San Antonio – For over a decade, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute have been compiling a list of the most congested roadways in Texas. David Schrank with Texas A&M says it’s a good way to gauge progress and assess roads that need improvements.
“The reason behind it is to make sure that the Texas Department of Transportation is putting its resources in some of the locations that need it the most,” Schrank explained. “Every year, we look at what’s the worst bottlenecks in the state because they ebb and flow a little bit depending on the economy, depending on construction projects in the region and lots of other factors. And so we do this analysis, we provide the rankings and then take stock and look and see what we are doing at these locations about these problem areas.”
This year, these are the roads that made the top 100 list in Bexar County:
- No. 29: I-35 from Loop 1604 NE to Loop 410
- No. 32: Culebra Road from Galm Road to Loop 1604 NW
- No. 38: Loop 410 N. from Highway 281 to I-10
- No. 43: I-35/I-10 from I-37 and U.S. 281 to U.S. Highway 90
- No. 44: I-35 from FM 3009 to Loop 1604
- No. 53: Loop 1604 N from U.S. 281 to I-10
- No. 58: I-10 from I-35 to I-37
- No. 62: Loop 410 from I-10 to Culebra Road
- No. 72: Potranco Road from Talley Road to Highway 151
“The biggest surprise on the list is actually Culebra Road. That it is one of the highest-ranking arterial streets in the state,” Schrank said. “And really, I think that is probably a combination of, again, growth that’s happened out on the west side of town. And just, you know, there’s only so many different ways of getting from out west into town. And so, Culebra Road is one of those.”
Schrank said being stuck in traffic costs drivers and companies money, both in time and fuel used. Overall, he says, although it might not feel like it, traffic congestion has improved.
“I don’t know that anyone would think that their roads are better because you’re all sitting in congestion or congestion is a relative thing. And so, you’re always — no matter if you’re wasting one minute, five minutes, 10 minutes, it’s still a waste,” Schrank said. “If you could look at it from above, you’d probably see that where you used to sit 10 minutes, maybe it’s eight minutes or seven minutes now. And so, it doesn’t sound like a lot to you. Annualize that, and that three minutes or five minutes becomes 100 minutes, 200 minutes, and all of a sudden now you’re talking about hours. And so, I think that that’s it’s hard to see that in your car. But I think that that’s what we’re all experiencing, just a little bit better on most of our trips.”
Schrank said in a few years, when most of the major projects are complete, traffic congestion will improve in the areas that are now on the list.