Dietz Elkhorn's Year of Detours Is Laying Pipe for Fair Oaks Ranch's East Side
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
The east end of Dietz Elkhorn Road has been closed since 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23. The City set the start time for just after afternoon school pickup. Crews are rebuilding the stretch between Chartwell Lane and Ralph Fair Road, and all traffic from Dietz Elkhorn and Chartwell goes around on Saddle Song.
The closure is the most visible part of a bigger project. Over about a year, the City of Fair Oaks Ranch is rebuilding 1.2 miles of Dietz Elkhorn Road East, from Fair Oaks Parkway to FM 3351. The road gets wider, and a new 12-inch water main goes in along the way. The main is meant to serve future needs on the east side of the city. For the people who drive this road every day, that means a season of detours now and a different road by late summer 2027.
In its Oct. 16 project update, the City said this full closure, called "Step 2," would last about two to three weeks. Counting from Oct. 23, that puts the reopening between Friday, Nov. 6 and Friday, Nov. 13. The City said it would post again when the road reopens or if the schedule changes. Until then, plan on the Saddle Song detour and extra time at the morning and afternoon peaks.
This step comes first because the whole project starts at the Ralph Fair Road end. The City's July 29 open house presentation set the work in three phases, east to west, with construction estimated from late August 2026 to late August 2027.
Construction started on schedule. Contract-tracking site Civic IQ, summarizing the City's Oct. 1 status report, said D&D Contractors got the notice to proceed on Sept. 4. By October, crews had lane closures in place and were replacing culverts while CPS Energy upgraded manholes.
Once a full closure like Step 2 ends, traffic follows the rule in the presentation. One eastbound lane stays open at all times while crews work on the other lane, and westbound traffic detours around the work zone. That means a trip toward Ralph Fair Road and I-10 can use Dietz Elkhorn, and the trip home heading west takes a detour. As the phases move west, so does the detour.
The presentation adds two more points. Some intersections inside each phase will close when another route is available. And everyone who lives on Dietz Elkhorn or on a dead-end street off it keeps access to their driveway the whole time.
On a map, that means no single neighborhood street carries the detour all year. Each phase sends westbound traffic around a different section, from the Preakness end next to Ralph Fair Road out to the Windermere and Fair Oaks Parkway end by summer.
Next August's road will be wider than today's by about the width of a bike lane. The July 29 presentation compares the two:
| Today | After reconstruction | |
|---|---|---|
| Total width | 28 to 29 ft | 32 ft |
| Travel lanes | Two 11 ft lanes | Two 11 ft lanes |
| North shoulder | 5 ft paved | 5 ft paved |
| South shoulder | 1 to 2 ft paved | 5 ft paved |
The lanes stay the same width. The added space goes to the south shoulder, which grows from one or two feet to five, so both sides end up matching. Today, anyone on the south side has very little paved room between the travel lane and the ditch.
The City is getting that width without buying any land. The project needs no right-of-way acquisition. The existing bar ditches mostly stay. Culverts get replaced, roadside areas get regraded, and driveways and mailboxes are adjusted only where needed. It is a full-depth rebuild of the road on about the same footprint.
The road work is bid together with the Dietz Elkhorn Water Line Project, which puts the new 12-inch main under the north shoulder. A June 26 City Manager memo gives its length as about 4,565 linear feet and says it is meant "to serve future needs on the east side of the City." Part of the cost will be covered by the developer of Sovereign at Fair Oaks, the property formerly known as the Corley property.
The same memo mentions another long-range detail. On June 8, City staff met with the TxDOT Area Engineer about the right-of-way permit for the water line. They wanted to make sure the pipe's depth would not interfere with the planned future expansion of FM 3351. So the water main is being placed with a future, wider Ralph Fair Road in mind.
The project sets up water service for new development on the east side and works around a state highway expansion that hasn't happened yet. Building both at once means the road gets torn up one time instead of twice.
The contract came in under budget. The memo recommended awarding it to D&D Contractors, Inc. for $4,559,083.95, with a 5% contingency for a total cap of $4,787,038.15. That is about $1.29 million under budget before counting the developer's contribution.
The current Saddle Song detour runs through the intersection that gets the most attention in the plans. The bid included two dedicated left-turn lanes at Dietz Elkhorn and Chartwell Lane/Saddle Song. The June memo gave City Council a choice: build them as bid, or drop them and keep the current layout. It also listed other options, including a four-way stop with flashing beacon lights or lowering the school zone speed limit there from 20 mph to 15 mph during school hours. The contract award did not depend on any of these choices.
In July, the presentation said Council planned to consider more traffic control measures so drivers can safely turn out of Chartwell Lane during school drop-off and pickup. Until the City announces a decision, treat the turn lanes, beacons and lower speed limit as options, not plans.
For households along Dietz Elkhorn Road East, the presentation covers the details of daily life during construction:
The brush request is easy to miss in fall, when yard cleanup piles up. If you're in Phase 2 or Phase 3, near Windermere or Fair Oaks Parkway, that could mean holding off for a while.
The City's summer road work also included Old Fredericksburg Road, from the I-10 access road near CVS to the Dietz Elkhorn intersection. That rebuild ran as a one-way southbound work zone in June. A July 2 City Manager memo said both lanes had reopened after base repairs and a mill-and-overlay, with only final punch-list items and closeout left.
More projects are lined up. The City's budget discussion for fiscal 2026-27 listed continued work on Dietz Elkhorn, plus Ammann Road, Rolling Acres Trail and two drainage projects on Triple Crown.
Holiday Market Day at the Ranch is Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Cibolo Creek Community Church, 30395 Ralph Fair Rd. That falls inside the window when the Step 2 closure may still be up, so if you live east of Chartwell and normally take Dietz Elkhorn to Ralph Fair, allow time for the Saddle Song detour.
If you need coffee on the way, Pit Stop Cafe opened Feb. 23 at 1 FM 3351, Ste. 150, in the space that used to be a Scooter's Coffee. Community Impact reported that it serves espresso drinks and dirty sodas.
For reopening news and each phase change, the City points residents to a few places: its project page, the ClearGov capital project tracker, Notify Me news alerts, Regroup emergency notifications, and the City's Facebook, LinkedIn and Nextdoor accounts. Public Works Director Grant Watanabe leads the project for the City, with Pape-Dawson Consulting Engineers as design engineer and D&D Contractors doing the construction.
Wherever you are in your plans, a year of construction on your street can change the timing of a move, a listing or a renovation. If you're wondering how Dietz Elkhorn's phases fit with your own plans in Fair Oaks Ranch, Forward Real Estate can help you map the timing so you can take your next step with confidence. Schedule a Free Strategy Consultation.
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