Navigating

San Antonio’s downtown is surrounded by a few ring roads, and crossed by a few main arteries, that make navigation much simpler.

The downtown is surrounded by a highway ring which looks more like a rectangle, and is made up of a few different interstate and state highways: I-35, I-10, I-37, 281, and 90. I-35 comes from the North, swoops around the North then West sides of downtown, and exits continuing South towards the border of Mexico. I-37 splits off of I-35 at the Northeast corner of downtown then cuts South along the East side (near the Alamo) and heads to Corpus Christi on the Gulf coast. I-10 comes in from the East, dipping far South to reach San Antonio, borders the South side of downtown then sweeps up the West side, then exits going Northwest towards Fredericksburg and El Paso. 281 cuts South from Dallas, bisects San Antonio passing the Airport, and merges with I-37. Highway 90 comes from the West, passes Lackland and Port San Antonio, and intersects with I-10.

The next ring out from the center is I-410. North of downtown 410 cuts through the center of urban San Antonio, and serves the Airport right at its intersection with 281. South of downtown, I-410 is the border of San Antonio’s urban development and the rural areas.

The next ring out is Highway 1604, formerly FM 1604. “FM” means “Farm-to-Market” road. Out in the country FM roads are often two-lane highways you can generally count on to be well-maintained. On the South and East sides of town 1604 is far out in the country, and much more like other FM roads. To the North and West 1604 is a huge artery serving suburban residential and commercial areas.

The North side also has Wurzbach Parkway which is a bypass, partial ring. Way out in the country there’s also Highway 46, cutting between New Braunfels, Bulverde, and Boerne.

The South side has “Military Highway” bisecting Lackland, then continuing across to I-37 by Brooks City-Base. The North side also has a “Military Highway”, but the connection between the two is either non-existent or very confusing.

281 cuts North/South and quickly gets people from the Stone Oak area to downtown. It passes the airport, the Quarry (shopping area), the zoo and the Pearl (restaurant area), the Alamo, and the Alamodome. Commuting via 281 can be stressful, but traffic generally keeps moving.

I-10 is the next major artery West of 281. It services Six Flags and UTSA out by 1604, “Medical Center” inside 1604, and then downtown.

Bulverde Road/Highway 16 come from Helotes, through Leon Valley, and intersects I-410 between 151 and I-10.

151 starts at Alamo Ranch, runs East past Sea World, across 410 just north of Lackland, and intersects 90 right at the Lackland/Port San Antonio airfield.

90 cuts East/West from Hondo and Castroville, past Lackland, and South of downtown. It’s the Southern-most artery in the urban areas of San Antonio.

I-35 is the major artery East of 281. It passes near Randolph AFB, branches off into I-410 (both directions), services Fort Sam Houston, and then branches into I-37 downtown.

I-37 starts at the intersection of I-35 and 281 downtown, then heads to the beach at Corpus Christi. It services Brooks City-Base, and a number of rural and suburban developments out that way.

Texas has a unique road system. The flyovers are excessively high, the toll roads are plentiful (especially near Dallas and Houston), and the access roads are confusing. Access roads are not unique to Texas, but Texas takes them to a new level.

The major highways nearly always have lower-speed access roads paralleling them. In town these access roads will be one-way, but watch out in rural areas… There, access roads are commonly two-way. Highway entrance and exit ramps occur frequently, and drivers on the access roads are often required to yield to the ramp traffic.

The most common cause of new Texas driver stress occurs on the access road near the ramps. As you approach a ramp where highway traffic is entering the access road you must look back to see if highway traffic is coming. You generally must yield to that traffic. At the same time - all traffic behind you on the access road expects you to continue driving. Generally it’s best to find a way to allow highway traffic to merge in, but if you need to stop then prepare early.

After some practice you’ll feel more comfortable. Get practice away from downtown.

The access road system has caused highways to become much more commercial than they are in other places. The access roads provide easy access to commercial buildings, so often commercial buildings front the highway and hide residential areas behind them. The highways are therefore extremely central to life in Texas cities. Surface roads commonly pass under highways with huge distributed intersections.

U-turn lanes are common at the highway underpasses. These are critical because they make accessing businesses on the other side of the highway easy. Where surface roads in other parts of the country easily serve businesses on both sides of the road, because Texas’s highways are so central to life there is, otherwise, no easy access to both sides of the road.

When approaching a highway under/over-pass on a surface road, u-turn lanes are often the leftmost lane. They’ll often seem to go against oncoming traffic, but should be clearly marked.