And You Think Austin Has Bad Rush Hour Traffic

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by je4xff

Yeppers (well no one really lives on 360, but within 1/4 mile anyways). Gives me much less room to complain than those making the trek to Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock...

Well, technically no one works ON 360 either, but I'm just wondering what your 8 miles north of Las Cimas commute was. Or did you mean arboretum area?

[je4xff]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Well, technically no one works ON 360 either, but I'm just wondering what your 8 miles north of Las Cimas commute was. Or did you mean arboretum area?

Heh - I wasn't being snarky - just meant that there aren't really residentials with Capital of Texas addresses (with the exception of a few apartment complexes). A lot of those offices do have Cap of Tex addresses.

But yes - on the opposite side of 360 from the arboretum (nearer the IRS terrorist attack location) between spicewood springs and 183. And I stand corrected - according to Google maps it's closer to 9 miles rather than 8 like I thought.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by je4xff

Heh - I wasn't being snarky - just meant that there aren't really residentials with Capital of Texas addresses (with the exception of a few apartment complexes). A lot of those offices do have Cap of Tex addresses.

I was, I admit it

But I was kind of curious because many years ago, I did live in an apartment complex right on 360 (8505 Cap of TX HWY -- complex used to be called Aspen Hills but now it's something else). And I worked next door to the Echelon bldgs. Very nice commute at the time, but it was only like 1.5 miles.

A couple of years back, the state proposed putting in "Michigan-left" turns on 360 to help with traffic (basically eliminating left turns in favor of more u-turns so the lights could allow through traffic longer). But the neighborhoods fought back -- because it would have only cut down commute times by 2 or so minutes (per TX Dot), would have taken 2 years of construction, and would have changed some of the wide shoulders to car acceleration lanes which would have seriously impacted cycling. The neighborhoods wanted overpasses (or preferably, underpasses like on 2222 and 2244) to eliminate lights altogether on streets like Lost Creek Blvd and Spicewood Springs. It was only about a $25M difference, but TXDot told us they didn't have the money for it.

The ultimate fix for 360 traffic will be when they actually eliminate the lights, and put direct ramps (without lights) going to mopac on the south and 183 on the north. The road doesn't even need widening, that change alone would make a huge difference. That's the best solution and actually what the residents along 360 want. You'd think with all the big new office buildings that continue to go up on 360, they could find the funding to make that happen...

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by je4xff

That's pretty amazing. It used to take me nearly an hour to go 8 miles in the evening every day. Using Waze, sometimes trying back routes - 360 south to north.

Whats so amazing about it? I can drive from manchaca road and wm cannon to burnet road and justin lane in about 30 minutes or so. Justin lane is only a few miles south of the northern city limit, going up North Lamar.

I dont think it ever took me an hour to go anywhere inside Austin city limits. Except one time in 1983 we had a snowstorm and everyplace in austin shut down around 11am and it took 3 hours to drive from ben white and 35 in se austin to anderson mill road and 183 in far nw austin, about 23 miles.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Justin lane is only a few miles south of the northern city limit

It's actually 7 miles south of the city limit. In fact, it's pretty close to the actual geographic center of the city.

[je4xff]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Whats so amazing about it? I can drive from manchaca road and wm cannon to burnet road and justin lane in about 30 minutes or so. Justin lane is only a few miles south of the northern city limit, going up North Lamar.

I dont think it ever took me an hour to go anywhere inside Austin city limits. Except one time in 1983 we had a snowstorm and everyplace in austin shut down around 11am and it took 3 hours to drive from ben white and 35 in se austin to anderson mill road and 183 in far nw austin, about 23 miles.

I guess everyone has there own idea of what across town means. For me, something like Circle C to Lakeline, or Steiner Ranch to Montopolis, or Galleria Mall to 35 and Louis Henna. Doing any of those in 30-35 minutes in rush hour would be pretty amazing. A lot of people also think of neighboring areas like Pflugerville and Oak Hill, etc. as part of the 'across town' definition. Ask anyone who lives on the wrong side of the Y how far they can get in 35 minutes during rush hour.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Novacek

It's actually 7 miles south of the city limit. In fact, it's pretty close to the actual geographic center of the city.

Huh? You could go 12 miles up 183 and still be within the city limits. What's the point, again?

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Huh? You could go 12 miles up 183 and still be within the city limits. What's the point, again?

I was being generous and giving the shortest distance (straight up Burnet/Mopac to the border) rather than the longest.

The point was: the post I was replying to was using Burnet/Justin as an example of going all the way across Austin (anywhere to anywhere) when it's very much not. It's basically going just halfway across Austin.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Novacek

I was being generous and giving the shortest distance (straight up Burnet/Mopac to the border) rather than the longest.

The point was: the post I was replying to was using Burnet/Justin as an example of going all the way across Austin (anywhere to anywhere) when it's very much not. It's basically going just halfway across Austin.

Got it...it's way too 'middle' to be called 'across'.

[JJG]

Austin's traffic gets a bad rep because of 35.

For that section, it's narrow and outdated, especially now for a city of Austin's size AND considering what state we're in, it's not wide or modern enough