Houston vs. Austin: Which city improves the most in the next 10 years? (San Antonio: private school, living in)

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by DSL_PWR

I would say the Houston area, not because of Houston proper but because of Katy, Fulshear, The Woodlands, Rosenberg, Pearland, etc and the growth those are bringing.

They aren't bringing growth-- the growth is because of the oil boom and those are the places where people are living. Not only that, they're exactly what's wrong with Houston's trajectory. They're mostly badly designed unwalkable sprawl without high capacity transit to the jobs downtown. Houston doesn't even have a plan for commuter rail, while Austin already has a line and is going to build more.

It's not glamarous like urban renewal and all that but most residential development is suburban and will be for a while. By not building commuter rail, the Houston metro area is making quality of life worse for its citizens... Who don't seem to even realize that because they live in a bubble.

[TexasTallest]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

The Houston metro is sprawling out of control, and it's being encouraged by highway building. Have you heard of the Grand Parkway? It's a loop that runs far outside even the furthest flung suburbs. The idea is to spur development even further out I assume...

actually the idea was to divert traffic around the city instead of through it, relieving traffic in the city. sure development will follow but dont be ignorant. TXDOT or HCTRA could care less about spurring new development.

i agree with your latter post that Houston needs to stop ignoring commuter rail and the suburbs. our highway system cannot efficiently move all the people we have now, let alone the 10 million or so were supposed to have by 2040. alternate modes of transportation must be implemented. if only they could bring back the 1980s heavy rail plan.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

They aren't bringing growth-- the growth is because of the oil boom and those are the places where people are living. Not only that, they're exactly what's wrong with Houston's trajectory. They're mostly badly designed unwalkable sprawl without high capacity transit to the jobs downtown. Houston doesn't even have a plan for commuter rail, while Austin already has a line and is going to build more.

It's not glamarous like urban renewal and all that but most residential development is suburban and will be for a while. By not building commuter rail, the Houston metro area is making quality of life worse for its citizens... Who don't seem to even realize that because they live in a bubble.

Wrong Houston has a number of plans for communter rails...

[TexasTallest]

Originally Posted by Truth713

Wrong Houston has a number of plans for communter rails...

we do but how likely are any of them to be implemented? i havent heard anything new about the 90A corridor, the 290 Hempstead corridor, or the Houston-Galveston commuter line in years, and last i heard most of them relied on using current ROW from UP or some rail service, who said the lines were too busy to run commuter rail on too. there was a study to trench the hempstead rail line through the Heights and add 2 new lines in the trench for commuter rail, but that was back in 2010 and again i havent heard anything new.

while were talking about rail, im still waiting for the East End to announce their streetcar plans.. they have been quiet about that for almost a year.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by TexasTallest

we do but how likely are any of them to be implemented? i havent heard anything new about the 90A corridor, the 290 Hempstead corridor, or the Houston-Galveston commuter line in years, and last i heard most of them relied on using current ROW from UP or some rail service, who said the lines were too busy to run commuter rail on too. there was a study to trench the hempstead rail line through the Heights and add 2 new lines in the trench for commuter rail, but that was back in 2010 and again i havent heard anything new.

while were talking about rail, im still waiting for the East End to announce their streetcar plans.. they have been quiet about that for almost a year.

I think the dallas to Houston rail...will be the game changer... Since business are leading on this . it will not have to deal with the trapping of dealing with politics...

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by Truth713

I think the dallas to Houston rail...will be the game changer... Since business are leading on this . it will not have to deal with the trapping of dealing with politics...

That won't help commuters

[hoffdano]

Houston has shown more ability to solve big problems than Austin has over the last 20 years. With the exception of the ever-growing massiveness of Houston, I think Houston is a better place than it was when I lived there in the 1980s. Austin on the other hand is a worse place than when I moved here from Houston.

Austin is not paving over the hill country. Austin needs a serious plan NOW to improve traffic.

One thing Houston cannot change is its inherent drabbiness. It is lush, but unappealing. Austin still has geography on its side.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Houston has shown more ability to solve big problems than Austin has over the last 20 years. With the exception of the ever-growing massiveness of Houston, I think Houston is a better place than it was when I lived there in the 1980s. Austin on the other hand is a worse place than when I moved here from Houston.

Austin is not paving over the hill country. Austin needs a serious plan NOW to improve traffic.

One thing Houston cannot change is its inherent drabbiness. It is lush, but unappealing. Austin still has geography on its side.

Regarding infrastructure, Houston thinks short term while Austin thinks long term.

Houston's "solutions" are from the last century-- build highways, and more highways, and more! How well is this working out? The commute from the affordable suburbs is an hour on a good day. Yes, size does matter.

Austin has a commuter rail plan that it's actually carrying out. http://impactnews.com/austin-metro/n...ortation-plan/
Rail has much higher capacity per unit of cost than highways, isn't prone to traffic, and emits a fraction of the pollution.

In 20 years it will be obvious that Austin got it right and Houston got it wrong, and Houston will be scrambling to modernize its infrastructure, assuming it's still booming.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

Regarding infrastructure, Houston thinks short term while Austin thinks long term.

Houston's "solutions" are from the last century-- build highways, and more highways, and more! How well is this working out? The commute from the affordable suburbs is an hour on a good day. Yes, size does matter.

Austin has a commuter rail plan that it's actually carrying out. Austin, transit groups unveil long-range regional transportation plan - Community Impact Newspaper
Rail has much higher capacity per unit of cost than highways, isn't prone to traffic, and emits a fraction of the pollution.

In 20 years it will be obvious that Austin got it right and Houston got it wrong, and Houston will be scrambling to modernize its infrastructure, assuming it's still booming.

Not sure I agree about what Austin is doing. I have lived in this area since the mid 1980s. Austin is guilty most of the time of no planning at all. They thought "if we don't build it they won't come." And now Austin's 345,000 people in 1980 is now over 1M in the metro with no additional traffic capacity on any of the major thoroughfares in that time (IH35, 360, Mopac).

The commuter rail will cost billions of dollars to take a few thousand cars off the road in 20 years. It will not make a meaningful difference in traffic though Austin will be able to claim how forward thinking they are. The push for density is an exclusionary process because central Austin is the priciest area of the city. The public schools are weak in central Austin, so no families want to move there (unless they have enough money for private schools).

Austin needs immediate action in some areas. Yes - consider a variety of public transportation options for the long term. But it is gonna be ugly for a while in some areas.

[PostOak5115]

Rail is important and should be priority of all the largest cities in Texas, but the Texan's love of the automobile is notorious. We love independence and cars give us that along with an identity of being successful.