NW Military Highway Project Information Page

Planned TxDOT improvements to NW Military Highway in the City of Shavano Park are:

• Adding a continuous center-turn lane
• Adding sidewalks and bicycle accommodations
• Adding a traffic signal at Pond Hill Road intersection
• Installing raised medians between Loop 1604 and Wagon Trail Road
• Multiple drainage improvements to prevent increased storm water runoff
• Partial reconstruction of residential driveways to safely tie into the expanded road
• VIA covered bus stop installed near Pond Hill Road & NW Military Highway[1]

[1] Improvement completed by VIA

Construction began July 2021. Construction work is anticipated to conclude in early 2024.

No. All improvements are located within the state’s right of way.  Any work that otherwise affects private property will be coordinated with individual property owners.

This is a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) project being built with a combination of state and federal dollars. The total project cost is approximately $15.5M.

The City of Shavano Park’s costs are due to the requirement to relocate water lines to ensure water lines are not under the highway pavement and out of the way of other utilities in the right of way. The relocating of the water lines was a joint bid with TxDOT and the cost is approximately $850,000.

The City received low interest funding 20-year loan from the State Infrastructure Bank to pay for the water line relocation. The first payment on the loan ($57,880) will be on August 15, 2022.

At the start of construction, we expect two out of the four existing lanes will be closed, leaving two lanes open, one in each direction (see picture below).
This configuration could stay in place for several months.

The public can expect lane closures to change throughout the course of construction, but at least one lane will always be kept open in each direction.

The City of Shavano Park will be providing traffic and construction updates through this website, our social media channels, and the Roadrunner Newsletter.

The speed limit of NW Military is 40 miles per hour (lowered from 45 miles per hour) throughout construction.

The City and TxDOT will continue to monitor roadway safety throughout the project and consider additional speed limit changes when necessary.

TxDOT will be removing mailboxes, fences and other obstructive items from the right of way prior to beginning construction. TxDOT will coordinate with property owners who have items located in the right of way prior to removal.

The United States Parcel Service (USPS) and TxDOT have installed community mailboxes at City Hall (900 Saddletree Court) to provide temporary mail service for property owners on NW Military Highway during the construction project.

On July 16 USPS stopped door-to-door attempts to deliver keys to the community mailbox and all mail delivery was routed to the community mailbox at City Hall. If you have not received your mail key yet, you must go to the nearby Post Office (12951 Huebner Road) and provide valid ID with matching address and/or bring provide a copy of a utility bill to provide proof of residency in order to receive your key.

Save the key you receive from USPS! It will be how you access your mail from the community mailbox at City Hall! A picture of the Community Mailbox and its location at City Hall is below.

If you do not receive your key, or plan to be out of town, or have other questions, please contact City Staff at (210) 493-3478 or email contact@shavanopark.org.

The TxDOT contractor is required to maintain access to homes. The only time a residential driveway will be compromised is during the time that crews are reconstructing that driveway.  Partial reconstruction of residential driveways will be necessary to correctly connect those driveways to the newly expanded road. The contractor will coordinate with the resident before construction on their driveway begins.

Residents who live on NW Military Hwy must have their Trash and Recycle carts placed for curbside collection by 7:00 a.m. beginning the week of July 26th, 2021. The time change is due to lane closures and road construction on NW Military Hwy. This collection time will remain in effect until the road construction is complete.

Unfortunately, a considerable amount of the trees in the right of way will be removed during construction. The City and TxDOT have worked together to try and minimize these losses, but most are unavoidable to accommodate the highway expansion and to maintain roadside safety clearance. Trees to be removed will be clearly tagged by the project team.

After the project is complete the City will work with TxDOT to consider new landscaping and plantings to re-beautify the right of way.

The sidewalk location is not a major contributor to tree removal.  Trees will need to be removed for three primary reasons:  1) those trees that are in conflict with the widening of the road; 2) those trees that are in conflict with the movement of the utilities; and 3) the requirement for storm water drains and drainage ditches in some areas. 

One of the project’s key goals is to improve drainage systems along the corridor. The underground storm sewer and drainage ditches require excavation that will disturb the root systems of the trees, which will make the trees unstable and create a safety concern. After the evaluation of several sidewalk designs, including the meandering of the sidewalks around the existing trees, TxDOT identified the final design as the best option for improving drainage along the project corridor. 

The design criteria for the roadway requires a clear zone outside of the of curb line 4-6’ that is clear of obstacles or trees. Driveway approaches to the roadway also need adequate line of sight to traffic along FM 1535 that is clear of obstacles or trees.  The clear zone is measured from the face of the outside curb, and for FM 1535 the minimum distance is 4’ and the desirable clear zone is 6’, so trees within this area would be in the clear zone of the roadway and most likely needed to be removed.

It is predominately located under the sidewalk behind the curb line, but there are multiple areas where the storm sewer line and the driveway culverts are very long and located closer to the right of way line where the low points are at the ditches. It should be noted the existing drainage ditches were too shallow to handle the runoff from the adjacent properties, as such the proposed project will make this drainage ditches deeper to handle the runoff and carry the water to the nearest outfall or culvert.

It all depends on the size of the tree, the damage to the root ball if excavation occurred next to the tree due to the drainage system or not.  If the tree’s root system is compromised then it would not be stable and most likely had to be removed.

If you have any questions, problems or concerns regarding the construction or the work of the contractor, please call the City at 210.493.3478 or email contact@shavanopark.org.

If you are a Shavano Park Water Utility customer and have any questions, problems or concerns, please call the Water Department at 210.492.2841 or email wateroffice@shavanopark.org.

Construction crews will be working primarily Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Weekend work and night work may be required.

The City will provide project updates and information through this website project page, the Roadrunner Newsletter (mailed and posted on this webpage), and our social media channels: Twitter @ShavanoPark, Facebook @ShavanoPark, and the Shavano Park NextDoor community.

The length of NW Military Highway draining to the new culvert matches the length draining to the existing culvert, approximately 1,000 feet. The direction of the new culvert matches the existing culvert.

Although the new culvert will have additional capacity, there will be a weir inside the culvert to constrict the flow to existing conditions. The City of Shavano Park will be looking into an overall drainage study that may or may not modify this in the future and any additional flow will be at the City’s direction.

The amount of storm water runoff will slightly increase due to the new impervious area. However, when the culvert is replaced, a weir will be added to control the rate of this runoff. The weir will release the runoff so the rate exiting the new culvert will equal the existing culvert’s flow rate. There will be no increase in the flow exiting the new culvert.

The median is extended partly to give south bound traffic turning left onto Wagon Trail Rd a safe place to queue. It also reduces conflict points by restricting a left-turn movement from one of the residential driveways.