plans, but that was years ago when the project started. I'm virtually certain the wide median area is retained.

Of course, that wide median area was originally a rest area. The rest area was decommissioned a long time ago, maybe in the 1990s or early 2000s.

Yeah, I feel like it was between 98-00. I remember pulling into the rest area with car trouble when I was in college (that was around 97-98) and not long after that it was closed.

ethanhopkin14

Quote from: thisdj78 on July 07, 2023, 08:26:48 PM
Quote from: MaxConcrete on July 07, 2023, 05:22:44 PM
Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on July 07, 2023, 02:46:27 PM
I am curious every time I drive through there if they will keep the wide median west of Brookshire or not when that segment of the project is complete. 

I looked at the plans, but that was years ago when the project started. I'm virtually certain the wide median area is retained.

Of course, that wide median area was originally a rest area. The rest area was decommissioned a long time ago, maybe in the 1990s or early 2000s.

Yeah, I feel like it was between 98-00. I remember pulling into the rest area with car trouble when I was in college (that was around 97-98) and not long after that it was closed.

They really should modernize it and open it back up.  It is still "rural" enough to justify it's existence. 

DJStephens

The problem with median located "rest areas" is the fact that sure enough, someone will pull into the left lane, at the last second, to exit into this facility.  Keep it retired.   
Unfortunate, with all the money tex-dot has, they cannot break away from this monotone of "no median" building a hypnotic cross - section, with monolithic center barrier. A sixty foot median, with cable, and greater horizontal clearance for the new over and under passes would have been preferable.   

sprjus4

^ While I agree new freeways should be built with at least a 46 foot depressed grassy median, I see no reason to expand the cross section for a widened highway. Three lanes in either direction with a concrete median is adequate IMO, and any wider would just require unnecessary right of way acquisition.

Bobby5280

#95
Quote from: DJStephensThe problem with median located "rest areas" is the fact that sure enough, someone will pull into the left lane, at the last second, to exit into this facility.

Exactly. Travel plazas in the median are tricky. I've gotten into the habit of shifting over to the right lane, treating it as a passing lane, when I pass one of those median plazas. Vehicles slowing down in the left lane to take that exit can pose quite a weaving hazard (especially with other vehicles going 80mph or more).

I-44 in Oklahoma has a few turnpike plazas. Three of them are built in the median. There's a one-way plaza off to the side in Chandler. The plaza near Vinita is built over the main lanes of I-44. That one is pretty cool, but I'm sure it costs a whole lot more than those other plazas. Other Oklahoma turnpikes have these median plazas. They tore down one of the two plazas on the Indian Nation Turnpike (the one near Antlers). There's a couple other places where it looked like they were planning a median plaza but didn't follow through. The turnpike lanes just bow out and around something never built.

ran4sh

Quote from: sprjus4 on July 12, 2023, 10:09:55 PM
^ While I agree new freeways should be built with at least a 46 foot depressed grassy median, I see no reason to expand the cross section for a widened highway. Three lanes in either direction with a concrete median is adequate IMO, and any wider would just require unnecessary right of way acquisition.

That only makes sense in some specific situations, and not as a general rule. 6 lanes, 3 each way, with concrete median, may be adequate by itself, but the issue is acquiring additional right of way if more lanes are wanted. In regions that are experiencing population growth, it should at least be considered to build a 6 lane highway with the same median width as a 4 lane highway. Then, when widening to 8 or 10 lanes is desired (and/or adding an HOV, HO/T, express, etc lane), use the median right of way.
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ethanhopkin14

Quote from: Bobby5280 on July 12, 2023, 11:57:09 PM
Quote from: DJStephensThe problem with median located "rest areas" is the fact that sure enough, someone will pull into the left lane, at the last second, to exit into this facility.

Exactly. Travel plazas in the median are tricky. I've gotten into the habit of shifting over to the right lane, treating it as a passing lane, when I pass one of those median plazas. Vehicles slowing down in the left lane to take that exit can pose quite a weaving hazard (especially with other vehicles going 80mph or more).

I-44 in Oklahoma has a few turnpike plazas. Three of them are built in the median. There's a one-way plaza off to the side in Chandler. The plaza near Vinita is built over the main lanes of I-44. That one is pretty cool, but I'm sure it costs a whole lot more than those other plazas. Other Oklahoma turnpikes have these median plazas. They tore down one of the two plazas on the Indian Nation Turnpike (the one near Antlers). There's a couple other places where it they were planning a median plaza but didn't follow through.

My issue with median based rest areas/plazas is, as an RV drive, our long road trips involve spending the night in a rest area.  With the rest area in the middle, I don't sleep as well because I am more afraid of someone running off the road and hitting us, because we have travel lanes on both sides of us rather than just one, and in theory the higher speed travel lane is the closet one to us (meaning a longer distance for an errant car to come to a complete stop).  I think about someone falling asleep at the wheel a lot when we are in a rest area late at night because they have zero capacity to avoid the collision when they are asleep.  I try to find rest areas with a physical barrier between the parking area the main lanes, like the building for the rest area or a nice berm. 

rte66man

Quote from: Bobby5280 on July 12, 2023, 11:57:09 PM
I-44 in Oklahoma has a few turnpike plazas. Three of them are built in the median. There's a one-way plaza off to the side in Chandler. The plaza near Vinita is built over the main lanes of I-44. That one is pretty cool, but I'm sure it costs a whole lot more than those other plazas. Other Oklahoma turnpikes have these median plazas. They tore down one of the two plazas on the Indian Nation Turnpike (the one near Antlers). There's a couple other places where it looked like they were planning a median plaza but didn't follow through. The turnpike lanes just bow out and around something never built.

The plaza at Stroud was built in the late 70's to replace the original service area that had a gas station on  both sides and a HoJo on the eastbound side. Westbound travelers used a covered footbridge to reach it. It is scheduled to be removed next year as a part of removing the "bow" and returning to the original configuration. A new westbound service area will then be built at Stroud. Give that the Vinita service are was built with the restaurant over the turnpike, there was never a reason to replace it.

There are no plans I'm aware of to replace the Lone Chimney service are on the Cimarron. Same goes for the one north of Muskogee on the Muskogee Turnpike. The Leach service are on the Cherokee was torn down about 20 years ago and never replaced (low patronage).

When you come to a fork in the road... TAKE IT.

                                                               -Yogi Berra

Plutonic Panda

Yeah I just don't like median service stations in general. I don't like the look and unless they want to build an expensive ramp the only way to get to them is through left exits which I don't like.



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