1604 Traffic on the West Side (mortgages, to buy, school district)

[rd2007]

no, I was talking about the money the government wastes supporting "artists". That is a personal thing and should be privately financed. Only a very small percentage of the population gets any value out of it and they should support it out of their own pockets.
I'm sure there are a couple people in this area that do not drive, but they are again a minority and a very small one at that. A larger portion of available funds (including the money saved from not wasting money on anything art related) should go to the roads and highways. That combined with the tax on new development could easily fund a lot of the road improvements we need and will benefit a majority of the people.
People can live wherever they want and I do not see why people insist on ripping on people living in the suburban areas of the city. I will admit I crack on Stone Oak quite often, but it is usually in jest based mostly on the amount of people that live there just for the status they feel that area somehow provides. It is not fair knock on people because they do not want to live downtown. I view our downtown as a revolting and disgusting place. I have lived here since June 2001 and not counting the number of times I went to Ft. Sam, I have probably been downtown 5 times. It stinks, the streets appear to have been designed by someone with a serious learning disability/drug addiction, it is beyond ghetto looking, and I could go on and on, but will leave it at that. People can live down there all they want and I do not care.
BTW, there's a button located between the quote button and the quick reply to this post button that has a " and + on it. You can click that on several different posts and then click the quote button at the end and you'll have a message that quotes multiple messages.

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by rd2007

no, I was talking about the money the government wastes supporting "artists". That is a personal thing and should be privately financed. Only a very small percentage of the population gets any value out of it and they should support it out of their own pockets.
I'm sure there are a couple people in this area that do not drive, but they are again a minority and a very small one at that. A larger portion of available funds (including the money saved from not wasting money on anything art related) should go to the roads and highways. That combined with the tax on new development could easily fund a lot of the road improvements we need and will benefit a majority of the people.
People can live wherever they want and I do not see why people insist on ripping on people living in the suburban areas of the city. I will admit I crack on Stone Oak quite often, but it is usually in jest based mostly on the amount of people that live there just for the status they feel that area somehow provides. It is not fair knock on people because they do not want to live downtown. I view our downtown as a revolting and disgusting place. I have lived here since June 2001 and not counting the number of times I went to Ft. Sam, I have probably been downtown 5 times. It stinks, the streets appear to have been designed by someone with a serious learning disability/drug addiction, it is beyond ghetto looking, and I could go on and on, but will leave it at that. People can live down there all they want and I do not care.
BTW, there's a button located between the quote button and the quick reply to this post button that has a " and + on it. You can click that on several different posts and then click the quote button at the end and you'll have a message that quotes multiple messages.

I figured that was your contention (wellguy and majormadmax - you guys care to retract?). I think you're dead wrong, but I doubt there's anything I can do to change your mind.

And the reason I "insist on ripping on people living in the suburban areas of the city" (in this instance, anyway) is because of your selfish and myopic approach to a problem of your own creation. If you want to live in Westcreek, or Alamo Ranch, or Stone Oak, or any other far-flung suburban development, I don't have a problem with that. But I do have a problem when people move out to these places in droves, overwhelm the infrastructure, then demand that the rest of us solve the problem by spending tens of millions of dollars on solutions that will only exacerbate the problem!

And the fact that you think downtown SA is "revolting and disgusting" compared to your part of town disqualifies your opinion(s) better than any response ever could.

[wellguy]

rd2007- I'm sorry that I read into the "artsy" comment that you made earlier.

dvlpr-I'll take ownership of my previous comment and assumption. You know in life it is okay to admit you are sometimes wrong. I'll take ownership of the comment amd to answer your question NO I won't retract it.

We can live wherever and with that we have every right to complain or voice opinions. As we all know with complaining and speaking out about problems can come solutions. When we moved out here in 1999 traffic was tolerable and to me it still is but that comment is made today when school is out for summer. I will feel much different in 2 weeks. I'm thankful that I have several options when I drive to work at 281N and Mulberry. I'll adapt as I have for several years by leaving earlier for work.

The boom out here although fast did not take place overnight.*The State saw this coming and the proof is how HWY 151 was built. To build it there had to be enough data that people would travel it. That's why the service roads came first and they existed for years as growth occured. Money was allocated and plans were drawn up for overpasses on 1604, then POOF it went elsewhere. The State failed in their attempt to make the strech of 1604 from Braun to HWY 90 continuous.

By the way money spent will come back many times over. As you know with improvements come dollars spent and with dollars spent comes tons of money in the form of taxes.

