Getting to North Star Mall or the Park North shopping center along San Pedro can become a white-knuckle experience pretty quickly. Flyover ramps on the access road often confuse drivers, last-minute lane merges for folks exiting, and so many turn lanes with unclear lane markings mean shoulders can often touch earlobes as you brace for a possible impact with a lost visitor.
However, the Texas Department of Transportation is developing plans that would significantly change how drivers interact with this hectic area of town. Preliminary renderings call for closing Loop 410 ramps, adding more turn lanes, and reducing the number of drivers crossing several lanes of traffic to reach the highway from San Pedro.
“If you’ve driven along Loop 410 near North Star Mall, you’ve almost certainly noticed a challenging layout where the ramp from US 281 enters westbound Loop 410 just before the San Pedro/Blanco exit,” The Texas Highway Man, a website dedicated to tracking Texas highways’ histories and futures, reports. “This arrangement results in significant weaving from westbound traffic on 410 crossing the inflow of traffic from 281 to reach the San Pedro exit. This weaving can be hazardous in addition to causing frequent congestion on the ramp from 281.”
Current TxDOT plans call for removing several ramps to and from Loop 410 near San Pedro Avenue, including the exit ramp off Loop 410 east toward San Pedro Avenue and the entrance ramp to Loop 410 east near San Pedro and McCollough. Both measures should help reduce the number of drivers cutting across several lanes of traffic to either enter the highway from the busy shopping corridor or exit the highway to San Pedro.
It means drivers will have to exit sooner or use an entrance ramp further down the road, often adding a stoplight and an additional intersection to the journey. However, it removes one of the most frightening aspects of the San Pedro and Loop 410 intersection. Plus, TxDOT hopes to add dedicated right-turn-in and right-turn-out lanes at Park North, which should reduce sudden stops for drivers who nearly miss their turn.
TxDOT also hopes to reduce the number of drivers who turn right from San Pedro toward westbound Loop 410 and weave across multiple lanes of traffic to reach the highway entrance ramp. The agency plans to add a physical barrier along the dedicated right-turn lane, which would keep drivers on the access road past that initial Loop 410 entrance ramp, forcing them to take a later on-ramp.
Overall, these plans are still in the early stages as TxDOT reimagines a large portion of Loop 410 on the Northside. A project tracker lists six projects totaling more than $100 million along Loop 410 between U.S. 281 and I-10. Many of these projects haven’t even reached the end of their design phase – if they’ve started at all.