Wurzbach Parkway is a part

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

and part major

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector ro ...

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas, built to provide relief on

Interstate 410 Interstate 410 (abbreviated I-410, and colloquially called Loop 410) is a loop route of I-10 around San Antonio, Texas. It is identified as Connally Loop in honor of former Texas Governor John Connally. Route description I-410 c ...

(I-410) and Loop 1604 on the city's north side. The highway is named for Harry M. Wurzbach, who represented the San Antonio area in Congress as a Republican in the 1920s and 1930s. The congressman's name was first applied to the connecting Wurzbach Road. The highway's western third was built as an

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

with at-grade intersections and the remainder as a freeway. The opening in September 2015 of an interchange with U.S. Highway 281 (US 281) completed primary construction of the parkway. The highway, along with part of Wurzbach Road near the

Ingram Park Mall Ingram Park Mall is a super regional shopping center located in the northwest section of San Antonio, Texas, at the intersection of Interstate 410 and Ingram Road. The anchor stores are Dillard's, JCPenney, and Macy's Backstage. There are 2 vac ...

, is maintained by the

Texas Department of Transportation The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...

despite not carrying a state highway designation. Rather, it is being developed and maintained under the Principal Arterial State System (PASS) program, under which it is designated as PASS Project 1502. The parkway includes an interchange with US 281, and drivers can access

I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

and

I-35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

via local roads that extend the parkway.

Route description

The west portion of the parkway is a

limited-access A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

surface road that connects Lockhill–Selma Road to West Avenue, crossing Blanco Road ( FM 2696) with an interchange, and Military Highway (

Farm to Market Road 1535 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

, FM 1535) at-grade. Wurzbach Road continues southwest from Lockhill-Selma Road, crossing

at exit 561. The area between West Avenue and Wetmore Road includes an interchange with

US 281 U.S. Route 281 (US 281) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway. At it is the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route. The highway's northern terminus is at the International Peace Garden, north of Dunseith, North Dakota, at t ...

. From Wetmore Road, on the northeast side of the

San Antonio International Airport San Antonio International Airport is an international airport in San Antonio, Texas. It is in Uptown Central San Antonio, about north of Downtown. It has three runways and covers . Its elevation is above sea level. SAT averages 260 daily dep ...

, the parkway continues east beyond Thousand Oaks Drive. At the east end are several at-grade intersections before the parkway ends at O'Connor Road and Crosswinds Way; O'Connor Road leads southeast to

at exit 169.

History

Planners conceived the parkway in the mid-1980s as the East–West Parkway, an extension of the existing Wurzbach Road, to relieve traffic on I-410. The road, estimated to cost $90 million, was approved by the

Texas Transportation Commission The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...

in 1988, to be built by the state but funded in part by the City of San Antonio. Construction began in mid-1994 on the section between Wetmore Road and Nacogdoches Road and opened in July 1996. and the eastern portion of the roadway opened on August 26, 1999, allowing traffic to bypass I-410. The west section was opened on July 24, 2002, its fourth section opened on December 23, 2013. In September 2015, the central stretch of the parkway opened to traffic, effectively completing the project after 21 years. The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) conducted a supplemental environmental assessment on the entire corridor from Lockhill–Selma Road to

, emphasizing the segment that had not been constructed. The EA supplemented the EA completed several years prior to initial construction. The Alamo RMA considered three alternatives for the interchange with

. The first alternative was a Wurzbach Parkway bridge over US 281 with no direct connection between the two highways, but with access via the highway's two

frontage road A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drivew ...

s (this option was chosen). The second option would have included an elevated

roundabout interchange A roundabout interchange is a type of interchange between a controlled access highway, such as a motorway or freeway, and a minor road. The slip roads to and from the motorway carriageways converge at a single roundabout, which is grade-separate ...

to provide direct access between the highways. The final alternative would have involved main lane to main lane connector ramps from Wurzbach Parkway to US 281 and loop ramps for access from US 281 to Wurzbach Parkway. According to the

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

, the Texas Transportation Commission reviewed the parkway expansion on November 19, 2009. The project was funded by proceeds from Proposition 12 bonds approved by voters in 2007, a package which was voted on by commissioners. Clay Smith, TxDOT's San Antonio District planning engineer, said the Wurzbach Parkway project would get $126 million under the bond-financing plan, enough for TxDOT to finish the three final segments left on the parkway. The expansion construction was completed in two phases: the first from Blanco Road to West Avenue and from Jones Maltsberger Road to Wetmore; the second between West Avenue and Jones Maltsberger. The parkway has no ramps that connect directly to I-35 to the east (only allowing drivers to use O'Connor Road that leads to the parkway) and no plans for Wurzbach Parkway to extend to I-10 to the west (only allowing drivers to use the Wurzbach Road exit to connect to the parkway).

Future

TxDOT has also proposed improvements to the parkway's intersections at NW Military Highway and Lockhill-Selma Road.

Major junctions

References

External links

{{San Antonio Streets Transportation in Bexar County, Texas Freeways in Texas Parkways in the United States