Does anyone besides me think the Austin highway system just plain sucks? (Houston: apartment, Home Depot)

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

But, really, I don't have much of a problem at all getting around in Austin.

Me neither....I only drive down there maybe twice a month, including Longhorn football season.

[spelrod]

Never mind. Don't care enough anymore.

[CarnivalGal]

Access roads are the dumbest things I have ever seen. Nothing like forcing exiting traffic to stop at a light to keep things moving. Up north, when you exit on Main Street, you are actually taken to - wait, get this - MAIN STREET. Crazy, isn't it?

Looks like someone's finally figured it out, since they are putting overpasses everywhere now (Ben White and 35, 183 and 35, etc). But it's at least 30 years too late.

[TexasHorseLady]

On the other hand, with access roads, you actually have the ability to get somewhere without actually getting on the highway. I realize that some people are allergic to traffic lights, but usually if you time it right (meaning drive a reasonable speed - gasp!), you can hit green all, or most, of the way.

Besides, saying things like "Up North" or "Where I come from" they do it thus and so is pretty much the equivalent of the Ugly American, only internal to the country.

You're not up North. Learn to cope with the way it's done here, and when we're up North, we'll return the favor instead of insisting, "This isn't what I'm used to, therefore it's WRONG!"

[gpurcell]

You gotta understand that TxDOT is run by Aggies and Aggies LOVE access roads in the rural areas. So that's we have access roads in the urban areas which then require the ridiculous flyovers.

As far as Austin goes, the plain fact of the matter is that the core of the town was always meant to be a town. Doesn't matter how many highways you run into the central city, the basic road structure downtown and central is just insufficient to handle a city this size.

[AmberAzeneth]

Originally Posted by killermike2178

Why do we only have 2 major highways going north/southbound (IH-35 and Mopac)? With how much more rapidly our city is growing, thanks to the gentrification scheme of our city planners and developers, we need more than 2 N/S highways, and they shouldn't be toll roads, if they want people using them. better yet, just use the toll roads nobody is using and take out the toll booths. It will decongest traffic.

^^^^Here is a guy that is exactly right. I totally agree Mike!!! I wish it change too.

[achtungpv]

Studies have shown that access roads are a major cause of congestion on interstate highways since they tend to provide more entry points to the highway than is normally advised and they encourage development right on the highway so they attract people/cars/congestion. Unfortunately, until about 15 years ago, Texas law required that the State provide landowners driveway access to all highways. To prevent there being driveways on the actual interstate highways, they used access roads as the solution. "Access" doesn't mean highway access for travelers, it's highway access for adjacent land owners.

[lemonlime22]

Originally Posted by killermike2178

Why do we only have 2 major highways going north/southbound (IH-35 and Mopac)? With how much more rapidly our city is growing, thanks to the gentrification scheme of our city planners and developers, we need more than 2 N/S highways, and they shouldn't be toll roads, if they want people using them. better yet, just use the toll roads nobody is using and take out the toll booths. It will decongest traffic.

Calling it a "system" is sorta funny, actually.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Tell me sir, just how long have you been sleeping?? Your ideas sounds fine in theory, but we are not talking about the average city here. As an individual who has been in the transportation industry for nearly a decade, I can tell you that Austin never prepared for the rapid growth it has been experiencing over the past 2 decades. The city of Austin is unique because a). it never visits other cities and metro areas to learn from them b) anything it does do (the shut people up) is almost always half a**ed without any thought or planning. If you notice, ALL of the tollroads with the possible exception of a small part of Loop 1 north (near Parmer) are outside the city limits of Austin. The city itself has no interest in doing anything with it's road system. Sorry to say longtime "Austin worshipers", there are no plans to do anything for at least the next 20 years.

In theory, it sounds like a good idea to focus on public transportation. However, Cap Metro serves the city of Austin and is, and always has been a complete failing enterprise. The transportation agency continues to loose millions of dollars due to inept manangement, political corruptness, and overall idiotic decision making from a financial point of view. Before the city can successfully implement ANY kind of successful light rail, it needs to completely start over with Cap Metro. Pretty much fire all of the higher ups, and start learning from successful transporation agencies. RTD (Denver) or TriMet (Portland). Build the light rail where people actually want to go and work. Stop cutting corners by only using a single track line which is shared by other rail companies (thus severely limiting efficiency and schedules). Sure, light rail is a great idea, but some planning and real studies need to be done first. You need to be willing to spend the money needed for a real system that can benefit the most people. It's really amazing how much the city cuts corners when it comes to it's transportation infastruture. (never seen anything quite like it anywhere else)

Several billion dollars overall have been spent downtown to build big residential skyscrapers for the rich. Yet, you constantly hear the city whining about how they have no money and "budget cuts" wha wha wha.
Gee, imagine if some of that money was actually spent on important things, like transportation to benefit the other 90% of metro Austin's population??? But we can't do that because the rich in our city ALWAYS come first!!!

I finally understand why you're always frustrated. I think I'd be frustrated with Austin if I worked in the transportation industry. However, you are incorrect about the toll roads and no new roads in the city limits. They are building the Manor Expressway (290E) right now which is in the city limits. Since I've moved here, they completed Ben White 71 Expressway from I-35 east almost all the way to the airport. Why they stopped one light short is very perplexing to me though.

I think if they worked on the "Y" at Oak Hill, finished Ben White to the airport, finished Manor Expressway, and finished 183 from Manor to the airport, and put bridges over a couple of the busiest streets crossing 360 then that would solve the issues there (Spicewood Springs Rd would be easy as there's plenty of land and then probably the area near Barton Creek Mall, there are maybe 3 main lights to avoid there, just put a long elevated bridge there).

[cBach]

Originally Posted by mm57553

Access roads are the dumbest things I have ever seen. Nothing like forcing exiting traffic to stop at a light to keep things moving. Up north, when you exit on Main Street, you are actually taken to - wait, get this - MAIN STREET. Crazy, isn't it?

Looks like someone's finally figured it out, since they are putting overpasses everywhere now (Ben White and 35, 183 and 35, etc). But it's at least 30 years too late.

I totally agree with you about access roads. Everywhere else I've lived, they didn't have them, and the traffic was generally better than here. The old cloverleaf intersection is very cost efficient and requires only 2 bridges (one for each direction over the existing road). With an access road, you have to have those original 2 bridges, plus 2 more for the access roads on either side, and now you have to have 8 flyovers. So now you had to build 12 bridges and at extremely high heights for an interchange at 2 major highways.

One of the reasons why we don't have a good highway system is because of access roads. Think about 360 for instance. In many places there is solid rock, so they wouldn't be able to put in access roads without a lot of rock blasting (expensive). However, if they just put a simple bridge on both sides (2 bridges) over each intersection, and connected them with cloverleafs, then you'd have access.