Demolition of bridge over Interstate 10 near Boerne postponed due to migratory birds

Nesting birds have ‘taken a liking’ to the old U.S. Highway 87/Main Street bridge

SAN ANTONIO – The demolition of a bridge above Interstate 10 near Boerne has been postponed again, this time due to nesting birds.

The U.S. Highway 87/Main Street bridge was originally supposed to be torn down in late April and early May but had a series of delays due to weather.

Now, migratory birds “have taken a liking” to the bridge and built a nest, the City of Boerne said Wednesday.

BRIDGE DEMOLITION DELAYED: Trust us, this is not the message we were hoping to be sending today. The I-10 bridge...

Posted by City of Boerne - City Government on Wednesday, June 9, 2021

The next planned demolition was set for this weekend, but that has been canceled. A new date for demolition has not yet been set.

“The closure and demolition of the US 87 bridge was originally planned for December 2021/January 2022,” the Texas Department of Transportation said in a statement to KSAT. “The project team had identified this work as an opportunity to expedite the construction schedule and open the roadway sooner for the traveling public. Moving forward, we will continue to explore additional opportunities to expedite the construction schedule. The cancellation will not affect the current construction schedule. Crews will continue to work on other parts of the project.”

Those who live in work near the construction say it’s needed but hope it’s completed soon.

‘We’ve been dealing with this for 3 or 4 years now, since before 2018,” said Javier Acevedo, service manager at Hill Country Automotive. “We just can’t wait for it to be done, just can’t wait.”

The Texas Department of Transportation was planning on closing both the east and westbound lanes of I-10 between State Highway 46 (Bandera Road) and Scenic Loop from Friday night to Monday morning during the demolition.

Crews are planning on removing the old structure to make way for the new US-87 bridge.


About the Authors:

Rebecca Salinas is an award-winning digital journalist who joined KSAT in 2019. She reports on a variety of topics for KSAT 12 News.

Samuel King anchors traffic during the afternoon and evening newscasts and reports on transportation and mobility issues across the San Antonio region. He joined KSAT 12 in 2020 from KUT in Austin. Samuel was born in Queens, spent time growing up in South Alabama and graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.