SAN ANTONIO – It's a traffic nightmare, but it's also a safety concern.
The road project to expand Culebra on the far Northwest Side near FM 1560 has been in progress for a little over a year, but it recently has neighbors and school bus drivers worried.
Just two days ago, crews finished one side of the road and switched traffic to the other. Now drivers coming out of a subdivision on Gass Road have to make a U-turn to go right on Culebra Road and into some very narrow lanes.
"I know everybody is working towards trying to figure out what the right solution is, but school starts on Monday," said Linda Zecher, who lives in the subdivision.
The construction is near almost a dozen schools, including the brand new Harlan High School, which is about a mile away.
Linda Zecher is a parent and a Northside Independent School District bus driver. She said buses leaving her subdivision will have to take that quick U-turn to get to several schools.
"We're going to be stopping traffic. We're not going to be able to get out at all. There could possibly, God forbid, be accidents with children on the buses," she said.
Zecher is not worried about all of her routes, only the ones where recent construction changes have made turns and lanes tight.
NISD spokesman Barry Perez said the district has planned for the construction issues and the annual back-to-school traffic chaos. He said drivers have all practiced their routes and worked out any issues.
"But this has been changed since we've done our practice routes," Zecher said.
Zecher can only think of one solution for turns that sharp.
"Unless they have an officer out here as soon as a bus comes through and stopping traffic way back so that the buses can actually physically get out," she said.
Bexar County Public Works put officers along the stretch of construction to help with the flow of traffic. That is one of many changes director Renee Green made after Sunday's abrupt traffic switch to the other set of lanes.
"We did not delineate that shift very well. Hindsight is 20/20. Probably should have done it Friday night so we had the weekend to iron out any difficulties," Green said.
Crews have also opened up some lanes at specific intersections so cars can more easily make turns. Another recent change made it less confusing for some neighbors to navigate new road closures.
"None of this was here for three days. This stuff just got here. And we just pulled out here. Like, where do we go?" said neighbor Kevin Hyland, pointing at a new closed road at the entrance of his subdivision.
Starting Tuesday, crews put up new barriers and detour signs to point drivers in the right direction.
"We’re going to be very happy when it’s all said and done. It just seems like not enough knowledge went into this," Hyland said. "It would be great to communicate with the people that live here."
Hyland was glad to hear the Public Works team plans to communicate better with him and his neighbors in the future.
"What we’ll try to do is be more proactive in the future if we’re going to make a change out there like that, that we notify the public well in advance of doing that," Green said. "Bear with us. We’ll try to make sure we address all the issues and concerns."
The construction will last at least another year, so Green said the community should call with concerns about any existing issues so they can be fixed. The number to call is 210-335-6700.
