My wife and I are moving to San Antonio soon and looking to buy a house. I've heard stone oak can have bad traffic but does anyone make this drive? Or does anyone have advice for how long it may be.

My wife will work in the medical area and I'll be near 35 and Thousand Oaks. There is a house we like off wilderness oaks near canyon golf. Her hours would be 7-3:30ish. We made the drive yesterday and it took 30ish minutes with no traffic down huebner. Would this drive be a night mare as I am afraid of during the week? We are from Houston so a 30-40 minute drive we are willing to do. More than that may be too much though.

And I know 281 is terrible and will only get worse. Will that make the roads through stone oak even more congested?

Thanks for any help!

That would be tough. I work by 1604/281 and it is nasty going north after 3. Leaving by 6-6:15 won't be bad in am.

Something off wurzbach parkway would be good for both of you.

Try that test run again during your actual commuting hours! Good luck.

I live near Canyon Golf and Overlook parkway so that is just a mile or so north of where you are looking. Both my wife and I are from San Antonio and were very familiar with the traffic issues up north 281. We just love the area too much to really care. Being outside the city limits also helps come tax time. Our area is Comal ISD but I believe the area you are looking in is still NEISD. We have been in our house for 3 years.

I work downtown and the drive takes me close to an hour during the school year and only about 30 minutes during the summers and school holidays. About half that time is on 281 north of 1604. You would probably save 5-10 of that getting on 281 at the wilderness oak light. I have actually started taking Canyon golf to Evans (turns into Evans at stone oak pkwy) all the way to 281. There are a couple of school zones but it moves pretty quickly. Any time you take the drive outside of the normal rush hour times, it will only get better. My wife and I took the drive to the medical center area quite often recently to see her doctor while she was pregnant with our daughter and we would take 281 south and then get on the Wurzbach parkway and take it all the way to the medical center. Even though the traffic would back up at the light at NW military, it would still move. I'll warn you though that they are planning on making the military intersection and underpass so it will get worse befor it gets better. That will probably shave over 5-10 minutes off the commute when they're done though.

Not sure if you are familiar with Hardy Oak Rd but the plan is to extend it all the way to the other section near the Methodist hospital off sonterra within the next couple years. Once that is finished, that will be a really quick way to get south. I used to live off sonterra when I started my job downtown and even during the school year, it would take me 30 minutes to get downtown. Probably even less to get to the medical center. There will be a lot more people using it but I don't think it will matter very much.

The construction has also started on the 281 expansion and will drastically help the commute times. It will just be a long 3-5 years. I knew it would not be fun once they started but we looked at the house we bought as our home for 10-20 years or more. Anywhere off of wilderness oak would be a great place to live. Small Heb at wilderness oak/hardy oak and everything else you might need in a few mile radius. I'll certainly admit that from time to time the commute pisses me off but that's more due to the stupid San Antonio drivers than the commute time. We just can't beat the convenience of having everything we need so close to us.

Not to direct you even further north but you might want to check out Kinder Ranch if you haven't already. It's off Bulverde road just north of Borgfeld. It's 5-10 different neighborhoods in a relatively small area ranging from around 300k all the way up to 700k or so. It's especially attractive to us because within the neighborhoods they already have an elementary school and they are currently building a new middle school. The high school land has already been purchased and is probably just a few years away from starting. They are all Comal Isd. Somewhat making us consider looking to relocate there just to have K-12 within 1-2 miles.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

FYI...you would just take the Wurzbach parkway the other direction to get to 35/Thousand Oaks. Don't even consider 1604 to 35 or any other commute.

We are looking in that area as well. My plan is to get to Blanco road and then use Waze to see which route is the fastest. I will be commuting to USAA.

Thanks so much for that info. Good stuff. I had never been in the area and we definitely loved it.

So a couple questions if you don't mind...

-How long (approximately) do you think it would take me getting home leaving around 4-4:30. From 35/Thousand Oaks to Canyon Golf/Wilderness Oaks. Based on google maps traffic it says 35-45 minutes and I am fine with that.

-How much is the 281 construction going to affect the traffic? Are they going to be closing lanes? And do you think that will congest the Stone Oak roads more than they already are?

-What is it like getting around the area in the evenings, say 6-7, like going out to see friends or going to dinner. I know most restaurant areas are on 281 or closer to 1604. Is it a pain getting around roads like Wilderness, or Stone Oak Parkway? Or is it just 281 that is bad?

Thanks again!

you should have plenty of alternate routes... you could take Bulverde to Evans to get within shooting distance or Redland to Sontera to get to Stone Oak Pkwy.

No problem. Happy to help.

