Love that Austin Traffic (Taylor, Howe: homes, to buy, luxury)

[JayBrown80]

I know, I know. There are about a million lists out there of "best of...." or "worst of......" and almost none of them have any basis in Science. However, I ran across this one in The Daily Beast, and thought I would share it with all those wonderful commuters out there.


This "Worst of...." List details the 75 WORST commutes in all of the United States. And out of 75 rankings, I35 in Austin gets slot 4!! Yeah Austin.

So for those of you slowly driving down I35 tomorrow morning, at least you can take comfort in the fact that other people know you are suffering.


#4, I-35, Austin
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 460
Worst bottleneck: Northbound, Riverside Dr
Length of worst bottleneck: .92 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 47
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 16.2 mph
The expert opinion: “It’s the most traveled stretch of roadway of Austin and in the state,” says Joe Taylor, traffic reporter for News 8 Austin. “It’s quirky. It was designed for a small town, and we’ve grown into a very large city.”

Here's the link for those that are curious.

America's 75 Worst Commutes - Page 1 - The Daily Beast

[atxcio]

Well, those top 10 lists sure do love Austin... they've got our traffic up there with LA and DC. I'm kinda impressed.

[jread]

I am not surprised at all. I wonder if the level of bad driving found here contributes to the congestion as well?

[JayBrown80]

Originally Posted by jread

I am not surprised at all. I wonder if the level of bad driving found here contributes to the congestion as well?

If you read the first page of the report, it gives the main 4 reasons for traffic. People getting into wrecks is reason number 4. I guess that translates into "bad driving".

[veloman777]

It's only going to get worse.

Support alternative transportation like the new rail, bike improvements to roadways, carpool, bus.

A car is a wonderful luxury, but it really doesn't belong in highly dense areas. I wonder how long until the mass majority of people realize that?

[verybadgnome]

Yes it is only going to get worse according to the planning agencies that model and predict congestion into the future. Hopefully this realization will spur people to try to live as close to work and other necessities as possible instead of the dominant trend of large lot homes out in the country where they are 100% auto dependent.

[passionatearts]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Yes it is only going to get worse according to the planning agencies that model and predict congestion into the future. Hopefully this realization will spur people to try to live as close to work and other necessities as possible instead of the dominant trend of large lot homes out in the country where they are 100% auto dependent.

I'm afraid that even Downtown is almost completely auto-dependent as well because most of the "necessity" stores are located far enough outside of Downtown that taking a bus or riding a bike to them isn't practical.

For instance, if you live Downtown and need to buy hardware, there aren't any hardware stores within easy walking distance (the closest store, Eco Wise, is a 2 mile walk from Downtown).

Until Downtown gets some necessity stores and not just restaurants, bars, and high-end "foo foo" retail stores, I can't imagine that people living there would really go completely without a car.

[orbius]

Well the Austin city council wants it both ways. They sit on their thumbs and let big box retailers and developers do whatever they want, wherever they want. However when traffic grinds to a halt because of all this development they refuse to build proper infrastructure for the level of traffic their decisions created.
I am all for smart development but they simply cannot ignore the existing traffic problems all over the city that they created. They must build or they must be voted out.

[love roses]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Yes it is only going to get worse according to the planning agencies that model and predict congestion into the future. Hopefully this realization will spur people to try to live as close to work and other necessities as possible instead of the dominant trend of large lot homes out in the country where they are 100% auto dependent.

I have to live out here because it IS closer to work. We don't work in Austin.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by veloman777

It's only going to get worse.

Support alternative transportation like the new rail, bike improvements to roadways, carpool, bus.

A car is a wonderful luxury, but it really doesn't belong in highly dense areas. I wonder how long until the mass majority of people realize that?

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Yes it is only going to get worse according to the planning agencies that model and predict congestion into the future. Hopefully this realization will spur people to try to live as close to work and other necessities as possible instead of the dominant trend of large lot homes out in the country where they are 100% auto dependent.

These two posts coming one after the other made me giggle.

Cars don't belong in highly dense areas, so let's solve that problem by encouraging people to live even MORE densely!