46
Officials: Stretch from Boerne to Bandera can’t handle traffic load
BANDERA — A decade of mounting traffic accidents and fatalities on Texas 46 between Bandera and Boerne has authorities urging the state to speed up safety improvements.
Bandera County commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution calling on the Texas Department of Transportation to make upgrades on 46, citing rising traffic volumes and a history of deaths along the corridor stretching west from Kendall County into Bandera County.
Commissioners are asking the state to outline planned improvements, including definite timelines and a commitment to prioritize the project within the agency’s San Antonio district.
The resolution notes, “Too many lives have been lost.”
As of press time, TxDOT had not responded.
According to crash data from TxDOT’s Traffic Safety Division covering the 46 West corridor between Texas 16 and Interstate 10 West from 2016 through March, there have been 550 reported crashes, including 10 fatal wrecks resulting in 13 deaths, with an additional 44 people seriously injured.
More than half of the fatalities — eight of 13 — involved head-on collisions, and 10 of those occurred within the past five years.
Among those killed were members of a Bandera County family in October 2024 and a 21-year-old Bandera man in a March 24 collision.
The resolution states that 46 is “totally inadequate to handle the volume of traffic” in Bandera and Kendall counties and notes that previous requests to TxDOT have not resulted in a firm timeline for improvements. TxDOT data also identifies 46 West as the highest-traffic rural roadway in Bandera County, with a designated “crash-density hotspot” along the corridor.
Current planned improvements through 2029 include repaving and the addition of turn lanes, but do not include a center median, officials said.
