Is it possible to have an honest discussion about Austin's traffic? (Houston: condo, new home)

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Komeht

I hope you let your clients know that it would be a very good idea to not follow your lead and to make a point of being traveling to Pflugerville at the very worst times of the day several times, before opting to purchase a home there.

Not sure what your point is. But I think everyone knows it's a rough ride to keep a 5PM appt in (pick your suburb), or even downtown for that matter.

I do have an appointment at 3PM tomorrow in Pflugerville. Neither me nor the client wanted to fight crosstown traffic after he gets off work M-F.

Again, not sure what point you were trying to make, as this isn't a big secret that can be hidden.

Steve

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Not sure what your point is. But I think everyone knows it's a rough ride to keep a 5PM appt in (pick your suburb), or even downtown for that matter.

I do have an appointment at 3PM tomorrow in Pflugerville. Neither me nor the client wanted to fight crosstown traffic after he gets off work M-F.

Again, not sure what point you were trying to make, as this isn't a big secret that can be hidden.

Steve

Jim and Pam, I'd love to show you that place in Pflugerville but there is no way I would ever consider showing it at 5 or 6pm during the week. It's something you should strongly consider before you make a decision as to whether purchase out there as you will likely be fighting the that traffic every day unless you have shift work. And as your realtor I'd suggest you do check it out a few times at 5 and 6 pm if you will be driving home at that time so you get a sense of how bad it can be and whether that suits your lifestyle.

How about we meet at 3PM, that way we don't hit any of the traffic.

[CarnivalGal]

I am from the Northeast, and as much as I love and miss the convenience of trains, I just don't think they'll work in Austin. The city is just too spread out and unwalkable. Unless your one and only destination is Downtown or UT, then they don't do you much good. The vast majority of people can't walk to a train station from their house or office either because it's just too far or there are no sidewalks. And Park and Rides are too spread out to make it very convenient.

But what I really want to vent about is access/frontage roads. OMG, these have to be the worst invention ever. Did people really sit around and decide that making cars exiting the freeway stop at the end of the ramp would somehow make traffic move faster? Or better yet, let them cross four lanes of traffic and then come to a complete stop - that'll speed things up. Austin is finally figuring out that overpasses work, but there are still A LOT of busy intersections that don't have them.

Also, making 360 into an actual freeway would help immensely. There is plenty of room to do this, so I don't know why it isn't in the works. Instead all cars must stop at the multiple red lights. I see a pattern here - apparently someone at DOT thinks that making cars stop somehow gets them moving along faster.

And speaking of lights, if you are going to have them, TIME THEM PROPERLY. I was stuck on the 183 access road (there we go with those access roads again) the other day, and the entire reason traffic wasn't moving is because our light would turn green but no one could move because the light 100 feet ahead was red and cars were backed up to our intersection. I would have loved to just go from 620 to 183, but SURPRISE! there's no overpass. So I have to take the access road and go through not one, not two, but three lights before I can actually enter 183.

But don't worry. That bike share program that the city is spending oodles of money on is going to solve all our problems.

[centralaustinite]

The neighbors on 360 (who have plenty of $ and pull) would NEVER let get expanded into a freeway. They'd probably go the legislature and get a special law passed just for that road.

If you run into trouble with lights, call 311! They aren't always CoA lights but they will send a report to the appropriate parties.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by steve78757

Just brainstorming here, but how about buses, buses, and more buses everywhere on dedicated lanes. Take away an existing lane on every major road and reserve it for buses. Since Austin will likely never have a "real" rail system our best shot at providing decent public transportation is via buses in dedicated lanes. This is the cheapest solution that could also be implemented the quickest. The stigma of riding the bus will evaporate rather quickly as well, as the buses continue to zoom by every 2 or 3 minutes.

I agree with this -- even without dedicated lanes, our bus system could be drastically improved, and it could make an immediate impact on our traffic. Cap Metro is actually efficient in some areas of town (like east/southeast), where the demand is there. But the demand isn't where the traffic problems are... and to address that, the Cap Metro board and city have to think a little bit differently. Traffic/gas prices will help drive demand to any public transport, but I think we can be more proactive than that.

Put in a route system that heavily services the 360, N 183 and N Mopac corridors -- the tech/office areas. Then retrofit a fleet of normal buses as high-tech shuttles, with wifi and charging stations. Work with the employers to make the stop locations and schedules optimal. Then promote the heck out of it. Even if it's not a long-term solution, it will at least get people to open up to the idea of public transportation, which could only benefit any future plans for rail/BRT.

[tildahat]

Originally Posted by Komeht

Jim and Pam, I'd love to show you that place in Pflugerville but there is no way I would ever consider showing it at 5 or 6pm during the week. It's something you should strongly consider before you make a decision as to whether purchase out there as you will likely be fighting the that traffic every day unless you have shift work. And as your realtor I'd suggest you do check it out a few times at 5 and 6 pm if you will be driving home at that time so you get a sense of how bad it can be and whether that suits your lifestyle.

How about we meet at 3PM, that way we don't hit any of the traffic.

FWIW, I understood the point you were making. I don't think anyone else did.

[hoffdano]

It is interesting to read all this. Long time resident here. And a frequent enough traveler within the US and elsewhere. Last fall was in Barcelona for a week. Rode the trains regularly. Have ridden Paris Metro multiple times. Been in a small town in central Switzerland and am very impressed with Switzerland's complete integration of bus/rail/boat transit schedules. Been on many trains in Japan including the Shinkansen. As good as these rail systems are - the Swiss one is the standout. It was obviously done with a PLAN, a commitment, and serious budget. Oh - it helps that Switzerland is one country, with only 8M people, and is rich.

What I see missing when people talk about how great some of these world cities are is that no one seems to care that London costs perhaps 75% more to live than it does in Houston. In San Francisco - $800,000 doesn't go very far in terms of housing. Yes you can walk to the coffee shop. And you will send your kids to private school because the public schools are not worthy.

Komeht just doesn't seem to accept that many people, especially families, want affordable homes and good public schools. They need both of those things together. It really is meaningless to most people to live near Uchi. They can't afford it anyway. Let's say he gets his wish and Austin somehow makes it easier to add non-high rise housing in Austin. How many people would then have a central Austin option that don't today? If the 1500 sq. ft. house is $400K it ain't gonna fly except for DINKs. Schools won't improve until the demographics improve. It has nothing to do with AISD's quality.

The laughable part of this discussion is bicycles. Except in the downtown area, bicycles are not practical. Austin is too hot and too hilly for anyone to ride more than a mile or two. Maybe during an apocalyptic event that takes away all gasoline and electricity....

[Dog_Gone]

In a word, "no". Nobody wants to hear the truth. Everybody gets a trophy for participating though.
But give people the standard conditioned answer and all are in the pool.

We dont need more roads, we need better driving habits.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by Biscuits

Agreed.

MoPac and Hwy 290 could have their capacity doubled and the net result would be droves of people moving to places like Johnson City, based upon its "acceptable" commute times into Austin. Fast-forward several years and all of the growth -- spurred by the expanded roads -- would likely once again overwhelm MoPac and 290.

I prefer we just stop the insanity now and let people accept their "commute tax" for living x-miles away. Rush-hour driving from [insert suburb here] to Central Austin was never guaranteed to be painless.

Expanding Highways Induces Traffic - Transportation - Sierra Club

Agreed.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by FueledByBlueBell

So what I am hearing is that we should just sit on our hands and live with it?

Well, not really. You can choose to live with it and stay, or not and leave. It's that simple. Throwing money at this problem is not going to help.