SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio’s Northwest Side is looking up these days — way up.
That’s due to the construction of a five-level flyover ramp system connecting Loop 1604 to Interstate 10.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the most recently opened section of this system, which connects westbound I-10 to westbound Loop 1604, is 101 feet high.
Other ramps in the area, including one still under construction, reach heights of more than 120 feet.
“It is remarkably high. You can see a lot of San Antonio,” said James Donbavand, who admitted they had not ventured onto any of the flyovers yet. “You can see Fiesta Texas. I think you can even see all the way down to SeaWorld.”
“My kids are excited to get up there and me drive on it,” Donbavand said. “But it makes me a little nervous because of how high it is.”
Tad Walker, who, along with his daughter, was riding a bicycle on Friday morning, said he had spent some time in his car trying out the new flyovers.
“It was tall. It was high. It was up there,” Walker said.
However, for Lazaro Ruiz, heights don’t impress him much, though. He said he tested out the sky-high ramps just for fun.
“I don’t feel weird at all. I was kind of intrigued by it,” Ruiz said. “I just went through it to try it out.”
Before the construction of the new Loop 1604 and I-10 exchange, the title of tallest highway flyover in the city belonged to the ramps connecting Loop 1604 to U.S. Highway 281.
A portion of that system on the city’s North Side measures 109 feet tall.
TxDOT stated that the height of the Loop 1604 and I-10 exchange is by design.
With five levels of flyovers, engineers had to ensure enough space for large trucks to pass under them safely, said Jennifer Serold, TxDOT lead public information officer, in a written statement.
Serold said a height of at least 30 feet of space is required between each level.
Even at those high heights, though, the ramps stand in the shadows of some other tall structures around town.
The Iron Rattler rollercoaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas climbs to 179 feet off the ground, while the Tower of the Americas stands at 750 feet tall.
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