Crews mobilized on Dietz Elkhorn Road on September 8. Construction started today, September 14. If you have been driving past the orange barrels for months wondering when "later this year" would actually arrive, the answer is now.
The reconstruction of Dietz Elkhorn between Fair Oaks Parkway and FM 3351 has been on the city's radar since at least 2025, pushed back once to coordinate with a new water line, delayed again while officials worked out a utility agreement with a developer on Ralph Fair Road. It is finally underway, and it will not be finished for twelve to fifteen months. What makes the timing worth a second look is not the delay itself. It is that this exact stretch of road is also where nearly everything new in Fair Oaks Ranch has landed this year, from a barbecue counter inside the H-E-B to a full dining relaunch at the golf club. For the next year, the fastest way to the good stuff runs straight through a construction zone.
Why This Particular 1.2 Miles
Dietz Elkhorn is not getting a fresh coat of asphalt. The city's own numbers explain why. Much of the roadway currently carries an Overall Condition Index below 40, and without intervention that score was projected to fall below 20 within three years, according to the city's project page. That is the language of a road past patching, not a road due for maintenance.
The fix is a full-depth reconstruction of the 1.2-mile segment, paired with a new 12-inch water main installed beneath the north shoulder so the city is not tearing the same pavement up again in five years for a utility project. The finished road keeps its two 11-foot travel lanes but widens the shoulders to five feet on both sides, specifically to make room for pedestrians, cyclists, and golf carts, according to the rendering the Boerne Star described when the project was formally announced in August. That last detail matters here in a way it would not in most Texas suburbs. Golf carts on Dietz Elkhorn are not a novelty. They are commuters.
The price tag moved during the wait. Community Impact reported the project budgeted at $4.9 million as of January 2026. By the time construction was announced in August, the city was quoting $5.5 million for the same 1.2 miles. Seven months, roughly $600,000. Nobody has published a line-item explanation for the jump, and it is worth knowing that number grew before you see it reflected in whatever the city eventually bills back through bonds or utility rates.
What's Landing in the Same Corridor
Here is the part that turns a routine infrastructure story into something residents should actually plan around. While Dietz Elkhorn was stuck in delay after delay, the businesses clustered around its endpoints kept moving.
| What's New | Where | Status as of September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| True Texas BBQ | Inside the Fair Oaks H-E-B, 29388 West I-10 | Build-out expected to wrap by September 25; no public opening date yet |
| Saddle & Stone | Fair Oaks Ranch Golf & Country Club | Open now, reimagined indoor dining room and full bar |
| Oak Pit | Fair Oaks Ranch Golf & Country Club | Open now, outdoor extension of the same dining program |
The H-E-B project is a $2 million, 4,465-square-foot addition to the existing store, built to house True Texas BBQ, the chain's in-store smokehouse concept known elsewhere in Texas for brisket, smoked turkey, and loaded baked potatoes. Construction was permitted to run from June through late September. H-E-B has confirmed the build to local reporters but has stayed quiet on an actual opening date, so residents watching for it should expect the doors to open sometime after the September 25 construction deadline, not on it.
At the country club, the change already happened. The food and beverage program that existed over the winter is gone, replaced by two connected concepts under Arcis Golf's management. Saddle & Stone handles the indoor experience. Oak Pit extends it outdoors. If your last visit to the club predates this year, the menu and the room are not what you remember.
None of this is coincidence so much as geography. The H-E-B sits on the I-10 frontage road. The country club sits off Fair Oaks Parkway. Dietz Elkhorn is the connector between them and the rest of the city. For a full year, the easiest paths to both destinations run adjacent to a road that is now down to reduced lanes and detours.
The Rest of the Cone Zone
Dietz Elkhorn is not the only project residents are navigating this fall. Old Fredericksburg Road, funded jointly by the city and Bexar County, was approved for a mill-and-overlay to address significant potholes and deterioration, with construction originally slated to begin in the March-to-April window earlier this year. Separately, the city's own site notes that Phase I of the Post Oak Development is now underway along Ammann Road, with residents likely to notice tree removal, site clearing, and roadway grading as that work proceeds.
Individually, none of these is a crisis. Together, they mean a resident planning a Saturday circuit of groceries, a round of golf, and dinner should expect at least one leg of that trip to involve a detour sign, not just Dietz Elkhorn.
A few practical notes worth keeping in mind while the work is active:
- The road will not close outright for the full twelve to fifteen months. City documentation describes the work happening in phases, with sections opened as each phase wraps, so expect the disruption to move along the corridor rather than sit in one place.
- Fair Oaks Parkway remains a viable route around the work zone since it is the starting point of the project, not part of the segment being rebuilt.
- If your household uses a golf cart for short trips inside the city, the temporary narrower shoulders during construction are the tradeoff for the permanent five-foot shoulders arriving when the project wraps.
The Trade Residents Are Actually Making
Step back and the shape of the next year becomes clear. Fair Oaks Ranch is not gaining a new identity or becoming a destination it was not before. It is compressing. A grocery run, a dinner out, and the city's main north-south connector are all converging on the same few blocks at the same time, and two of those three things just got better while the third got harder to drive.
That is a strange trade to be handed all at once, but it is the honest one. The road that has needed fixing for years is finally getting fixed, using the water line work as the excuse to do it right instead of twice. The dining options that used to mean a drive into Boerne now exist inside the neighborhood. The friction is temporary. The five-foot shoulders, the new water main, and the barbecue counter are not.
If you are watching this corridor because you are weighing what a year of construction and a wave of new amenities might mean for property values along Dietz Elkhorn, that is a more specific conversation than a blog post can settle. Strait Luxury works this stretch of the Hill Country closely enough to talk through it in detail. Schedule a private consultation when you are ready to talk about what this corridor is actually worth to you, on either side of the construction cones.