[majormadmax]

OK, RD wasn't talking about highway art; but I still gotta agree with him. There is way too much wastefulness of our tax dollars and sponsoring the arts is one area that could be cut back. Seriously, if these artists are that good, they don't need to be subsidized by the government.

And wellguy hits it dead on target, everyone is so worried about some weak promise to the residents of the Dominion (seriously, 1.6 miles in either direction is an overpass, can you tell me the minute or so it takes to drive that makes that much of a difference? ) but thinks nothing about reneging on the promise to build overpasses on 1604. Could you imagine 410 with traffic lights? Well, that makes about as much sense as they do on the Loop. And as some have pointed out, they are even adding more into the mix (over by Wolf Creek).

Any idiot can see that the traffic situation from Culebra to Braun is a nightmare, and simple, short-term solutions like extending the turn lane to Shaenfield Road seem to escape the attention of TXDOT. There needs to be an overpass built at Braun, and the light at New Guilbeau removed. That would help a lot but I am not sure if that would clear up the mess that Shaenfield causes as well...

[ryneone]

Originally Posted by dvlpr

I figured that was your contention (wellguy and majormadmax - you guys care to retract?). I think you're dead wrong, but I doubt there's anything I can do to change your mind.

And the reason I "insist on ripping on people living in the suburban areas of the city" (in this instance, anyway) is because of your selfish and myopic approach to a problem of your own creation. If you want to live in Westcreek, or Alamo Ranch, or Stone Oak, or any other far-flung suburban development, I don't have a problem with that. But I do have a problem when people move out to these places in droves, overwhelm the infrastructure, then demand that the rest of us solve the problem by spending tens of millions of dollars on solutions that will only exacerbate the problem!

And the fact that you think downtown SA is "revolting and disgusting" compared to your part of town disqualifies your opinion(s) better than any response ever could.

You and RD think alike but on different issues. You think suburbia dwellers are selfish and should pay for their problems while RD thinks artist are the same way. It's kinda of funny. All your whining about the government having limited resources is bull%^#$. If we can fund abortion in Mexico (which we are doing) then we can build a few overpasses for the residents of this country. The government needs to be held accountable for wasting so much money.

[wellguy]

BRAVO majormadmax and ryneone !

dvlpr -Do you care to retract any of the comments you've made about all of us Suburban Dwellers? We're not crying , just pointing out that TXDOT Screwed Up and wasted the allocated funds. If you can't see that then please stay outside of Loop 1604. I don't want your car to overheat in the heavy traffic. If it does you can always call Rick Perry's "Tow N Go"

[BamaSailor]

Originally Posted by joe123456

Tax gas like they do in Europe and build lots of toll roads. ALL REVENUE from additional gas revenue and toll roads would go to maintaining and building more roads and public transportation.

If gas was $5.00-$8.00 a gallon and we had lots of toll roads, we wouldn't have the traffic jams that we have now. We would also live a lot closer to work and in more dense communities with convenient public transportation. Additional benefit would be that we would all walk a lot more and wouldn't be so fat, and therefore we would save hundreds of billions of $s that no go towards health care.

Must be about the stupidest comment yet. First off, we already have plenty of taxes on gas but it doesn't go to the projects that it is supposed to go to. Second, $5-$8 a gallon would only further line the pockets of oil companies. Toll roads tend to be operated by private companies who line their own pockets.

[BamaSailor]

Here is a NO COST partial solution to the 1604 traffic issue...time the traffic lights (specifically at Shanefield, New Gilbeau, and Braun) so that the 1604 traffic has say 3 or 4 minutes of green light compared to the crossroads only getting say 20-30 seconds. That would allow the main road (1604) to flow better and push some of the congestion onto the side roads who have less volume than 1604.

Minimal cost to extend the 1604N left turnlane at Shanefield.

[nrlatsha]

Originally Posted by dvlpr

And what information have you ever contributed?

You're right and obviously well liked around here to say the least, your contributions have been great, and well received by all.

The Texas highway man does have alot of information he gathered, and put it into a great site on the internet, but that doesn't mean he's an authority. Some of his information is dated, and sources inside the department disagree with the "facts" he's posts.

I'm not going to turn the thread into a bash highwayman thread, because that's not what it should be, but it should just be known that he isn't the authority for highway issues around here, and if you agree with what he says blindly, without followup or investigation of your own, well, it's on you. Self proclaimed experts are usually just self-absorbed.

Easy way to find out true information is to ask txdot themselves.

[nrlatsha]

Originally Posted by dvlpr

I mostly agree. We can't really stop sprawl, but I do believe that government shouldn't be subsidizing it.

This is the type of thinking that cities die by.