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Currently in Austin TX traffic. Give me Atlanta any day of the week.
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Originally Posted by DreamerD
1) You missed everything!!!!
2) Pretty scary that a city smaller than Atlanta can have even worse traffic.
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Originally Posted by JMatl
I've never been, but I keep hearing from friends and clients that it's beyond ridiculous for it's size.
And just like another 'It' city Nashville, there is no comprehensive rail plan in place.
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Originally Posted by DreamerD
With the city being considered so progressive, you'd think they'd already have rail in place.
Didn't know you were in my neck of the woods Berretta, did you fly in or drive?
Austins traffic definitely is bad.
But also depending on where in Austin you are. Austin has a network of issues between the western sector (known as West Hills) and also Austin's core (like any major city)
From what I understand of Austin, they never intended Austin to grow to the size it currently is (and its size is expected to surpass current day San Antonio by 2030 which is pretty scary.) Prior to a massive influx of tech companies (IBM, Dell, Google, Apple, Oracle, Intel, ect) Austin was more so a laid back town with no plans of becoming a major city which...out of the blue happened as these companies were attracted by much lower taxes, high education, and some tech expo I know little about. When Austin began to grow, unlike DFW and Houston they tried to push people into using transit by limiting the amount of road infrastructure they biult...and it backfired, bad... now they are tearing down older roads and replacing them with interstate-grade roads in some areas (namely U.S. 183, 290, TX-71) in attempt to pace the growth...most of them will be toll-roads.
Austin actually is 'trying' to push for a rail system, nothing on the scale of MARTA but its been shot down several times. Currently they have 1 line operating that will take you from Downtown to the suburb of Leander. I've used it. It's a decent ride.. it also beats driving to Downtown... but its pretty apparent that folks out here don't want transit.
The other issues are ---
-- Some areas are only accessible by 1 major road (FM620 out to West Hills) and they do not want to upgrade the road to a freeway as its about as scenic as it gets there for Texas in that area.
-- I-35 has way too much development around it to widen it beyond 3 - 4 lanes each way (and thats as wide as it gets... in Downtown Austin)
-- Western Geography is prohibitively and politically impossible to build upon, much in the same way the Northern Arc is in Atlanta.
-- I stay off of I-35... its a nightmare.
-- I also try to stay off of FM.620 & FM2222 - Thats also a horrible way to go.
-- Use toll roads to get to your destination when possible, they almost never back up and have speed limits between 75 and 85 MPH.
-- TX-Loop 1 moves a bit better than I-35 does but its also slow. You can use the HOT lane and toll by tag if you're from out of state in Austin, you can't do that in Houston though, you'll get a fine.
I personally do not have to commute downtown, my drive is only about 6 - 7 miles against the flow of traffic so I can usually make it to work at almost any hour in about 15 minutes, on top of which I live a decent distance from the core of Austin.
In summary, in many ways similar to Atlanta, Austin was not prepared for its growth (and in some ways even tried to shun it) and is now paying for it now by rapidly trying to improve their infrastructure while Fortune 500 companies from the Pacific come here settling in groves, every other week causing the COL to just explode. Currently the median cost of a house in Austin is $375k .. people say they want Amazon and Google and so forth in Atlanta...I PERSONALLY feel it was a silent blessing that Atlanta missed those opportunities...its not as pretty as people think.
Is Austin's traffic worse than Atlanta's? I'd personally have to say it depends. On I-35 it can get pretty bad. On 620, Its also pretty bad...for the rest of it...it's not quite as bad.
For Nashville...I've heard Nashville is also exploding in many ways similar to Austin but I was almost certain they did have plans for a rail out there.
For Nashville...I've heard Nashville is also exploding in many ways similar to Austin but I was almost certain they did have plans for a rail out there.
Monday marked the 10th anniversary of the founding of the powerful Atlanta Tea Party organization which helped drive a conservative movement in metro Atlanta, Georgia and national politics during the early and mid 2010's that many say helped lead to the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016.
Monday's episode of the Georgia Public Broadcasting show Political Rewind talked with conservative activist Virginia Galloway who was one of the founding members of the Atlanta Tea Party organization in 2009.
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On this edition of Political Rewind, today marks the 10th anniversary of the Atlanta Tea Party, which became part of a national movement that would upend Republican politics.
