Waco-Austin-San Antonio Mega Region? (Temple, San Marcos: business, building, drive)

[RobertoSaldana4]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Well truthfully and honestly, while I am pro growth, I do think it is reckless to allow growth go unleashed completely ignoring environmental concerns. Houston is suffering the results of that with all of the flooding they have. Austin's probably won't be as extreme but uncontrolled sprawl won't come without consequence.

Well San Antonio and Austin have been ranked some of the top sprawling cities and cities where density is decreasing due to developers buildings homes way out of the city. I drove from SA to Castroville and saw so much new homes built and felt like it ended right before i got to Castroville. It is an environmental issue but Houston is much worse due to the land being so flat that the water has nowhere to go.

[RobertoSaldana4]

I started working in Wimberly between SA and Austin. I have noticed that both Austin and San Antonio both make their presence known in the town. You can see some people have cars they brought in San Antonio or Austin. People here drive to both towns frequently.



I know there's a lot of space left in between SA and Austin but its quickly filling in. There has been a lot of people talking about this issue and I feel that it does have some sense of becoming true. i35 between SA and Austin is a pain to drive and there's so much more houses and commercial properties being built. Once the suburbs near SA and Austin fill in, they will have to move to areas will fill in the gap between the two metros.

[brock2010]

Originally Posted by RobertoSaldana4

I started working in Wimberly between SA and Austin. I have noticed that both Austin and San Antonio both make their presence known in the town. You can see some people have cars they brought in San Antonio or Austin. People here drive to both towns frequently.



I know there's a lot of space left in between SA and Austin but its quickly filling in. There has been a lot of people talking about this issue and I feel that it does have some sense of becoming true. i35 between SA and Austin is a pain to drive and there's so much more houses and commercial properties being built. Once the suburbs near SA and Austin fill in, they will have to move to areas will fill in the gap between the two metros.

I can only imagine how much worse the traffic will be in the coming years.

[Need4Camaro]

Supposedly there are planned upgrades for I-35 in NW SATX and S.Austin metro so hopefully that makes things easier. I kind of wish they could extend MoPac further south to Buda and farther North to Georgetown.

[brock2010]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Supposedly there are planned upgrades for I-35 in NW SATX and S.Austin metro so hopefully that makes things easier. I kind of wish they could extend MoPac further south to Buda and farther North to Georgetown.

I agree. I've heard that widening I-35 through downtown can't happen because of land restraints. Is that really true?

[As Above So Below...]

I feel like Waco identifies much more so with the Metroplex than Austin. My mother lives up there and shes knows quite a few people who go to DFW regularly for work but few to Austin. The Temple/Killeen area is the opposite. Its much more tied in with Austin.

[Need4Camaro]

Meant NE SATX**

Originally Posted by brock2010

I agree. I've heard that widening I-35 through downtown can't happen because of land restraints. Is that really true?

I haven’t followed too closely on what they are going to do but my understanding is they are going to dig it below grade level and leave future provisions to cap it in the future. There isn’t much land there though so it will be difficult to widen I-35 without taking away property. I’d say removing those access roads and adjacent occupancies tied to them would help a lot though. Those access roads in downtown are horribly designed. It would make it kind of like MoPac.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

I feel like Waco identifies much more so with the Metroplex than Austin. My mother lives up there and shes knows quite a few people who go to DFW regularly for work but few to Austin. The Temple/Killeen area is the opposite. Its much more tied in with Austin.

Exactly. Waco is MUCH closer to DFW than San Antonio (referencing the title of this thread). The Waco HS teams play in DFW area leagues not Austin-area leagues. And Wacoans are mostly Cowboys and Rangers fans, not Texans and Astros fans. This, for example, is the district that the large Waco high schools currently play in. It is six DFW-area teams plus the two big Waco schools.

UIL District 11 - 6A
Cedar Hill
De Soto
Duncanville
Mansfield
Mansfield Lake Ridge
Waco
Waco Midway
Waxahachie

All the youth soccer, volleyball, baseball, etc. select leagues that Waco teams play in area also DFW-area leagues. I spent 5 years driving my daughter with her Waco select soccer team up to league games in Arlington and Plano. Never once to Austin, much less San Antonio.

[RobertoSaldana4]

In north 281 they are extending the freeway all the way to Comal County, and they have it planned for the future to extend the freeway all the way to Blanco County line. They are also gonna do double decker on i35 in north San Antonio and expand the freeway all the way to Schertz.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by RobertoSaldana4

In north 281 they are extending the freeway all the way to Comal County, and they have it planned for the future to extend the freeway all the way to Blanco County line. They are also gonna do double decker on i35 in north San Antonio and expand the freeway all the way to Schertz.

If 281 were somehow able to be a Freeway all the way to Lampass, and they completed I-14 through Killeen, it would make a reasonable Austin bypass route for thru traffic to San Antonio.