Austin transportation infrastructure (Houston, Howe, Paradise: lease, purchase, exemption)

[m1a1mg]

Originally Posted by cBach

It's kind of accepting the least impactful development. Developing the prairies east of Austin is much preferable to developing the Hill Country to the west. It's cheaper too.

You've got to put the people somewhere, might as well put them east.

People are more prone to vistas of hills than prairies. East can, and will be, lower cost housing.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by cBach

It's kind of accepting the least impactful development. Developing the prairies east of Austin is much preferable to developing the Hill Country to the west. It's cheaper too.

You've got to put the people somewhere, might as well put them east.

Where all the crops are grown and animals are grazed, where our food comes from. Got it.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Where all the crops are grown and animals are grazed, where our food comes from. Got it.

Where do you want to put them?

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by cBach

It's kind of accepting the least impactful development. Developing the prairies east of Austin is much preferable to developing the Hill Country to the west. It's cheaper too.

You've got to put the people somewhere, might as well put them east.

At least put the industrial/warehouse development east & southeast. My 25 acres of hay field on the east side of 130 is closer to the Capitol than northwest Austin, yet there is almost nothing around it except the COTA (just east of me).
There is very little active agriculture going on around there - just enough to qualify for the ag tax exemption.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

At least put the industrial/warehouse development east & southeast. My 25 acres of hay field on the east side of 130 is closer to the Capitol than northwest Austin, yet there is almost nothing around it except the COTA (just east of me).
There is very little active agriculture going on around there - just enough to qualify for the ag tax exemption.

I read that some farmers plow their land but nothing is actually planted. They just want the ag exemption.

[Snowpacked]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

So I know I'm probably going to sound like a hypocrite because I also have just moved here in May but I cant help but feel a bit concerned about this.

I-35's design pretty much from Round Rock to the Colorado river looks very outdated, although Round Rock section looks like improvements were made, it doesn't look like it has anywhere near the capacity necessary for traffic. Another issue is alot of I-35 traffic isn't Austin traffic but inter-regional traffic. From what it looks not alot can be done to I-35 without tearing alot of stuff down. Is it realistic / feasible to see I-35 with the same capacity as say a highway in Houston or DFW?

Another thing are some of the local streets. FM620 and Parmer (north of MoPac) are pretty rough. I sat about 45 minutes in traffic on FM620 just waiting on the FM 2222 light. On Parmer I'm not sure what can be done given its already 3 lanes each way.

Lastly, the train. I know a Green Line got approved but outside of that, are we likely to see any other routes and would these help traffic at all?

All of the recent transportation "advancements" are simply band-aids on deep wounds. Traffic construction has been completed on numerous roads, buses have been added and there is the train. None have been instrumental in changing how we get around. People are stupid and until that is corrected we will be wasting tax dollars on far fetched plans that will make money for a few well connected greedy business people and hand the tax payers the bill.

This mess was easily predicted. Twenty years ago I planned my home buying around my work. I can walk, ride my bike or drive. My trip is almost exactly three miles one way.

Do not get your hopes up. We will be dead before anything good is done, if at all. There are simply too many people here now to enjoy the area.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by cBach

I read that some farmers plow their land but nothing is actually planted. They just want the ag exemption.

It's nowhere near that simple. And, yes, some farmers plow their land and let it lie fallow for a year or two because that's the best thing for the land. If you really don't want to do any active farming with the land but want to keep your ag, there are easier ways to do it, though they do require some work. There's Wildlife Ag, for example, or leasing out the land to someone who DOES want to farm it. Or fencing it and putting some cattle (or goats, or sheep, or some such) on it. Or leasing it out to someone to run cattle on it who will keep the fences and land in good shape. Or letting someone grow hay on it and go halves. LOTS of ways to do that - just plowing it every year and planting nothing won't meet the requirements.

[orlando-calrissian]

Originally Posted by Snowpacked

All of the recent transportation "advancements" are simply band-aids on deep wounds. Traffic construction has been completed on numerous roads, buses have been added and there is the train. None have been instrumental in changing how we get around. People are stupid and until that is corrected we will be wasting tax dollars on far fetched plans that will make money for a few well connected greedy business people and hand the tax payers the bill.

This mess was easily predicted. Twenty years ago I planned my home buying around my work. I can walk, ride my bike or drive. My trip is almost exactly three miles one way.

Do not get your hopes up. We will be dead before anything good is done, if at all. There are simply too many people here now to enjoy the area.

It's actually very fixable. Update the transit to that of a normal city. 1 rail line and a bunch of half assed bus lines are a joke.

There's only 2 million people in Austin. That's not even that many.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by orlando-calrissian

It's actually very fixable. Update the transit to that of a normal city. 1 rail line and a bunch of half assed bus lines are a joke.

There's only 2 million people in Austin. That's not even that many.

Yes, it is. You're not from around here, are you?

[Snowpacked]

Originally Posted by orlando-calrissian

It's actually very fixable. Update the transit to that of a normal city. 1 rail line and a bunch of half assed bus lines are a joke.

There's only 2 million people in Austin. That's not even that many.

You do not understand how cities work. If a city does not recognize early that it will grow and it does not purchase right of way property growth will be a huge obstacle.
It is too late for Austin to build a seamless set of transportation policies now. They are all winfalls for big business and offer no relief for it's citizens.

The solutions are that people must die faster than they are replaced or people need to be punished severely for their stupidity when traveling.