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Old 12-12-2010, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,395,703 times
Reputation: 24740

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It wouldn't take me 45 minutes from Far West to downtown today. That's because I wouldn't take Mopac if it were truly that blocked - I'd take an alternate route (I can think of three - well, 2-1/2, because one merges with the other closer to downtown, that would get me there in 20 minutes during rush hour).
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Old 12-12-2010, 07:43 PM
 
2,238 posts, read 9,015,912 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Unclemeat View Post
Widen MOPAC to get rid of the 5th street lane drop. I don't understand why you would have an expressway lose a lane at it's busiest section.
Typical TxDOT design work. It also loses a lane for not much reason south of 360 so those coming on from 360 have their own lane. As a result that's the start of the bottle neck coming in to downtown in the mornings. Once you get past the 360 merge then it generally opens up again.
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Old 12-12-2010, 08:10 PM
 
8,009 posts, read 10,424,435 times
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The city already solved this problem when they put in the rail line, remember? Maybe if it gets worse, they'll add some bike lanes. That'll fix it.
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Old 12-13-2010, 10:36 AM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,333 posts, read 18,053,649 times
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The main problem with traffic for those of us in the field is the unpredictability of time windows needed for travel. For example, several times a month I need to be at the Austin Board of Realtors up north at 8:30 or 9AM for a meeting or a class. I generally leave my neighborhood at 7:45AM and head the back route behind Barton Creek mall to pop out at the turnaround at Mopac/360 so I can stay off Bee Cave Rd. Most days the traffic seems slack for no apparent reason and I'm WAY early, but occasionally I'm barely on time.

Same with appointments even in the middle of the day. Getting to 620/183 from Mopac/5th should take about 20 minutes, but I allow at least double because I loath being even 1 minute late. 10 years ago I could allow about 20 minutes for almost anywhere in Austin and not worry about being late. Today I just don't know for sure and I have to plan for the worst and assume there will be a wreck or construction or some other slowdown. Last week is was telephone lines on Mopac south of Wm Cannon and it took 45 minutes to make a 12 minute trip to Circle C. Arrggg! Good think I left an extra half hour of travel time.

I'd gladly pay for predictably if I could hop onto an express lane for a couple of dollars and know that I'll arrive at the other end uninterrupted.

Steve
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Old 12-13-2010, 11:05 AM
 
Location: Broomfield, CO
1,445 posts, read 3,267,649 times
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Put very simply, Mopac Exp./Loop 1 needs to be completely gutted and rebuilt--similar to the Katy Freeway in West Houston, and the T-Rex (I-25) in South Metro Denver. Both of these were multi billion dollar projects. The ROW on Mopac needs to be extended probably another 10-20 feet on both sides of the freeway. As I have been telling people for quite some time now, the City of Austin's main interest is in the higher end people within the city. Since most of the neighborhoods along Mopac are flat out against an expansion involving ROW (and are higher end), the City isn't going to press it. What MAY happen is a restriping project that would include an additional lane (perhaps an HOV lane) in both directions.

Traffic will always be horrible on Mopac (and I-35) unless some real planning is implemented (not the typical half ass COA transportation "planning"). With that said, I-35 also needs to be completely rebuilt (with HOV lanes) from about Parmer Lane, down to Slaugher.


Quote:
Originally Posted by infoseeker2010 View Post
Rushhour traffic is horrible on Mopac. It's like parking garage. Any new changes coming up to improve traffic flow??
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Old 12-13-2010, 11:31 AM
 
Location: Holly Neighborhood, Austin, Texas
3,981 posts, read 6,735,213 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eepstein View Post
Put very simply, Mopac Exp./Loop 1 needs to be completely gutted and rebuilt--similar to the Katy Freeway in West Houston, and the T-Rex (I-25) in South Metro Denver. Both of these were multi billion dollar projects. The ROW on Mopac needs to be extended probably another 10-20 feet on both sides of the freeway. As I have been telling people for quite some time now, the City of Austin's main interest is in the higher end people within the city. Since most of the neighborhoods along Mopac are flat out against an expansion involving ROW (and are higher end), the City isn't going to press it. What MAY happen is a restriping project that would include an additional lane (perhaps an HOV lane) in both directions.

Traffic will always be horrible on Mopac (and I-35) unless some real planning is implemented (not the typical half ass COA transportation "planning"). With that said, I-35 also needs to be completely rebuilt (with HOV lanes) from about Parmer Lane, down to Slaugher.
It's also due to the fact that buying out the ROW in that area would be incredibly expensive. For example I just pulled up an address on TCAD on Hartford Rd off the east side Mopac and just north of Windsor Rd. The lot is valued at $1.25M on a per acre basis. Add to this that TxDOT is building sound walls if the majority of residents in an area vote for it and the costs increase further.

Anyway they are looking at several different options for adding more lane(s) in the future be they free, tolled or HOV:

Environmental Study - MoPac Improvement Project
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Old 12-13-2010, 11:38 AM
 
Location: 78747
3,202 posts, read 6,018,706 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by verybadgnome View Post
Add to this that TxDOT is building sound walls if the majority of residents in an area vote for it and the costs increase further..
So if we want to increase our property value, all our neighbors have to do is vote 'for' it? That's awesome!! I'm going to see if Austin taxpayers will buy us some more greenbelt behind our neighborhood, or add brick inlay to our streets.
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Old 12-13-2010, 12:15 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,395,703 times
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Just love the people that want to turn Austin into Houston or some other such place that has nothing to do with what it really is.
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Old 12-13-2010, 06:13 PM
 
648 posts, read 1,964,387 times
Reputation: 184
My commute home on MoPac (Enfield to 2222) was bumper to bumper. I personally noted 5 or 10 mph was about as fast as I got.

Also, I noticed they are really building up on the land closest to Mopac with some retirement center or something around 45th. No expansion coming IMHO.
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Old 12-13-2010, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Austin
1,774 posts, read 3,794,052 times
Reputation: 800
Quote:
Originally Posted by Exiled Texan View Post
My commute home on MoPac (Enfield to 2222) was bumper to bumper. I personally noted 5 or 10 mph was about as fast as I got.

Also, I noticed they are really building up on the land closest to Mopac with some retirement center or something around 45th. No expansion coming IMHO.
I was about to say the same. I didn't commute, but headed to Barton Creek Mall after work at around 5:15...20 mph was as fast as traffic moved, all the way down to 2 mph. 10 mph seemed to be the average.
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