Guadalupe Trail Repaving

by Nancy Nangeroni

I thought I’d grab some images from the past off of Google Streetview, then take new photos from the same perspectives to demonstrate how the repaving changed the width of the road, not to mention the shoulders available to pedestrians, baby carriages, bicyclists and equestrians. I went out there and, in between cars driving by, I stood in the roadway, phone held high above my head, snapping photos. I’d installed an app that enabled me to overlay an existing image over the photo view, so that I could match the perspective of the existing image.

However, this was not so easily accomplished.

What I failed to take into account was the focal length of the lens being used to take the photo. While my phone has an adjustable focal length, the combination of having to use a new, unfamiliar app while holding my phone overhead at the height of Google’s car-top cameras, trying to match landmarks in foreground and background on the old photo with those in the camera, and having to move aside for traffic every minute or two proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Below are a few pairs of photos. They are not as close in perspective as I had planned to achieve, but hopefully can still be useful in establishing the degree to which the street has been widened.

Looking North around 6600 Guadalupe Trail: The above photos, taken between Chavez and Schulte, are from significantly different angles/focal lengths, so it’s hard to reach a definite conclusion, but the new shoulder on the west side looks a lot narrower to my eye.

Looking North around 6643 Guadalupe Trail: These two photos above aren’t terribly close in persoective, and it doesn’t look like the western edge was extended at all, judging by the concrete next to the closest tree on that side. It’s hard to tell if the eastern edge has been extended from these views.

Looking North around 6700 Guadalupe Trail: Here both sides look tighter to my eye. The post-widening absence of a shoulder on the east side is clearly worsened.

Looking North around 6703 Guadalupe Trail: Note in the above photos, the distance from the foot of the stop sign to the pavement. The AFTER photo shows the pavement extending to within a few inches of the stop sign post. The BEFORE photo (from June 2022) on the left shows that distance easily greater than a foot. That’s not a huge amount of roadway width, but it’s a big reduction in pedestrian, bicycle, baby carriage and equestrian space.

Looking North around 6737 Guadalupe Trail: The space to the tree on the east seems significantly reduced. Also, on the west side just behond the near driveway, extending into the shoulder from the chainlink fence, a concrete fixture is further from the old asphalt. Yes, you have to look closely, but the difference is there.

Looking South around 6836 Guadalupe Trail: On the east (left) side of the new photo, you can easily see how the asphalt was extended eastward at least a foot.