As part of a joint endeavor with Comal County, Bexar County is improving a low-water crossing on Smithson Valley Road at Cibolo Creek in Northern Bexar County.

The details: Known as the Smithson Valley Road Low Water Crossing Project, the project is designed for a 10-year storm event, and includes road reconstruction and a new bridge over Cibolo Creek near the intersection of Smithson Valley Road and FM 1863, according to Bexar County officials.

According to county officials, the project will provide unflooded access to the intersection during major storms.

Funding for the project is approximately $2.8 million, and Comal County will provide 50% of the construction cost, which was agreed upon in an interlocal agreement approved in February 2024. Construction is estimated to begin in January and be completed in October 2026.  

Over the Nov. 14 weekend, the Downtown Rotary Club built a playground at the YWCA’s Women’s Live and Learn Center.

The details: According to a news release, the center is a redevelopment project located on the city’s west side that offers various services for young women, including mothers, seeking education and job training.

Led by community leader Rick Cavender, volunteers constructed a playground at the residential campus for young women that includes a reading theater, a garden with a bench, multiple picnic tables, two play towers and an orange playhouse, the news release states.

“Our team is committed to supporting organizations that help children and strengthen families,” said Cavender in the release. “YWCA’s Women’s Live and Learn Center is changing lives every day, and we are honored to be part of creating a place where children can play, grow, and feel at home.”

• 2318 Castroville Road, San Antonio

Thanksgiving week is expected to be one of the busiest U.S. travel periods in history, according to projections from AAA. A record 5.8 million Texans are projected to travel at least 50 miles from home Nov. 25-Dec. 1.

Zooming in: About 5.3 million Texans are expected to drive to their Thanksgiving destinations, according to a Nov. 17 news release, while about 328,000 people will fly and 140,000 will use other forms of transportation.

The impact: Texans should give themselves extra time to reach their destinations during Thanksgiving week, with the most congestion expected Nov. 25-26. Traffic is also expected to be heavy as Texans return home Nov. 30, according to INRIX, a transportation data company.

Minimal traffic is expected on Thanksgiving Day.

More details: Texas drivers will pay about the same for gas as they did last Thanksgiving, according to AAA Texas. One gallon of regular unleaded gas cost about $2.65 in Texas as of Nov. 13, down from $2.69 last year.

Google is targeting Texas for future investments in data and artificial infrastructure, with $40 billion expected to be spent on adding three new data centers.

Federal, state and local leaders announced the new centers to be constructed in Armstrong and Haskell counties at a Nov. 14 event at the first Texas Google Data Center in Midlothian, near the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The gist: One new data center will be constructed in Armstrong County near Amarillo, and two new data centers will be constructed in Haskell County near Abilene. One center in Haskell County will also use a new solar and battery energy storage plant.

“They say that everything is bigger in Texas—and that certainly applies to the golden opportunity with AI,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Also of note: The driverless car company Waymo is expanding to North Texas in 2026, Pichai said.