Ten years ago, thousands of conservatives flocked to Georgia’s Statehouse for the first major tea party rally in Atlanta. An anniversary celebration that featured prominent Republican speakers on Monday drew fewer than 50 people.
I have been going to that "neck of the woods" for more years than you have probably been alive. My husband is a native Texan and my sister in law and her family have lived in Austin for over 30 years and my stepson has been in Austin with Apple for over 10 years. We drove in from San Antonio just for the day. Thank goodness I had a guy who has been driving in TX for many, many years chauferring me.
We saw so many cops set up with speed traps right out of town going toward Round Rock. It was crazy, I bet we saw 20 total!
Btw, my stepsons house is about 10 minutes from Apple's headquarters. It is $700,000 (a year old) and as lovely as it was, I was shocked with the housing prices!
Also, one of my very good friends lives there (Bastrop actually). You may have heard of him, he is the comedian that is behind Gladys from "I love Jesus but I drink a little" fame. Other family are in the Hill Country, Dallas and beyond.
Former neighbors of ours are moving to Kissing Tree in between San Marcos and New Braunfels; we went by there to see it. What a great place! I want to live there someday! (I don't meet the age requirement yet though!)
Also went on another day over to Gruene to meet friends for lunch. If you have time make sure to eat at the Gruene River Grill if you haven't already.
The great thing that San Antonio did that Austin needs to do is build more (and higher) lanes that bypass the main thoroughfares. Austin traffic is like San Antonio was five years ago.
Nashville has gotten crazy with their traffic also; such a shame. I remember all the way back to when the Opry Hotel was Opryland; my grandparents even took me on the last day they were open! When I go now I wish my parents had bought a lot of property when I was a kid.
I have been going to that "neck of the woods" for more years than you have probably been alive. My husband is a native Texan and my sister in law and her family have lived in Austin for over 30 years and my stepson has been in Austin with Apple for over 10 years. We drove in from San Antonio just for the day. Thank goodness I had a guy who has been driving in TX for many, many years chauferring me.
We saw so many cops set up with speed traps right out of town going toward Round Rock. It was crazy, I bet we saw 20 total!
Btw, my stepsons house is about 10 minutes from Apple's headquarters. It is $700,000 (a year old) and as lovely as it was, I was shocked with the housing prices!
Also, one of my very good friends lives there (Bastrop actually). You may have heard of him, he is the comedian that is behind Gladys from "I love Jesus but I drink a little" fame. Other family are in the Hill Country, Dallas and beyond.
Former neighbors of ours are moving to Kissing Tree in between San Marcos and New Braunfels; we went by there to see it. What a great place! I want to live there someday! (I don't meet the age requirement yet though!)
Also went on another day over to Gruene to meet friends for lunch. If you have time make sure to eat at the Gruene River Grill if you haven't already.
The great thing that San Antonio did that Austin needs to do is build more (and higher) lanes that bypass the main thoroughfares. Austin traffic is like San Antonio was five years ago.
Nashville has gotten crazy with their traffic also; such a shame. I remember all the way back to when the Opry Hotel was Opryland; my grandparents even took me on the last day they were open! When I go now I wish my parents had bought a lot of property when I was a kid.
That's nice...
But unfortunately I think that you have me confused with Need4Camaro.
Apparently B2R has somehow reached a new level of intelligence that allows him to subconsciously rob posters of their quotes without even realizing it...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beretta
I have been going to that "neck of the woods" for more years than you have probably been alive. My husband is a native Texan and my sister in law and her family have lived in Austin for over 30 years and my stepson has been in Austin with Apple for over 10 years. We drove in from San Antonio just for the day. Thank goodness I had a guy who has been driving in TX for many, many years chauferring me.
We saw so many cops set up with speed traps right out of town going toward Round Rock. It was crazy, I bet we saw 20 total!
Btw, my stepsons house is about 10 minutes from Apple's headquarters. It is $700,000 (a year old) and as lovely as it was, I was shocked with the housing prices!
Also, one of my very good friends lives there (Bastrop actually). You may have heard of him, he is the comedian that is behind Gladys from "I love Jesus but I drink a little" fame. Other family are in the Hill Country, Dallas and beyond.
