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Thursday, February 05, 2009

Grassroots hail Pape Dawson's interim fix for 281 says Terri Hall


Terri Hall (photo)
TURF President


Gene Dawson, President of Pape Dawson Engineers, saw a problem, unbelievable gridlock on 281 north of 1604, and he was just the guy who knew how to fix it. Pape Dawson has been briefing neighborhood groups on what many see as a workable interim solution to help get weary commuters on 281 N moving again.

What’s the best part about it? The fix is only $7.2 million, can clear environmental hurdles, boost traffic flow by 40%, and be done by the end of the year. See the schematic of the proposed J-turn intersections here. It’s called a superstreet, and they’ve been successfully implemented in North Carolina, Michigan, and Ohio and could be an affordable solution applied to other parts of Bexar County, like 1604 and Braun Rd. area and on Bandera Rd.

“The grassroots are thrilled at the truly innovative solution Pape Dawson has brought to the table. It shows how we don’t need a 20 lane toll road plan to get traffic moving again. It also shows that there's plenty of talent in this community to get the long-term fix on 281 when we all work together toward a sensible, speedy solution.

Citizens have been clamoring to get the original, non-toll freeway plan built on 281 for 4 years, and they have recently launched a campaign to pressure politicians in the area to get the job done. View it here. The freeway fix was promised in public hearings in 2001, had environmental clearance, no opposition, and it was funded with gas taxes in 2003.
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Though the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (ARMA) and TxDOT stubbornly claim there is no money or environmental clearance to fix 281, the money is still there in
Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) documents, $425 million total, which is more than enough for the less invasive original plan AND the interchange at 281/1604.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I expect that the plan for relieving traffic on 281 is ingenious; however, the sketch that is provided by http://www.281overpassesnow.com/ in http://walkerreport.blogspot.com/2009/02/grassroots-hail-pape-dawsons-interim.html
is less than self explanatory. Perhaps Gene Dawson of Pape Dawson Engineers could provide a better, more explicit description than the rudimentary sketch you have made available to readers.