MOPAC Express Lanes (San Antonio, Austin, Giddings: neighborhood, live in, cost)

[jb9152]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Austin's freeway system in ARCHAIC and the laughing stock of much of Texas and a good chunk of the country. No HOV lanes, no traffic boards, no cameras, no metering ramps.

That's all nice, but with the exception of HOV lanes (and only if they're constructed in addition to the current lanes, as is being done in the case of MoPac), *none* of those increases capacity.

The central problem that Austin faces is not congestion - that's a symptom. The problem is a capacity deficit; there is more demand for transportation than can be provided by the current system.

I'll go back to the basics again - one lane to transport 2,000 vehicles per hour. If we need to add a 40,000 vehicle capacity over the next 25 years, as the city maintains, then we need 20 lanes.

This speaks nothing of the parking capacity that will be needed downtown, in addition to the increased arterial capacity needed on city streets through the UT-Capital-Downtown complex.

This is not a problem that's going to be solved through dreaming about giant tunneling machines, or 5-deck freeways, or even the Katy through downtown Austin (requiring destruction of a good part of the UT campus, including Memorial Stadium, the Erwin Center, etc., in addition to the hospital, at least two historic cemetaries, and a good portion of East Austin).

It's also not going to be solved by bulldozing the State School, Camp Mabry, and a bunch of homes around MoPac.

This is why the city's current discussion on high-capacity transit, including managed lanes on MoPac, is so relevant at this time. We simply do not have the financial, physical, and environmental capacity to lay down much more concrete.

[jql999]

HOV lanes do not work. And spare me metering lights. They only work if traffic is actually moving.

I hate to see the same discussions happening here that happened 20 years ago in the San Jose area. They built HOV lanes and metering lights and traffic only got worse. Can we please learn from their mistakes?

The only way to solve this problem is with mass transit like light rail - and it will only get harder and more expensive to do as time goes on.

But instead we approve a bond measure for transportation that funds more trails around LadyBird lake? but does nothing to fix the Y at 71/290? Seriously? Can you say priorities are out of whack?

The city council really needs to move away from the "at large" model and toward a district rep model. All the growth is happening in the south and south west and no one on the council lives south of the river.

It's too bad CapMetro bungled the first leg of the rail system so completely - no one wants to give them more money to do anything. But if you build it from Oak Hill and/or Manchaca to MLK and 17th-ish, it will be full in 5 years. Guaranteed.

[AutumnTraveler]

dreaming about giant tunneling machines

LOL They could add rocket tubes that shoot straight from underground and plops you right in front of your desk. That would be cool.

Light rail will help with congestion but I know a lot of people use their vehicles to travel to other events after work. For example, work downtown, then head to a sports league event somewhere else. It complicates things.

However, if you live in New York City you pretty much depend on taxis to get everywhere.

A solution just popped into my head. They should add game shows in light rail cars and taxi services! Just like the Cash Cab TV show. This would be a nice incentive.

[ScoPro]

Run a light rail train through the new Waller Creek drainage tunnel. It won't be raining much anyway for the next decade or so.

[jb9152]

Originally Posted by jql999

It's too bad CapMetro bungled the first leg of the rail system so completely - no one wants to give them more money to do anything. But if you build it from Oak Hill and/or Manchaca to MLK and 17th-ish, it will be full in 5 years. Guaranteed.

Well, while the conventional wisdom is that Cap Metro "bungled" the first leg of Austin's future rail system, the reality isn't quite so cut and dried. While there were missteps during the development and construction of the Red Line, the end product is a very functional, clean, on time, reliable passenger railroad that was built for relatively little money.

The original ridership target was about 1,600 trips per day. The Red Line is actually averaging about 1,700 per day at this point. On time performance is in the 99% range, and the reliability of the railcars and infrastructure has been excellent.

Cap Metro's biggest problem at this point is perception; the missteps that happened during construction and the too lean initial service plan (that left large market segments, like the midday and evening travel market unserved) have been corrected. Ridership is where it was projected to be.

All that said, the next two pieces of Austin's future regional rail system likely won't be built by Cap Metro, but by the city (Urban Rail) and Lone Star Rail District (LSTAR). However, in the future, it's looking like all passenger rail services in Central Texas will be operated by a cooperative body that includes the city, LSTAR, Cap Metro, and CAMPO. You can get more info at the Project Connect website: Project Connect.

[BevoLJ]

I'd suggest before spending all of those billions on burying I-35 or Mopac first fund urban rail that people may actually use to lighten the traffic load (Not talking about the idiotic suburban MetroFail). Austin has by far the worse (nearly non-existent) mass transit system in the United States for a metro of its size. Heck there are many metros significantly smaller than Austin that have mass transit.