Former neighbors of ours are moving to Kissing Tree in between San Marcos and New Braunfels; we went by there to see it. What a great place! I want to live there someday! (I don't meet the age requirement yet though!)
Also went on another day over to Gruene to meet friends for lunch. If you have time make sure to eat at the Gruene River Grill if you haven't already.
The great thing that San Antonio did that Austin needs to do is build more (and higher) lanes that bypass the main thoroughfares. Austin traffic is like San Antonio was five years ago.
Nashville has gotten crazy with their traffic also; such a shame. I remember all the way back to when the Opry Hotel was Opryland; my grandparents even took me on the last day they were open! When I go now I wish my parents had bought a lot of property when I was a kid.
I work pretty close to Apple.
Round Rock does have quite a few cops but they become almost non-existent after you get north of Georgetown, I-35 becomes like a race track. I thought Atlantans drove fast...people in Texas drive FAST. In several sections between Austin metro and DFW metro I've found myself in the center lane being passed aggressively by cars in the left while I'm doing 85 MPH. BUT... In Austin, try not to speed on the surface roads. I got pulled over actually not long after I moved here. I wasn't paying attention to how fast I was going and got pulled over for 65 in a 55. Cop let me off with a warning.
In actuality, of living here for nearly 1 year I have not yet been down to see San Antonio. Years ago I passed through it coming home from Los Angeles and it surprised me by how much larger it is. I'm on the fence about what really may become of Austin's transportation issues and also the CoL here. Its probably the most expensive metro in Texas. I didn't get alot of time to plan a house when I moved here so I'm leasing an apartment. I got a higher paying job just now...was 'thinking' of buying a home in the Leander area (in comparison to Atlanta it would be kind of like Alpharetta without all of the jobs ... kind of.). Homes there are still aprox $250 - $300k - since the IT companies are a decent bit further south than Leander I'm believing it won't get too much higher immediately. Inner Austin though? Forget it, $500k + to even think about buying a home.. it's a miniature California in that regard. Some say the market will stabilize and become more realistic about buyers expectations, others say keep dreaming. I personally believe its going to get alot more expensive. As for transportation issues. I can't tell for certain what Austin is really going to do. They have a bypass partially biult and also in the planning process (TX 45 / TX 130) but the western sector has alot of opposition against it its northern terminus into FM620 after 183 literally dumps you into a heavily commercialized area which would all have to be completely torn down before they can continue to expand 45. If 45 were complete it would help alot. There did exist a time where Houston's roads were also a mess in terms of planning.
One thing I do wish Austin had though, a Toll Road between Austin and Houston...it is badly needed, its a pain driving down the state roads through small towns for 100+ miles to reach Houston and odd that there is no Interstate-grade road that connects Texas largest city, to the capital of the state.
I don't know if you've seen Domain - but if you get the time and opportunity, you should try to. Also Rudy's BBQ, do not leave Texas without Rudy's. Salt Lick BBQ is also okay but I like Rudy's more.
If you end up driving back to Atlanta, the fastest way is I-35 North toward DFW then I-20 East. I-10 through Houston and Louisiana adds about 2 hours to your trip.
From what I understand of Austin, they never intended Austin to grow to the size it currently is (and its size is expected to surpass current day San Antonio by 2030 which is pretty scary.) Prior to a massive influx of tech companies (IBM, Dell, Google, Apple, Oracle, Intel, ect) Austin was more so a laid back town with no plans of becoming a major city which...out of the blue happened as these companies were attracted by much lower taxes, high education, and some tech expo I know little about. When Austin began to grow, unlike DFW and Houston they tried to push people into using transit by limiting the amount of road infrastructure they biult...and it backfired, bad... now they are tearing down older roads and replacing them with interstate-grade roads in some areas (namely U.S. 183, 290, TX-71) in attempt to pace the growth...most of them will be toll-roads.
Austin actually is 'trying' to push for a rail system, nothing on the scale of MARTA but its been shot down several times. Currently they have 1 line operating that will take you from Downtown to the suburb of Leander. I've used it. It's a decent ride.. it also beats driving to Downtown... but its pretty apparent that folks out here don't want transit.
Sounds like they need to get on the stick with transit if they expect to hang on to all that tech business.
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