Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, San Antonio-area leaders and state transportation officials gathered Oct. 19 to mark the ceremonial beginning of Segment 2 of the Loop 1604 expansion project that, among other things, will result in a new Loop 1604/I-10 interchange.

As part of the years-long widening of Loop 1604 between Bandera Road and I-35, TxDOT plans to jettison the existing cloverleaf configuration at Loop 1604 and I-10 in favor of a five-level direct connect interchange.

Construction on the $418 million interchange replacement project began this summer and is expected to be complete by 2027, state transportation officials said.

Abbott and Texas Transportation Commission Chair J. Bruce Bugg Jr. said the interchange project, along with the Loop 1604 expansion, will help to improve mobility, reduce congestion and enhance safety at one of the most-traveled corridors in the San Antonio area.

TxDOT projects an increase in daily vehicular traffic to an estimated 290,000 drivers on Loop 1604 North by 2045.

“Key construction projects all throughout Texas, just like this one to widen 1604 in San Antonio, will alleviate the traffic burden experienced by Texans in our fast-growing state,” Abbott said.

Bugg said the overall Loop 1604 project is meant to increase mobility; decrease travel times; and introduce amenities such as high-occupancy vehicle lanes, frontage road bicycle lanes, and new freeway ramps and connectors in a part of San Antonio that continues to see population and commercial growth.

“This project will build the improvements that are needed to help get drivers out of congestion and back to the things they want and need to do,” Bugg said.

According to TxDOT, the expansion and improvement of Loop 1604 between I-35 and Bandera Road is projected to last into the latter part of the 2020s and is estimated to total more than $1 billion.

The Loop 1604 part is part of the state's Texas Clear Lanes initiative designed to improve mobility and lower traffic congestion on several major corridors around Texas.