MOPAC Express Lanes (Dallas, Austin, Clarksville: hotels, construction, to live)

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by Dr.Mom

What about accidents and breakdowns in the express lanes? Will there be ample ways for emergency vehicles to get to them? I'd be pretty miffed if I paid extra to travel in the express lanes and then ended up sitting there b/c someone's car ended up blocking a lane.

Of course, according to state law, if there's a wreck fatality the highway has to be shut down for almost half a day while the investigators do their thing.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

In that situation, I expect that the slower lanes will be going well below the speed limit. And the so called express lane will only be doing marginlally better.

But as the other poster wrote, the katy freeway can be going at 45 while traffic is stopped in the other lane. This means if you urgently have to get downtown you can decide if it is worth it to pay $1.50/mile, but at least you have the option.

[camelian]

Originally Posted by someguyatx

Another example of poor planning. The population continues to grow over 25% in the last 10 years and the traffic solution is to add another lane but charge people a random amount every day to use it. This will fix nothing. Its time for a complete rebuild and the last priority should be a concern with people who live next to the highway hearing noise. You live next to a freaking highway what did you expect?

I believe the people were there first, then they decided to plop a highway down right next to them.. adversely adding air/noise pollution as well as hurting real estate values

[austin944]

Whatever happened to that idea of moving the freight trains that run on the track along Mopac to somewhere outside the city, and then use the track for a commuter rail?

[someguyatx]

Originally Posted by camelian

I believe the people were there first, then they decided to plop a highway down right next to them.. adversely adding air/noise pollution as well as hurting real estate values

Yeah I'm sure some people were there first but they didn't exactly just plop down the highway a few years ago. Its been there since the 70's near downtown and the tracks were there way before that so it was never exactly quiet.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by someguyatx

Yeah I'm sure some people were there first but they didn't exactly just plop down the highway a few years ago. Its been there since the 70's near downtown and the tracks were there way before that so it was never exactly quiet.

Yes but when MoPac was put down in the 70's it was more of an expressway not a freeway, kind of how 620 is right now with red lights and such. Also, the traffic was far less back in the 70's. I don't think any Austinites back in the 70's (even the hardcore ones) would have predicted the growth rates we're now facing. The traffic and noise kinda snuck up on them slowly.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

I disagree.

I-35 already divided East Austin from downtown as soon as it was completed through 1st Street to 19th (MLK) in 1962 (or around that time). The upper deck of I-35 came years after that.

MOPAC already divided West Austin from Central Austin over 30 years ago, and a double deck running from 183 to south of the Ladybird Lake won't change any geographic boundaries.

Everybody knows that the double decker I-35 section is an eyesore. I don't think the wealthy folks out west want a view of a busy highway instead of downtown skyscrapers as they have now.

Why don't we just dig the whole section out deep like they they are doing the Woodall Rogers freeway in Dallas, and then cover it up and plan a nice park? We'd just need to do that from 6th to around 2222. We could do it in phases, first the excavation, and then years down the line it could be covered.

[atxcio]

I'm not the biggest Dallas fan, but they are really doing something right with their freeway here -

The Park

They sunk the highway and built a 5.2 acre park on top. I saw it this Christmas, it's almost complete.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by cBach

Everybody knows that the double decker I-35 section is an eyesore. I don't think the wealthy folks out west want a view of a busy highway instead of downtown skyscrapers as they have now.

Why don't we just dig the whole section out deep like they they are doing the Woodall Rogers freeway in Dallas, and then cover it up and plan a nice park? We'd just need to do that from 6th to around 2222. We could do it in phases, first the excavation, and then years down the line it could be covered.

Excavation is extremely expensive, especially with all of that limestone rock in West Austin. They would not be able to blast it out because of the noise and vibrations that would damage adjacent properties. So they will have to grind a lot of it away. And then all of that ground rock has to be hauled off and disposed of somewhere. Hauling that much soil and rock away is extremely expensive.

For example, it cost over $4 million dollars to excavate the one city block under the Austin City Hall for the underground parking garage. And only the bottom 8-10' or so of that was limestone which had to be ground away, the rest of the excavation was sandy soil.

The total budget for the Mopac work under discussion is a total of $20 million. And what are you going to do with the traffic while you do the excavation? That would be a huge extra cost if you have to support the existing roadway while you tunnel below it.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by atxcio

I'm not the biggest Dallas fan, but they are really doing something right with their freeway here -

The Park

They sunk the highway and built a 5.2 acre park on top. I saw it this Christmas, it's almost complete.

This is basically Dallas' "Big Dig" project. Dallas, with the Trinity River project and the Woodall Rogers park, is finally beginning to focus on quality of life there. Better late than never I guess.

If Dallas ever finishes the Trinity River project, we will face serious competition for downtown outdoor activities. That's why we need to keep pace and bury all these freeways downtown and create parks on top of them.