Which part of your week runs through the corner of McCullough and Hildebrand? SAWS scheduled full closures there to begin Monday, October 26, and anything that runs through that corner will need a new route until the work moves on.
San Antonio Water System is replacing water mains on East Hildebrand and Old Hildebrand Avenue. The work runs from the McCullough intersection to Devine Road, and the SAWS project page puts the timeframe at October 2026 through March 2027. The closure begins on Olmos Park's southern edge and moves east, so the neighborhood carries the heaviest share of the inconvenience between now and the holidays and much less once the work crosses Shook Avenue in January.
The Corner Where It Starts
The first piece of work is the McCullough and Hildebrand intersection. MySA described it as the corner "where the iconic Olmos Pharmacy was replaced by an Italian restaurant." That restaurant is Volare at 3902 McCullough Ave. It lists dine-in, pickup and delivery, and it's open Monday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from noon to 10:30 p.m. It's closed Sundays.
According to MySA, the intersection work should be finished in November, with the stretch from McCullough east to Shook following in December, "assuming all goes to plan." The Express-News gave a broader window of October through December for this first phase. Both outlets agree on the order: the corner nearest Olmos Park goes first.
This is a full closure, not a lane squeeze. A SAWS project update quoted by MySA says, "Once work starts, portions of Hildebrand will be completely closed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." A Friday dinner at Volare will still happen. Getting there just means coming in from a different direction until the intersection reopens.
Olmos Drive Becomes the Bypass
The detours explain why Olmos Park feels this phase more than most places. The Express-News reported that drivers traveling between San Pedro Avenue and U.S. 281 will be sent into the Monte Vista and Olmos Park neighborhoods. During the first closure, the official route goes west to San Pedro or east to Shook, then north to Olmos Drive or south to Huisache Avenue.
MySA reported a slightly different list of side streets that SAWS recommends:
- Shook Avenue
- West Olmos Drive
- Howard Street
- East Mulberry Avenue
MySA's account notes the cost: "Already, residents are concerned about drivers turning onto residential roads to avoid traffic buildup." There's a reason drivers lean on Hildebrand. MySA calls it the avenue that "directly connects McCullough and San Pedro to I-10." With that connection gone, through traffic needs another east-west street, and Olmos Drive is on both outlets' lists.
That puts one of the neighborhood's most routine stops right on a detour street. The Olmos Park H-E-B is at 300 Olmos Drive. The store is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The pharmacy keeps shorter hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. With 17 hours of store time against a pharmacy window as short as seven hours on Sundays, you have far more room to move a grocery run than a prescription pickup.
A Calendar Sorted by Phase
The first phase runs through the busiest stretch of the fall calendar. Here's how the nearby dates on the books line up with the work.
| Date | Where | What | Hildebrand segment closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 29 | Alamo Stadium | McCollum vs. Jefferson and Sam Houston vs. Highlands, 7 p.m. | McCullough to Shook phase |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Ruth Taylor Recital Hall, Trinity University | Trinity Symphony Orchestra concert | McCullough to Shook phase |
| Thu., Nov. 5 | Alamo Stadium | Jefferson vs. Edison and Highlands vs. Brackenridge, 7 p.m. | McCullough to Shook phase |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Alamo Stadium | Burbank vs. Lanier, 2 p.m. | McCullough to Shook phase |
| Mon., Nov. 9 | Mabee Auditorium, Dicke Hall 104, Trinity University | Lennox Seminar with Jonathan Prown | McCullough to Shook phase |
| Sat., Dec. 19 | Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University | Winter Commencement | McCullough to Shook phase |
The game dates come from the SAISD 2026 varsity football schedule. The Trinity events come from the university's official events calendar, which lists start times in Eastern time, so check the time in Central before you leave.
Every one of these dates falls inside the first phase. SAWS has named Trinity University, Olmos Park, the University of the Incarnate Word, the San Antonio Zoo and Alamo Stadium among the neighbors it has been coordinating with. On Thursday nights when Alamo Stadium hosts two games, plan on game traffic sharing the detour streets with everyone else.
The Errands That Stay North of the Work
Plenty of the neighborhood's daily routine never touches the closed segment. The work sits at 3902 McCullough, so the shops farther up the avenue are on the other side of the routine from it.
Olmos Pluma is at 5223 McCullough Ave. It's open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Just Your Beauty Hair Studio is at 4501 McCullough Ave., Suite 106, and lists an Olmos Park address. It's open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Both are on McCullough itself, so the closure doesn't stand between Olmos Park and its own stretch of the avenue. The friction comes from trips that used to cut east or west along Hildebrand: a drive toward San Pedro, a run toward U.S. 281, a game at Alamo Stadium. Shorter trips up McCullough can stay as they are.
January Moves the Work Toward the Basin
After New Year's, the work leaves the McCullough end. The Express-News reported that the second phase, scheduled for January through March, will close Hildebrand from Shook Avenue to Devine Street, which it placed about a quarter mile west of U.S. 281. MySA described Devine Road as sitting "just before Incarnate Word."
That end of the project is closest to Olmos Basin Park at 651 Devine Road. The City of San Antonio lists it as open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a 0.87-mile trail of decomposed granite and concrete and a 0.5-mile pugmill trail. While the work stays west of Shook, the basin is a cleaner trip. In the January phase, the closed stretch sits close to the park's own address on Devine, so morning walks there are the routine most likely to need a new approach.
The project's timing works out this way:
- Late October: Utility-locating work was set to start October 19 and could require temporary single-lane closures while two-way traffic stays open. SAWS scheduled no full closures before October 26.
- November: Work at the McCullough and Hildebrand intersection is expected to wrap up, per MySA.
- December: The McCullough to Shook stretch is expected to be finished.
- January through March: Shook to Devine closes, and the full road isn't scheduled to reopen until March.
Why the Pipes, and Why Now
These mains are more than a century old. The Express-News reported that SAWS says they have "a history and high probability of failures." On East Hildebrand and Old Hildebrand, the utility is replacing more than 4,600 feet of pipe. The $11.3 million budget covers all three sites in SAWS' 2023 Water Main Replacement Project 4. That includes work on Camden Street and Euclid Avenue, which the Express-News says is scheduled to start in 2027.
Homes and businesses close to the line may lose water briefly while new pipe is tied in. SAWS says, "If your service will be affected, we'll notify you in advance." For questions about the project, SAWS lists Cecilia Picazo at 210-233-3750 or [email protected].
Showings, inspections, contractor visits and moving trucks all run on someone else's clock, and right now they depend on which block of Hildebrand is closed. If you're planning a listing, a renovation or a move in Olmos Park before March, Krista Boazman can help you time it around each phase so that buyers, crews and guests all come in the easy way. Let's Connect.