Loops around City (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin: construction, quality of life, live in)

[parisok]

Is there a reason there is no loop around Austin? Most cities have it San Antonio has a couple as does Dallas. I grew up in San Francisco and there is no loop there but that is due to land availability. I am sure it has been tried but is it because unable to acquire right away? Would it really help traffic?

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by parisok

Is there a reason there is no loop around Austin? Most cities have it San Antonio has a couple as does Dallas. I grew up in San Francisco and there is no loop there but that is due to land availability. I am sure it has been tried but is it because unable to acquire right away? Would it really help traffic?

stupidity?

There should be loops, but people who live in each area pretty much always fight them and win. It is kind of bizaare. For example the people on 620 (lakeway etc) complain that a freeway would destroy their quality of life. The people on 360 said the same thing.

The loops should be

130->71->620->45->130
620 -> 183-> 71->620

360->183->71->360

mopac connecting to 183 in the north and 360/71 in the south


No lights on 183, 360 and 620

[parisok]

Originally Posted by Austin97

There should be loops, but people who live in each area pretty much always fight them and win. It is kind of bizaare. For example the people on 620 (lakeway etc) complain that a freeway would destroy their quality of life. The people on 360 said the same

Same issue happen in Fort Worth when they wanted to build a I35 by pass to minimize semi traffic in the cities

[scm53]

There was a plan for a loop around Austin, starting in 1985, when the land could be acquired before people moved in. But in 1992, the environmentalist majority that took control of Austin City Council successfully had those plans removed. Now, it is basically too late, for the reasons Austin97 cited. Would be like trying to build 410 in SA now.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by scm53

There was a plan for a loop around Austin, starting in 1985, when the land could be acquired before people moved in. But in 1992, the environmentalist majority that took control of Austin City Council successfully had those plans removed. Now, it is basically too late, for the reasons Austin97 cited. Would be like trying to build 410 in SA now.

Correct, except the no-growth "environmentalists" joined forces with the newly enfranchised UT students to take over the city council in 1975 - with Jeff Friedman as Mayor. They pretty much fought most road improvement plans, including MoPac, for decades.
That's why Austin has horrible traffic & "Ozone Action Days".

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Correct, except the no-growth "environmentalists" joined forces with the newly enfranchised UT students to take over the city council in 1975 - with Jeff Friedman as Mayor. They pretty much fought most road improvement plans, including MoPac, for decades.
That's why Austin has horrible traffic & "Ozone Action Days".

Revisionist history.

The fact is the city didn't even get the roads that no on fought against (and which always stayed in the plans) the eastern bypasses.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Correct, except the no-growth "environmentalists" joined forces with the newly enfranchised UT students to take over the city council in 1975 - with Jeff Friedman as Mayor. They pretty much fought most road improvement plans, including MoPac, for decades.

That council, was a two year "blip". There was such a recoil in horror to Freidman, Margaret Hoffman, and Emma Lou Linn, that they were all voted out two years later. The councils that followed, with Carole Rylander and Ron Mullen as mayors, served until '85 and were much more willing to build roads -- witness the Mopac extensions to Parmer and SH 45, all completed by '92 with pro-growth majorities on council.

This all ended with the '93 elections of SOS Director Brigid Shea and Save Barton Creek executive board member Jackie Goodman, joining Max Nofzinger and Gus Garcia to form an anti-road majority. By 1997, all seven members of council were elected with environmentalist backing.

Ergo, road construction inside Austin came to a crashing halt.

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by parisok

Is there a reason there is no loop around Austin? Most cities have it San Antonio has a couple as does Dallas. I grew up in San Francisco and there is no loop there but that is due to land availability. I am sure it has been tried but is it because unable to acquire right away? Would it really help traffic?

There is! It's called Loop 1.

Wait. But you want to be a circle?

Cmon, you're asking way too much. Like asking for the moon.

And by the by, Loop 1 is so great they knew they couldn't do it justice by building loops 2 and 3 so they didn't.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by scm53

That council, was a two year "blip". There was such a recoil in horror to Freidman, Margaret Hoffman, and Emma Lou Linn, that they were all voted out two years later. The councils that followed, with Carole Rylander and Ron Mullen as mayors, served until '85 and were much more willing to build roads -- witness the Mopac extensions to Parmer and SH 45, all completed by '92 with pro-growth majorities on council.

This all ended with the '93 elections of SOS Director Brigid Shea and Save Barton Creek executive board member Jackie Goodman, joining Max Nofzinger and Gus Garcia to form an anti-road majority. By 1997, all seven members of council were elected with environmentalist backing.

Ergo, road construction inside Austin came to a crashing halt.

The stage was already set for the anti-growth people you mentioned, and their influence stunted even those later projects. I suspect the current crop of council people won't do much better.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Revisionist history.

The fact is the city didn't even get the roads that no on fought against (and which always stayed in the plans) the eastern bypasses.

You're saying no one fought road expansion? Really?