San Antonio · READING THE ROAD
San Antonio’s Loop 410 opening, 1963The airport stretch comes together.
San Antonio · November 1963 magazine commentary
A September 1963 opening brought Loop 410 past San Antonio International Airport closer to completion. The aerial photograph shows an operating freeway, construction beyond it and the space the city was still growing into.
Explore the storyA NAME WORTH EXPLAINING
Built to Interstate standards, with a state-loop designation
One sentence in the magazine may surprise anyone who knows this road simply as I-410. The new section, it says, was built to Interstate standards but was not on the designated Interstate system. The construction standard and the official designation were separate matters.
TxDOT’s route records help explain the naming. In October 1960, the state renamed the northern route between I-10 and I-35 at Fratt from Loop 13 to State Loop 410. The stated reason was to give drivers a continuous 410 number with the Interstate portion. The state-loop mileage was transferred to I-410 in July 1969. TxDOT’s State Loop 410 designation record
That distinction also appears in the magazine’s financing account. The $1.8 million construction job was split evenly between state and federal funds. A separate $800,000 right-of-way cost was shared by the city, county and state. Land and construction were different bills, with different participants. Those figures belong to the 1963 section; they are not the price of building the entire loop.
For drivers, a consistent number made the route easier to follow. For the agencies building it, the number sat alongside a less visible set of boundaries: who paid, which system a section belonged to and when it was formally transferred.
WHAT THE CEREMONY DID NOT COMPLETE
The rest of San Antonio’s loop was still ahead
The article reported another 11.5 miles under construction and a six-mile southeastern section still awaiting a contract. It also counted a previously completed three-mile stretch of I-35 as part of the eventual circuit. The loop was being assembled from connected sections, rather than opened in one sweep.
The ceremony photograph brings the story down from the aerial view to a small group at the ribbon. The magazine names the officials and goes on to list engineers and inspectors involved in the work. Its emphasis is on public service and completion, but the companion aerial quietly supplies the qualification: quite a lot remained unfinished.
Eight years later, “Where the Freeways Meet” turned to a different circle—the downtown loop and its I-35/I-37 interchange. Keeping those two loops distinct makes San Antonio’s construction history easier to follow. The 1963 airport opening belonged to the route around the wider city; the later interchange would help connect freeways around the central business district.
Source: Texas Highways, November 1963. Photographer not identified in the surviving scan.
issue · Selected photographic detail
The engineer takes the scissors
The source identifies District Engineer R. O. Lytton as the ribbon cutter and Mayor Walter McAllister at right. Giving the engineer the scissors made the person responsible for the road’s construction a central figure in the ceremony.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
Sources
New TexasFreeway commentary draws on the magazine feature and the supporting research below. Selected photographs appear with analysis; the complete scans retain the original publication text and image arrangement.
- “Loop Around San Antonio,” Texas Highways, November 1963, printed pages 28–29 in the surviving spread. The September 28 date identifies the dedication, not the magazine issue. No author or photographer is named in the scan.
- Opening spread: complete original scan. The complete surviving spread, including the original text and photographs. Smaller file.
Return to discussion: 1
- TxDOT, State Highway Loop No. 410 designation file, October 5, 1960 and July 31, 1969 entries. See also the corresponding Interstate Highway No. 410 record. These are designation records, not construction-completion certificates.
Return to discussion: 1
About this article: TexasFreeway presents selected historical images for commentary, analysis and education under fair use. Images remain credited to their respective sources. Their inclusion here does not grant permission for reuse elsewhere.
Supporting online sources checked October 5, 2026. The magazine date identifies the historical source.
Back to top ↑
SEPTEMBER 28, 1963
Loop 410 opens another 2.5 miles near the airport
The airport has plenty of room in this photograph. Runways cross open ground on one side of Loop 410, while houses line the streets on the other. Between them, the new freeway bends through the frame. Farther away, more construction continues. You can see why opening another section mattered without mistaking it for the end of the job.
The November 1963 “Loop Around San Antonio” feature reported the September 28 dedication of 2.5 miles from McCullough Avenue to Nacogdoches Road. That brought the completed mileage to 31.1 out of a planned 51.6-mile circuit. District Engineer R. O. Lytton cut the ribbon, with Mayor Walter McAllister holding it on the right in the ceremony photograph. The opening and its endpoints
The aerial view is the more revealing of the two pictures. It places the new road beside San Antonio International Airport and shows the different kinds of space along it: airfield, nearby development and the freeway’s own ramps and frontage roads. The source also points out unfinished construction at the top of the image. A ribbon could open the completed section; it could not close the gaps beyond it.
The Loop 410 road photograph collection offers later views along the corridor. This earlier photograph is a useful starting point for seeing how much of the road’s surroundings could change after the pavement arrived.
Source: Texas Highways, November 1963. Photographer not identified in the surviving scan.
issue · Selected photographic detail
Loop 410 beside San Antonio International Airport
The airfield and neighboring streets give the opening its geographic context. The road is complete in the foreground, while work continues farther along the route. The photograph records one stage of the loop, not a finished circle.