If you live near Woodlawn Lake – an idyllic park in the middle of the city’s urban sprawl – you’ve likely encountered neon-orange construction cones or hardworking crews rerouting your trip home or out of the neighborhood. In reality, these tax dollars are making a real difference by upgrading roads all around this iconic slice of San Antonio.
Riding along the main corridors or side streets circling Woodlawn Lake has felt like a boat ride for years. If it wasn’t floodwaters splashing up the sides of your vehicle on a rainy day, it was coasting over waves of potholes or uneven surfaces. But the City of San Antonio is making quick work to pull several streets out of F-grade status.
In the latest, crews are about to begin the revamp of a small side street in the grid that connects West Woodlawn and West Huisache Avenue.
“This program includes the removal of the existing deteriorated surface and applying new asphalt to the roadway,” a community announcement from San Antonio’s Public Works Department states.
Crews began work this week, and the city is restricting traffic after 8:30 a.m. to anyone who doesn’t live along Hickory Street. For those who do, don’t park your car on the street during the day.
The city warns that vehicles left on the street between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. may be towed to a nearby street if they’re in the path of the project. If you walk outside your home along Hickory and don’t see your set of wheels, maybe check around the corner before you dial 911.
Construction on this project is set to wrap up by November 20. But Hickory Street is just one of many projects underway in this beloved stretch of the city. Cincinnati Avenue is set to undergo a phased rehab over the next two years, stretching from I-10 to St. Mary’s University. And North Zarzamora will receive upgrades from Pace Street to West Woodlawn Avenue over the next three years.
Plus, San Antonio District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito secured $9.9 million in capital project funding to fix the roughly 11% of her streets graded with an F. Many of those projects have begun or are wrapped up, but it’ll be spring of next year when the last deadlines hit.