VIA Metropolitan Transit is looking to improve the historic trolley stop (pictured) and several other bus stops inside Alamo Heights this fall.
The old trolley stop near H-E-B Central Market pre-dates even the incorporation of the city of Alamo Heights, and yet it is a reminder of how the Broadway corridor has developed over the last 100 years. Now the trolley stop-turned-bus stop will be getting improved, along with more contemporary local bus stops, thanks to VIA Metropolitan Transit.
Public Works Director Pat Sullivan briefed the City Council recently about VIA’s plans inside Alamo Heights city limits. In 2014, VIA officials committed to the installation of 1,000 new bus shelters across the San Antonio service area. As of late May, more than 500 bus stops had been improved through VIA’s Passenger Amenities Program. Improvements include new shelters, seating, trash receptacles and improved Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) connections.
Alamo Heights contains six VIA routes with 46 bus stops, with 16 of those having shelters. In fiscal year 2015, there were 371,040 boardings and alightings from line service in Alamo Heights. The local mass transit agency and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) worked with Alamo Heights to identify potential improvements around the bus stops, including the trolley stop at Broadway and Patterson.
Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriguez built what originally was a piece of faux bois artwork, crafted from cement, in 1927 —five years after Alamo Heights was incorporated. He used a chemical process that makes cement appear more like petrified wood, which many people believed was the material over the decades. The Alamo Cement Co. donated the artwork/bus shelter, which Alamo Heights moved once and only by a few feet when the intersection was paved. The structure served as a shaded shelter for people taking the streetcar, part of a local system that operated until the early 1930s.
The trolley stop was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Last February, TxDOT completed wheelchair ramp improvements through the intersection of Broadway and Patterson. This fall, VIA and TxDOT aim to do ADA improvements around the trolley stop while preserving the historic shelter, Lorraine Pulido, VIA’s public information officer, told a reporter. Specifically, a wheelchair landing will be added on the shelter’s north side, and its base will be extended toward the west so that it can be used as a sidewalk.
However, ADA improvements around the trolley stop would restrict the current width of the right turn lane for vehicles on Broadway turning onto Patterson, Sullivan noted.
This lane supports a high number of delivery trucks, including those bound for H-E-B Central Market. On the whole, VIA and TxDOT will end up upgrading sidewalks and access to bus stops along Austin Highway and Broadway, resulting in three new shelters and ADA improvements to seven stops for Alamo Heights.
Once TxDOT contractors finish ADA work, VIA will install shelters at three locations. TxDOT will cover all design and construction costs for improvements along state streets.
VIA does not yet have cost estimates or a detailed timeline for the work. Bidding and contractor selection will begin later this summer with construction expected during the fall.
City Manager Mark Browne says he expects the council to see another presentation, with completed designs, before construction starts.
By Edmond Ortiz