Austin will never get the funds to do the kinds of neat things Dallas, Houston, SA and FW do. When it comes to the state handing out money Austin will always stand at the back of the line. As awesome as it would be to bury I-35 or Mopac, it will never be realistic. However now that the other cities have gotten some proper rail set up, we might stand a chance at getting our turn to get some funding to help with us getting some urban rail set up.

Also, just to note on another topic touched on in this thread. That the interstate is to blame for the divide between Downtown and East Austin. That is just not true. That wasn't made when they put I-35 there. It was there culturally and physically long before the interstate. In fact I would say that at no point in Austin's 180 year history is that divide less than it is today. And anyone who has spent any time in the past 5 to 10 years seeing what is going on in East Austin would tell you that things are looking up in a big way right now in that part of town. Lots of small companies, offices/start-ups and studios are popping up everywhere on the East Side near DT, and Mueller is pretty awesome. Also there are some great things being knocked about for the Riverside area.

[eepstein]

Not only is CapMetros perception HORRIBLE (by a good chunk of the transporation world), but since it's inception, CapMetro has never made a dime and continues to bleed in the red every year. It is very true that a well run light rail system can help in relieving traffic congestion, but first the planning needs to happen to determine WHERE people need to go. Where people live, and WHERE people work. Because CapMetro half assed the entire project and never took the time to DO THE PLANNING needed, the result is a low budget light rail that really doesn't do anything to help.

From Leander or Lakeline, you are probably better off just taking the express buses. The fact remains that until CapMetro actually DOES some planning and builds new track, the light rail situation in Austin will continue to be a joke.

Originally Posted by jb9152

Well, while the conventional wisdom is that Cap Metro "bungled" the first leg of Austin's future rail system, the reality isn't quite so cut and dried. While there were missteps during the development and construction of the Red Line, the end product is a very functional, clean, on time, reliable passenger railroad that was built for relatively little money.

The original ridership target was about 1,600 trips per day. The Red Line is actually averaging about 1,700 per day at this point. On time performance is in the 99% range, and the reliability of the railcars and infrastructure has been excellent.

Cap Metro's biggest problem at this point is perception; the missteps that happened during construction and the too lean initial service plan (that left large market segments, like the midday and evening travel market unserved) have been corrected. Ridership is where it was projected to be.

All that said, the next two pieces of Austin's future regional rail system likely won't be built by Cap Metro, but by the city (Urban Rail) and Lone Star Rail District (LSTAR). However, in the future, it's looking like all passenger rail services in Central Texas will be operated by a cooperative body that includes the city, LSTAR, Cap Metro, and CAMPO. You can get more info at the Project Connect website: Project Connect.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by AutumnTraveler

However, if you live in New York City you pretty much depend on taxis to get everywhere.

Not so. A HUGE number of people in NYC move around everyday by subway, by bus, and by train.

Oh yeah, and by walking!

[CptnRn]

I think this is interesting.

In Austin the mean travel time to work (commute) is 22.4 minutes.
80% commute in a car alone.

In N.Y.City the mean travel time to work (commute) is 40 minutes.
25% commute in a car alone.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Austin-Texas.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/New-York-New-York.html

[jb9152]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Not only is CapMetros perception HORRIBLE (by a good chunk of the transporation world), but since it's inception, CapMetro has never made a dime and continues to bleed in the red every year. It is very true that a well run light rail system can help in relieving traffic congestion, but first the planning needs to happen to determine WHERE people need to go. Where people live, and WHERE people work. Because CapMetro half assed the entire project and never took the time to DO THE PLANNING needed, the result is a low budget light rail that really doesn't do anything to help.

From Leander or Lakeline, you are probably better off just taking the express buses. The fact remains that until CapMetro actually DOES some planning and builds new track, the light rail situation in Austin will continue to be a joke.

Well, I guess you can look at it that way for sure - that point of view has validity, but the point of the Red Line was not to be the final product, but to put a stake in the ground and say, "Austin does passenger rail." I would point out that there are few (as in, count 'em on one hand few) passenger transportation enterprises that actually make money. Complaining that Cap Metro "has never made a dime" is like complaining that I-35 hasn't made money. It's a transportation tool, a choice, and it's subsidized - just like roads, airline travel, and intercity rail services.

The expectations for the Red Line, given its low capital construction costs, were never stratospheric. Now that those expectations have been met, it's easy for opponents to move the goal posts over and over again so the conventional wisdom never changes, and Cap Metro (which did, as I said, have missteps, some serious, during the line's development) never gets to enjoy even a minor "attaboy" for reaching the line's modest service targets.

There is actually a verifiably heavy travel corridor from Leander and Lakeline into downtown, and some innovations authored by Cap Metro's new VP of Rail Ops will cut travel times on the line significantly (upwards of 14 percent). The challenge for Cap Metro now will be system expansion for capacity, which will require more segments of double track, more railcars (or expanded railcars - the Stadler vehicles that the Red Line uses can have an insert built in that adds capacity), and extended platforms.