SH-45 Tollway Survives CAMPO 2035 Plan!

[twange]

Originally Posted by atxcio

I don't know how they can agree to fund a NEW highway when they don't include a penny to fix the existing problems -- like I-35. There is nothing in the plan to make any improvements on I-35, nothing for 360, and minimal for Mopac.

We don't need new highways when we can't even get the main arterials up to spec. Plus, TXDot builds the worst highways in the world -- terrible, sprawl-encouraging design. SH45 is simply going to help people get into the Mopac or I35 bottlenecks sooner, making them worse.

For sure. There are SEVERAL unfinished flyovers and interchanges throughout the area that are directly contributing to much of Austin's gridlock. That's my biggest gripe: finish the roads we already have first before adding more. And the terrible highway traffic lights (360, 183, Ben White past Riverside) are brutally inefficient and unsafe.

I actually like the fact that Austin doesn't have a maze of concrete circles around and through downtown and its neighborhoods. I personally think that it's hideous and outmoded. I've seen some great plans in other cities that have started integrating trenched, sunken, covered highways through downtowns, which enables the city to take back its surface and reconnect neighborhoods. Imagine 35 through downtown being essentially a sunken, open tunnel with pedestrian bridges and boulevards connecting downtown to East Austin. Say goodbye to the old racial/class walls of the past.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by twange

For sure. There are SEVERAL unfinished flyovers and interchanges throughout the area that are directly contributing to much of Austin's gridlock. That's my biggest gripe: finish the roads we already have first before adding more. And the terrible highway traffic lights (360, 183, Ben White past Riverside) are brutally inefficient and unsafe.

I actually like the fact that Austin doesn't have a maze of concrete circles around and through downtown and its neighborhoods. I personally think that it's hideous and outmoded. I've seen some great plans in other cities that have started integrating trenched, sunken, covered highways through downtowns, which enables the city to take back its surface and reconnect neighborhoods. Imagine 35 through downtown being essentially a sunken, open tunnel with pedestrian bridges and boulevards connecting downtown to East Austin. Say goodbye to the old racial/class walls of the past.

I heard there may be work on the 35/E 71 and Mopac/290 W flyovers soon....I've also heard about the idea of putting 35 underground like the Big Dig in Boston but the costs are astronomical, i.e. tens of billions.

[AGA]

For one who said South Austin is 4 miles from downtown....those are the longest 4 miles I have ever seen, and if you are any where WEST of due south it is worse. Bus service is basically non existant if you are West of Manchacha so there is not even a viable alternative. In traffic it would take me 40 minutes (on the conservative side and not main rush hour) to get from Mopac/Davis to Anderson Lane (a 10 mile jaunt), and returning it has taken as long as 1.5 HOURS. If I am not on the road by 430, forget it-it is a minimum of 45 minutes, and if there is an accident or some other distraction, I may as well have a camper...
TRAFFIC SUCKS.
I know this was a bit off the main topic, but had to get it out....

[jobert]

Originally Posted by AGA

In traffic it would take me 40 minutes (on the conservative side and not main rush hour) to get from Mopac/Davis to Anderson Lane (a 10 mile jaunt), and returning it has taken as long as 1.5 HOURS. ....

Maybe because it's 15 miles to Anderson Lane, not 10, and that involves driving in traffic on the north side of town, and then driving back on Mopac with those trying to exit and get to Hays via Shady Hollow - the "reverse bottleneck".

If you lived in 78745, 78704, or 78748 you wouldn't have that problem.