Interstate 35 between Austin and Dallas (Houston, Fort Worth: home, construction, school)

[momof2dfw]

URGH!!!!!! This is a rant. Sorry folks

But when has I35 between Austin and Dallas at ANY point in the last 20-25 years NOT had some construction going on?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Had to drive it this past week and it is NOT fun. I try to come up w/ any excuse possible to get out of having to travel on 35 south of Dallas to any point between here and Austin because of it. It is PATHETIC!!!!!! In some areas there is NO ROOM FOR ERROR!!! Literally it is two tight lanes w/ no shoulder at all as both sides are lined w/ concrete barriers. Heaven forbid someone breaks down thru there or any other kind of emergency.

THEN, even in the spots where the construction is completed it is still ONLY TWO LANES IN EACH DIRECTION!!! Hello!!! That highway could easily stand to be 6 lanes in each direction.

Of course there are the knuckleheads to deal with that don't read the road signs and think they are the ONLY ones on the road. Those signs say, "SLOWER TRAFFIC STAY TO THE RIGHT". Yes, that means YOU!! If there is NO ONE in the right lane that you are PASSING........... GET OVER!!!!!! It IS a law that the left lane is for passing only and YOU CAN get stopped and be issued a ticket if you are riding along in the left lane and not passing another vehicle.

Then the morons that won't pass a truck/semi. If your scared to go around the big truck then GET OVER BEHIND IT!!!!!!!!! So the rest of us CAN get on around him and out from behind it in a BAD spot - look BEHIND you sometime and see the bottleneck of traffic YOU ARE CREATING! But nooooo, they will sit there in the trucks blind spot because they are afraid to go around it. YOU ARE IN THE WORST SPOT OF ALL MORON!!!!! If the tread comes off of one of those tires the first thing it is going to hit is YOUR CAR!!! If that truck has to get over suddenly because of someone getting onto the highway or he is going to pass someone HE CAN NOT SEE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then there was the idiot driver in the silver BMW. Good for you that you drive the speed limit and refuse to go one iota over it and drive w/ both hands on the wheel. DID YOU NOT NOTICE THE TRUCK THAT HAD TO GET OVER BESIDE YOU!!!! He almost crashed and/or had to literally almost push you over. Turn your head, MOVE YOUR EYEBALLS SOMETIMES!!! Look in your mirrors. GET THE BLINDERS OFF!!! Sometimes you MUST gain speed in order to NOT cause an accident and to have SAFETY on the road. Yes, that might mean going a hair over the speed limit but if it means that NO ONE GETS IN AN ACCIDENT OR HURT THEN YOU DO IT!!!!!! I was back behind you watching the whole thing and was ready to call 911 for the accident that YOU mister almost created because of your "safe driving habits". NO!!! "Safe driving habits" are being aware of what is around you and making adjustments.

URGHHHHH!!! Sorry, I had to vent after that trip as there are a BUNCH of idiots out there on that road and it doesn't help w/ the never ending construction mess.

[TexasHorseLady]

FWIW, when I was a little girl, and we were taking my (12 years older) sister to school at Southwestern in Georgetown from where we lived in Palestine in East Texas, there was construction going on on IH35 in Temple. Every time I've gone through Temple since then (and said older sister is now 70), there's been construction on IH35 in Temple. That's a heck of a lot longer than 20 years!

To add to your rant, I hate the people who think that the left lane is the "speeding lane" and that if you're in that lane, that means that you're authorized to go over the speed limit. Ummm, no. The speed limit is the speed limit, and, yes, it applies in all lanes - the "slower traffic" is those going below the speed limit. Do I ever speed? Well, yeah, I do, both because conditions (other drivers) require it, or because I just am, but I don't pretend that which lane I'm in makes a difference or that somehow I'm NOT speeding if I'm in the left lane or that if I sit in the left lane it doesn't matter how fast I go.

[car957]

Adding to the frustration, when will Texdot stop screwing around with the exchange at Hillsboro? For the past twenty years they seem to have a continuing "improvement" project.

I do want to congratulate TEXDOT for almost being finished with the road improvements in Waco. Standby for more roadwork near the Killeen exit.

Horselady, I also agree with you about Temple. I always expect a construction slowdown or wreck there anytime I travel to DFW.

If I go to Dallas, a lot of times I just take Hwy 79 to I-45. It adds a little time but it darn sure is not as frustrating as I-35 has become.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

To add to your rant, I hate the people who think that the left lane is the "speeding lane" and that if you're in that lane, that means that you're authorized to go over the speed limit. Ummm, no. The speed limit is the speed limit, and, yes, it applies in all lanes - the "slower traffic" is those going below the speed limit. Do I ever speed? Well, yeah, I do, both because conditions (other drivers) require it, or because I just am, but I don't pretend that which lane I'm in makes a difference or that somehow I'm NOT speeding if I'm in the left lane or that if I sit in the left lane it doesn't matter how fast I go.

Actually it does not matter how fast someone is going in the "fast lane". Well it does in that they can get stopped and issued a ticket. But when it comes to "slower traffic keep right" it does not matter. Besides for everyones safety it is ALWAYS better to stay in the righthand (or center lane if there IS one, ha) unless one is passing another vehicle. That is the law. The "slower traffic" is anyone going slower than the car that would be passing them in the left lane. It is VERY unsafe to have to have cars pass on the right.

