Loop 1604, also known as the Charles W. Anderson Loop, is an outer highway loop that encircles San Antonio, Texas, spanning approximately. What began as a two-lane highway has been upgraded to a four-lane freeway along its northern stretches from US Hwy 90 on the West to Kitty Hawk Rd on the East. The Texas Department of Transportation is planning to further upgrade this freeway segment from 4 general purpose lanes to 8 general purpose lanes and 2 HOV lanes from Bandera Rd to I-35. Loop 1604 is named for former Bexar County Judge Charles W. Anderson, who died from cancer in 1964 after serving for 25 years on the bench.
History
Loop 1604 was designated on June 30, 1977 after FM 1604 was combined with a large portion of FM 1518 to complete a larger loop around San Antonio. Three bypasses were completed in the early 1980s: on December 12, 1979, FM 1937 was extended to replace a bypassed portion near Losoya; on March 3, 1981, FM 327 was designated as the through route when Loop 1604 was rerouted around Elmendorf; and in 1983 Loop 1604 was routed around Lone Oak, creating FM 3465 over the previous routing.
Route description
Loop 1604 forms a complete loop around the city of San Antonio and is the outer of two loops around the city with I-410 being the inner loop. The route has portions that are built to freeway standards, portions built as a divided highway, and portions that are just a two-lane rural road. As with I-410, the city's inner loop, the northern half is more urbanized and the southern half, for the most part, remains rural. The loop officially begins and ends at I-10 east of San Antonio. It heads south from I-10 as a two-lane road and turns towards the southeast and intersects FM 1346, FM 1518, and FM 3465 while turning back towards the south and reaching a junction with US 87 in Lone Oak. Continuing to the south, Loop 1604 has a second intersection with FM 3465, an intersection with FM 3432 as the road turns towards the southwest and a junction with US 181 near Calaveras Lake. Heading southwest from US 181, the highway intersects FM 327 as it enters the city of Elmendorf. It intersects FM 327 once again as it leaves Elmendorf heading towards the southwest. At FM 1303, Loop 1604 turns towards the west before a junction with I-37. Continuing west through the southern portions of Bexar County, the loop intersects FM 1937 and FM 3499 before an interchange with US 281. The highway continues to the west to an interchange with SH 16, passing to the south of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas plant. The highway continues to the west and begins to curve towards the north as it enters the city limits of Somerset and an intersection with FM 2790. Completing the turn to the north as it leaves Somerset, Loop 1604 heads north to an interchange with I-35. The highway heads north after the I-35 interchange to an intersection with FM 2536 before an interchange with US 90. North of US 90, Loop 1604 becomes a four-lane divided highway with median crossings only located at traffic lights and turnarounds at those traffic lights to facilitate traffic flow of vehicles turning around to go in the opposite direction. The highway enters the San Antonio city limits near Marbach Road and follows near the city limit. Major intersections along this stretch include Marbach Road, FM 1957 and Wiseman Boulevard. The loop continues north near the campus of Northwest Vista College to a junction with the western terminus of SH 151. The intersection is signalized but southbound traffic is not required to stop due to no left hand turns from SH 151 to Loop 1604. Westbound traffic from SH 151 are either routed to the northbound main lanes of Loop 1604 or the northbound frontage road of Loop 1604. In 2016, TxDOT unveiled plans to upgrade the section from US 90 to SH 151 to a freeway starting in late 2016, and Google Earth satellite imagery showed this freeway under construction in 2017-2018. The freeway portion starts as the loop curves towards the northeast at the junction with SH 151. Loop 1604 has diamond interchanges at FM 471, Shaenfield Road, New Guilbeau Road, Braun Road, and SH 16. The freeway continues to the northeast with interchanges at FM 1560 and Babcock Road. The freeway begins to head east at the Babcock Road interchange and passes near the UTSA main campus, the Shops at La Cantera and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. The freeway continues to the east to a cloverleaf interchange with I-10. East of I-10, the freeway has interchanges with Lockhill-Selma Road, FM 1535, Bitters Road and Huebner Road. As it passes through the north side of San Antonio, the freeway has interchanges with FM 2696 and Stone Oak Parkway before reaching US 281, which connect by way of an interchange completed in December 2012. Continuing east from the US 281 interchange, the freeway has interchanges with several local roads to include Gold Canyon Drive, Redland Road, Bulverde Road, and O'Connor Road. The freeway continues east to interchanges with Judson Road and Green Mountain Road before it curves to head to the southeast. Now heading southeast, the freeway has an interchange at FM 2252 near Rolling Oaks Mall and an interchange at Lookout Road before it leaves the San Antonio city limits. Upon leaving San Antonio, the freeway enters the Live Oak city limits before a cloverleaf interchange at I-35. Southeast of I-35, Loop 1604 enters the Universal City city limits before reaching an interchange with SH 218, which provides access to Randolph Air Force Base. Between the interchange at SH 218 and Kitty Hawk Road, Loop 1604 has a couple at-grade turn-offs at Palisades Drive and Granada Drive. At-grade turn-offs southeast of the Kitty Hawk Road interchange are located at Meadowland Drive and Byrd Boulevard. The last two interchanges of the freeway are located at FM 1976 and FM 78. The highway merges down to a two-lane road as it enters the Converse city limits. The highway passes by the western boundary of Randolph Air Force Base before curving to the south. The highway re-enters San Antonio city limits prior to its interchange at I-10 at its official beginning and end.
Expansion
Construction recently finished to expand the freeway section of Loop 1604 from SH 16 to FM 471. New overpasses were built at Shaenfield Road, New Guilbeau Road and Braun Road. TxDOT has expanded the project further south to SH 151 and US-90, creating a direct flyover overpass from southbound Loop 1604 to eastbound US-90. The expansion has proven to be necessarily due to the soaring growth at the San Antonio’s far west side.
Junction list
Clockwise reads down and counterclockwise reads up.
