Leading SA: D7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval talks plans for Bandera Road, SA infrastructure

She made her way from Monterrey, Mexico to a SA high school, to M-I-T, Stanford, Harvard, and then back to the Alamo City

SAN ANTONIO – One of the most congested roads in the state of Texas is prompting a San Antonio City Councilwoman to call for action.

District 7 City Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, elected to the San Antonio City Council in 2017 and the first naturalized citizen to serve on the council, says Bandera Road is causing quite a traffic cluster in the city.

With the roadway being one of the most traveled in the state, she says it’s time for officials to start looking for ways to help de-congest traffic.

“This is one of the most congested roads in Texas and even though it’s not a freeway, it’s a highway,” Sandoval said. “It carries about 60,000 - 70,000 vehicles a day. That’s freeway-level movement through there.”

The councilwoman says a primary issue for Bandera Road is that a lot of drivers are trying to cross, which is causing the traffic congestion. However, she says this is an issue that’s on the city council’s radar.

Check out the full interview below or on the KSAT TV app on your streaming device.

Councilwoman Sandoval also touched on carbon neutrality, saying it’s still a goal for the Alamo City. She said city council has a plan that aims to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.

“What city council adopted in that plan was to strive for carbon neutrality in 2050. So, what does that mean? It means that we’re not adding any more of these dangerous carbon emissions or carbon dioxide equivalent emissions to the air,” Sandoval said.

Could electric vehicles become a city investment? If so, we asked Councilwoman Sandoval, is the infrastructure already in place in San Antonio?

“No, no, it’s not. I mean, we certainly do have some charging locations, but we would need to see some more... if all the vehicles in San Antonio were to become electric," Sandoval said. “But I think that’s certainly something that we can invest in as a city is having some of that infrastructure.”

San Antonio’s infrastructure isn’t just a problem we’re hearing about from our neighbors or city officials - it’s also an issue in District 7 as well.

“It has been building up. We have an under-investment in our infrastructure in multiple ways. In the city of San Antonio, we’ve grown very, very vast, very broadly. We have annexed a lot of land over the years and the truth is, that’s very expensive. Maintaining those streets, we also drive a lot on them,” Councilwoman Sandoval said.

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Looking ahead, Sandoval says she hopes to address not only the traffic issues seen on Bandera Road or look for ways to reduce gas emissions — she also says it’s important to consider the city’s rapid population growth as the city continues to grow right along with it.

“I want our jobs to be sustainable, right — for us to be able to employ all the wonderful people who live in San Antonio and who’ve grown up here to have opportunities and great jobs and great lives here. And of course, I want to make sure that our natural environment is as beautiful in 20 years from now as it is today,” Sandoval said.

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About the Author
Max Massey headshot

Max Massey is the GMSA weekend anchor and a general assignments reporter. Max has been live at some of the biggest national stories out of Texas in recent years, including the Sutherland Springs shooting, Hurricane Harvey and the manhunt for the Austin bomber. Outside of work, Max follows politics and sports, especially Penn State, his alma mater.

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