Oh, I read recently that a study had been done. Driving in the left lane is not always the safest thing to do especially late at night. If a driver should get onto the highway going the wrong direction they "stay to their right" which means they are IN the LEFT LANE!!!

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by car957

Adding to the frustration, when will Texdot stop screwing around with the exchange at Hillsboro? For the past twenty years they seem to have a continuing "improvement" project.

I do want to congratulate TEXDOT for almost being finished with the road improvements in Waco. Standby for more roadwork near the Killeen exit.

Horselady, I also agree with you about Temple. I always expect a construction slowdown or wreck there anytime I travel to DFW.

If I go to Dallas, a lot of times I just take Hwy 79 to I-45. It adds a little time but it darn sure is not as frustrating as I-35 has become.

URGH! Hillsboro, did ya HAVE to bring THAT up. Don't ya love how the signs telling people which lane to be in going northbound for 35E and 35W are ON THE GROUND to the right of the highway. LOVELY!!!! NOT!!! If someone that does NOT know where they are going happens to be passing a semi at that point they totally MISSED the sign. There are NO signs at all right at the split. Talk about making it unsafe for everyone.

WOOHOO - yes the construction thru Waco is DONE!!! When my lil sis was at Baylor it was not. Talk about a mess thru there.

Temple, there was not much construction going on there this time. Hmmm. Maybe they got sick or something, lol.

Speaking of Hillsboro, do you think that the ongoing contruction has really hurt the outlet mall there? I think so. We stopped for a lil bit and about 1/2 the stores are closed up and the other 1/2 are not THAT worth making a trip just for that. That place used to be PACKED!!! The only place I saw getting a LOT of traffic from passersby was the Czech Stop in West. Of course we contributed to that ourselves Love me some kolaches

[TexasHorseLady]

Like I said, I've been known to speed for "conditions" (meaning other drivers with the pedal to the metal" - I consider them to be just as much of a road hazard to be taken into account as wet weather, or, for that matter, drivers who drive way below the speed limit). And I always, if it's possible without causing a traffic danger (or running into the cars in the right lane) pull over for someone who just HAS to go faster than the speed limit (or faster than they're already pushing me) or they'll just DIE!

I understand the "going with the flow" situation. I just have a pet peeve when some try to justify their actions by saying that anyone who ISN'T speeding is the one in the wrong. If I speed, I take the responsibility for doing so. (I also take responsibility if I'm the one who's creating the "the flow is faster than the speed limit" problem, too. )

[blueskies49]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Oh, I read recently that a study had been done. Driving in the left lane is not always the safest thing to do especially late at night. If a driver should get onto the highway going the wrong direction they "stay to their right" which means they are IN the LEFT LANE!!!

Good to know!! There's been at least 2 or 3 incidents like that around here in the last year.

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Speaking of Hillsboro, do you think that the ongoing contruction has really hurt the outlet mall there? I think so. We stopped for a lil bit and about 1/2 the stores are closed up and the other 1/2 are not THAT worth making a trip just for that. That place used to be PACKED!!! The only place I saw getting a LOT of traffic from passersby was the Czech Stop in West. Of course we contributed to that ourselves Love me some kolaches

Hm, I've been talking about going to that mall recently. It's been about 20 years though, since I've been. Including to the Czech Stop! Now that would be worth the drive alone!

[love roses]

Man, that's exactly how I feel too. We usually drive the right lane, but when we're in the left lane we go 80+ to pass. Then some wahoo going 100 or more runs up on your bumper and doesn't act like they know what a brake is for and you can't get back in the right hand lane because it's full of people going 55-65. And the super speeder behind you starts flashing their headlights and weaving back and forth to the shoulder and the dividing line to see what the holdup is for them. One of my biggest pet peeves (next to people who do the same thing in grocery store lines) It's also that bad coming up 45 out of Houston on your way to Dallas. We've started doing the 79 route as well.

[hypocore]

I live in Fort Worth and have a daughter at UT Austin, so lots of us have made that trip many a time in the last 4 years, most recently 2 weeks ago for me when she was in a nasty wreck. (she's fine, car's totalled-not her fault)

Yes, there's always been construction somewhere or other, but I can say that alot has been completed and things are much better off in many areas than they were before. When they finally added the 'no trucks left lane' we all rejoiced! haha

The only thing that bothers me at this point is the 'tight lanes' as described above that puts you driving up against the concrete barriers. But....driving at night going 80 MPH to reach my gal diminished that worry easily. :-) (75-80 is the normal speed we all go for the most part and no one has ever been stopped for speeding in the whole 4 years.)

On the I35 split....I found it to be signed more this time around than it ever has been since making all these trips. It only took one trip to know to be in the far left lane to insure headed to Fort Worth....however this time there were at least 4 signs indicating which lane to be in for I 35 E and I 35 W, spread out long before the split. I can't imagine missing all of them, and I was driving in the dark back home as well.

[tstone]

Aren't there TX DOT cameras that take pictures of you & your license plate on that stretch of highway? Then they mail you the picture with a questionnaire and tell you it is for "survey"? Well that's what I've heard. If true, I wonder how many people blindly fill out those surveys and send them off to Big Brother.