Where is the worst traffic in Austin? (West, Barton Creek: 2015, construction)

[Kosmonaut]

Originally Posted by owlman

Check out google maps traffic right now for Austin vs the other big cities in Texas...
One of these cities is not like the others

http://i.imgur.com/8tv4Chd.jpg

So the map confirms the poll. Traffic is bad everywhere, and not just on one highway in particular.

[Kosmonaut]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

35...

you never said where along I-35 you live.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by owlman

Check out google maps traffic right now for Austin vs the other big cities in Texas...
One of these cities is not like the others

http://i.imgur.com/8tv4Chd.jpg

No kidding.

Texas' most "progressive" (allegedly) city of those four appears to be the most backward.

[buffettjr]

From OP's title it sounds like he wants to find the worst traffic in Austin, and if I remember correctly that has been decided factually. I think a few intersections and places were considered to be some of the most congested in Texas, including 6th and Lamar, I-35 from the river to the end of the split decks, and Mopac from the bridge up north a bit.

However from the discussion, it seems OP is actually wanting to find people's opinions on traffic rather than the traffic itself. If that's the case, I think most people just feel like traffic is bad all over, but the very worst is on I-35. So unless you consider I-35 to be "my area" you wouldn't put that.

Not that I'm a civic engineer, but it seems crystal clear to me that Austin has two traffic problems underpinning everything. One is the problem the river causes and the limited number of places to cross it, and the other is that a three nation interstate highway cuts right through downtown such that the rush hour people who live here have to fight with the people just trying to get somewhere from Mexico to Canada.

We can't do much about the river since it's staying and bridges are extremely expensive for the limited capacity they add. The other problem is really, really simple. Build a new giant highway out of town that passes Austin and call that I-35.

[Dog_Gone]

The poll question could have been phrased to include language regarding when traffic started getting really bad in a particular area.

15 years ago traffic was really bad at the Y in Oak Hill and I35 all through Austin during the normal commute travel hours.

Now you cannot escape traffic. It is terrible during the normal commute travel hours everywhere.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

No kidding.

Texas' most "progressive" (allegedly) city of those four appears to be the most backward.

Don't build it and they won't come has worked exceedingly well, huh?

What I see there is a reflection of Austin's incredible percentage of commute destinations downtown. I think I had seen we are like #4 in the US, but damned if I can find it. Couple that with restricted lanes in and out from the south due to river crossings, and from the north because of DBIATWC.

So we now have what we have, and it is nothing like what Dallas, Houston or SA have.

[Kosmonaut]

Originally Posted by buffettjr

the very worst is on I-35. So unless you consider I-35 to be "my area" you wouldn't put that.



We can't do much about the river since it's staying and bridges are extremely expensive for the limited capacity they add. The other problem is really, really simple. Build a new giant highway out of town that passes Austin and call that I-35.

According to the traffic map, I-35 isn't the worst - Mopac is, but people living off Mopac point fingers at I-35. It's the *finger pointing* that I'm trying to eliminate. Once you eliminate this, then you can get to the truth.

It doesn't matter what the topic is, if you ask anyone about where the bad stuff is in this town, you will always get a self-serving response i.e. * the other side of town is worse* and it gets in the way of the truth.

[Danbo1957]

MOPAC from 183 south to 71 is ridiculous, I no longer use it at all from 7am til 10am and from 4pm til 8pm.

IH35 from downtown heading south over the bridge between 2pm and 8pm, pathetic.

[buffettjr]

Originally Posted by Kosmonaut

According to the traffic map, I-35 isn't the worst - Mopac is, but people living off Mopac point fingers at I-35. It's the *finger pointing* that I'm trying to eliminate. Once you eliminate this, then you can get to the truth.

It doesn't matter what the topic is, if you ask anyone about where the bad stuff is in this town, you will always get a self-serving response i.e. * the other side of town is worse* and it gets in the way of the truth.

How is that self serving to say traffic is worse elsewhere? I don't understand.

It's been my experience that people are most likely to complain about their own part of town's traffic.

Could it be that the traffic between the two highways is related? And that if we took all the interstate traffic off of I-35 running right downtown more Austinites could use the road to get around, and traffic would lessen on all the other roads including MOPAC? Could it be that our horrible I-35 situation is what causes MOPAC to be terrible?

[pmiranda]

Originally Posted by buffettjr

How is that self serving to say traffic is worse elsewhere? I don't understand.

It's been my experience that people are most likely to complain about their own part of town's traffic.

Could it be that the traffic between the two highways is related? And that if we took all the interstate traffic off of I-35 running right downtown more Austinites could use the road to get around, and traffic would lessen on all the other roads including MOPAC? Could it be that our horrible I-35 situation is what causes MOPAC to be terrible?

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! To paraphrase Yogi Berra, Nobody drives on 35 anymore... it's too crowded.

If 130 was free and 35 was the toll road life would be better... except for the several weekends a year when I need to drive up to the Dallas area or further on a Friday afternoon. Then I'd probably still be cursing the traffic on 35 because even if it was tolled, it would get alot of use because it's located right where people need to go.

Given that tolling infrastructure is much cheaper and compact than it used to be (no more booths, just RFID readers and digital cameras at the entrances), I wouldn't mind seeing I-35 proper being a sunken, limited access, tolled, multilane 80MPH highway running under a nontolled, 45MPH boulevard/superstreet with traffic lights but still limited crossings... maybe even multilane traffic circles but most idiots around here couldn't handle that. Kind of the inversion of the current upper deck and lower deck.

One project that's less expensive and could be effective is something you see in Dallas and Houston... a single (or dual) HOV lane in the middle of the highways outside of downtown proper that switches direction during the day to provide relief for the bulk of the commuter traffic.
NB Mopac in the afternoon runs great until you get past Enfield. Conversely SB runs great in the morning along that stretch. On Kauai the major highway doesn't have a median so they accomplish this feat by just moving a bunch of cones mid-day :-)