SH130 to be the new I-35? (Houston, Austin: construction, live in, light rail)

[centralaustinite]

All the plans in the world do not mean a thing without FUNDING!

I do not think that it will ever happen. 130 helps folks in the northern burbs get the airport but that's about it, the trucks won't use it because it is a longer route and the tolls too high. Even if it 130 was free only a segment of the truck traffic would use it.

[love roses]

It helps me get to the airport, to Pflugerville, RR, N. or S. Austin or Georgetown. My husband is a truck driver and he uses the toll road but mainly because his company compensates their drivers for using it.

[1mintjulep]

So, I just looked on Google Maps to see where 130 even was. Um...it would be completely useless for me. Looks like it would take me a good 45 minutes just to get to it from where I live, and would increase my travel time to just about anywhere I needed to go, no matter how little traffic there was.

Seriously, this thing is in the middle of nowhere!

[case44]

Originally Posted by riaelise

wouldn't work bc 130 is in the middle of nowhere.

It sounds like a good idea from a bypass standpoint if they can take the tolls off of it. And that's the kicker, but what are the odds that they'd actually do it?? There's just not much going on in Pflugerville and Manor just yet, but that can change in the next ten years. I couldn't see I-35 being moved, however, from its original configuration.

Originally Posted by jobert

Good idea, or bad?

Believe it or not, bad idea. Keep the I-35 configuration just like it is. I'm sure the powers that be will keep trying to find new ways to rebuild the road through the city, and I know that that will be difficult. 35 does need to be rebuilt in town, as the road is very old and worn out. Now, it's important to understand that what's being talked about is only a recommendation right now regarding bypassing 35 around to Pflugerville and Manor and Bergstrom Airport, not a set plan. If it does come to pass, then a lot of mile markers would have remeasured and replaced in and north of Austin and the present 35 could be renamed I-435. There are a lot of possibilities.

And if they can come up with a plan to just remove the tolls without changing the highway designation, then more people will use the road. They could still expand it, anyway, in anticipation of potential new development.

Originally Posted by sinking

This sounds similar to an idea I had a while ago to make 130 I35 and strongly encourage traffic passing through to use 130.

To do this you would probably need to remove the toll on 130 and also set up cameras to catch people going through Old 35 and ticket them.

Regarding that last sentence, that is not happening. High-mast cameras are not for surveillance, just showing people traffic counts, unless you were referring to red-light cameras, which won't work on freeways. I agree with the bypass proposal and getting people away from the CBD traffic, but why would you want to ticket people using an alternate route?? That last sentence makes absolutely no sense.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by gcrissman

As an outsider I don't have much say in this debate but I can promise you the growth will come and some day the roads will have to be built. Its the same as passing the buck on the National Debt to our grandkids, sooner or later someone has to deal with it and each year it gets harder.

As someone deciding between Austin and Dallas on their next home I am concerned but I think barring a complete disaster of a visit next month we will be moving to Austin as my office in Dallas would be downtown by the courthouse and that is too far to drive from the burbs.

I also think there are better ways to deal with traffic and growth in America but until there is a complete culture change and people are willing to give up Pickups, fullsize cars, and large homes those other ways will never work.

Addressing the problem by just looking at the demand side of the equation is equally short-sighted. Just b/c people move here doesn't mean that they should all be commuting long distances because that is what they did in LA or Atlanta. How about some infill development, development around transit/closer to employment centers, and higher densities? The thing is people want the best of both worlds with all of the perceived advantages of the burbs including more land but they also want quick commutes. They should instead readjust their expectations that they are entitled to 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a 3 car garage on a quarter acre lot. They should be open to other modes of transportation than just cars to ferry around their increasingly pudgy children. Putting all of your eggs in one basket, e.g. roads, roads, roads, is short-sighted too.

[cBach]

Why don't we try it and see if it works. It can't get any worse, I'm sure everyone is in agreement on that, right?

[feconi]

Originally Posted by cBach

Why don't we try it and see if it works. It can't get any worse, I'm sure everyone is in agreement on that, right?

Actually, it could get worse. The committee's idea for conversion of a lane on I-35 into a "managed lane" (without adding any additional capacity) will likely make traffic worse along I-35.

Instead of trying an experiment seems all but doomed to fail, why not just save any money potentially spent on this project and use it to upgrade the current I-35 corridor?

[atxcio]

It makes sense though, the kind of sense that would actually lead to the promised result (less traffic on the existing 35, and more on 130).

Think about it -- right now, we're tolling a bypass (the "long" way). What sense does that make? Pay extra to drive extra? No wonder no one is using it!

If the tolled road was the "short cut", however, that would make sense.

I know they are only proposing to toll one lane right now, but I'd be fine with the switch and having them toll ALL the lanes of I-35. I think that would be more logical. The result would be less traffic. For those who are in the city, avoiding I-35 is easy if they really don't want to pay the toll.

Now the sprawl along 130 would be hideous, but that's coming anyway. When they built the road, that ship sailed...

[DANNYY]

Are these people idiots?

Why cant they do the smart thing and make 290 into an Interstate? Like they should at least apply for federal funding to make that happen. Austin's roads are the worst I have ever had the displeasure to drive on, I love the city but everytime I go out to get food or whatever I just really hate my life because of the roads.

[feconi]

Making the "old" I-35 into a fully-tolled facility makes more sense than converting one lane into a managed lane, that's for sure.

The result of doing so would be less traffic, but how much less? Again, TxDOT traffic counts suggest through-greater Austin traffic on I-35 is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 vehicles per day. As I said earlier, even in the highly unlikely scenario that all of these vehicles used the "new" I-35, this sort of a reduction in traffic will NOT be sufficient to alleviate congestion.

Sure, it might reduce the length of rush hour and ease some of the weekend congestion, but the corridor would still remain grossly over-capacity and congested during peak hours. You can also expect to still have significant truck traffic, because many of those trucks will have a local destination.

The premise of this project is to reduce traffic congestion, and given how the vast majority of traffic on I-35 in Austin is local, I see no reason why tolling the corridor--especially in light of 130's location, which is inconvenient for most local traffic--will have an appreciable effect on congestion.

The only real benefit I see from this idea, however idealistic, is that the windfall of toll money collected from the "old" I-35 could be used to fund its expansion (and also to hopefully expedite it).