I can't remember the last time I drove home from the 35/Thousand Oaks area around that time but 35-45 may not be far off. If you left at 4, you might make it home by 4:35 or 4:40. If you left at 4:30 then it could take 50 minutes or so. 281 north is pretty bad in the afternoon and gets clogged up quick. You could exit at Evans and take that until it turns into Canyon Golf and then to the Wilderness Oak. The other poster was correct in suggesting Bulverde as an option. I sometimes take it to Marshall Rd. and jump on 281 right there. Marshall is just south of Wilderness Oak off 281.

I can't really tell how construction will affect traffic. The "superstreet" they built to alleviate backups at the lights on 281 will inevitably be changed during construction but it just depends on when it will be. They are building the access roads first so those will be open and in use prior to any of the main lanes getting shut down but if those are just standard lights and don't utilize the superstreet type flow of traffic during construction of the main lanes, it could be bad. There are still some options getting north and south though. You could get on 281 south and take a quick left at Marshall and then get on Bulverde until 1604. Bulverde was expanded to 6 lanes from Evans to 1604 and flows really well even during rush hour. You could then take 1604 back to 281 and then on to the Wurzbach pkwy or another route. Not to mention the Hardy oak extension down to sonterra when it is finished.

I've never had an issue getting around in the evenings or on the weekends. 281 north is congested until about 6:30 or so during afternoon rush hour but other than that, Stone oak pkwy is not bad at all and wilderness is still just a regular neighborhood street and I've never seen any backups at all, even during rush hour. Maybe I'm just used to it but I think that the entire Stone Oak area gets a bad rap just because 281 is crazy. The city has been making small improvements here and there that have helped. Once all the planned thoroughfares are done, it will not be bad at all in my opinion.

The other poster mentioned taking Wilderness to Blanco and that is another good way of getting south. Hardy oak will eventually make its way to Blanco and it almost there but I haven't heard when it will be built. I will take Wilderness to blanco when I need to head west on 1604 so I can avoid 281 south and the non-interchange at 1604. The northern connectors to/from 1604 and 281 are part of the highway expansion though.

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic but once all the highway construction is finished and the other thoroughfares are complete, it will be pretty easy to move around in the entire stone oak area. I think that once you eliminate the traffic issues and "perceived issues" with traffic, our area will become even more desirable and help our home values. We'll see...

Awesome. That is super helpful. Sounds like there are at least lots of options to get around if needed so that's good.

You said you like the area enough that it is worth the commute for you. What do you enjoy so much about it? I know it has great schools, newer developments, etc. And we definitely loved the hills/scenery and just overall feel of the area. And maybe those are y'all your reasons, and I just answered it, but just curious as to your perspective since it seems like you are very knowledgeable about the area. (For reference, we are a younger couple with no kids yet but will in the not too distant future).

I"m in Rogers Ranch and like it a lot.

You can go south on Bitters and hit Wurzbach parkway to go east or west.

The thing I like about Rogers Ranch is that it's got easy access to Stone Oak but you are outside of it so you can also avoid it if you want.

The other thing that is really good about Rogers Ranch (on the east side - NEISD) is that the school track is Vineyard Ranch Elementary, Lopez Middle and Reagan High. Those are three outstanding schools.

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Concentrate on finding a house zoned to an awesome elementary school. By the time they are old enough for middle school or high school the demographics could shift.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as our reasons for liking the area. It's a quiet, pretty area that seems to have everything we would need within 5 minutes. From doctors, dentists, pharmacies, gas stations, grocery stores, movies, shopping, dining, bars, Golf, and of course schools. I would take a weekend if you can and drive through all the neighborhoods and streets from blanco across 281 towards the JW Marriott to get a feel for what the area has to offer if you haven't done so already. A lot of the neighborhoods still having construction going on so the gates should be open during the day. FYI...once you hit the JW, you are in Judson school district. Although they have a new high school off Evans north of 1604 it's still not a very desirable district. Might hurt resale value as well.

We are both still fairly young (mid 30's) with a 6-month old so we feel like we have more than enough to do if we want a kid free night or if we have our daughter with us. My wife works at 1604/281 so it's great for her and we both figure that we could possibly work at several different places over the next 10-20 years so it was important to us to find a place we loved and just deal with the traffic whether we worked really close or far away.

Let me know if I can provide any more insight.

I live up off Canyon Golf and drive all the way to WW White every morning. 30 miles each way roughly. Traffic can be bad but it is constant movement. Traffic is bad on all highways though doesn't matter where you live in San Antonio.

Addition: Also if you move up Canyon Golf far enough you can escape city taxes until 2034.

x2 on Rogers Ranch! Can hop on Wurzbach to get to 35. Can drive to Huebner to cut across to medical center. Both of those accessed by going down Bitters(same road as Rogers Ranch Pkwy. Name changes inside of 1604). These roads have a "non-highway" feel.

Within Rogers Ranch there are different subdivisions. Some are Northside isd and some are Northeast isd.

and all have the high city taxes