SH-45 Tollway Survives CAMPO 2035 Plan! (Austin, Shady Hollow: 2015, neighborhoods, construction)

[ImOnFiya]

Good news for the folks in SW Austin and Southern Travis County! : The CAMPO board (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) rebuked Travis County Precinct 3 Commissioner Karen Huber and the Travis County Commissioners Court, voting 17 to 2, by letting SH-45 SW stay on the 2035 CAMPO transportation blueprint priority list (to receive federal matching funds and for construction).

All Commissioner Karen Huber got from her hidden opposition to SH-45 over her Precinct 3 constituents was knocking down a recommendation that TXDOT start the project in 2015, instead of 2020!

Texas 45 Southwest survives

Not only did closet, strict environmentalist Huber lose on the biggest issue of her commissionership but now her chances of re-election (in a race which she won by a razor-thin 2%) seem slim indeed. But, at least, Karen will get a pat on the back from Bill Bunch, SOS, and the Sierra Club!

"We've got real priority problems in this plan," Huber said. "I cannot support this plan, because I cannot support business as usual."

Of course, Huber never said what those "priority problems" were and what "business" was being affected, though we could guess it was her environmental institutional donors (SOS, Sierra Club, & the ANC [Austin Neighborhoods Council]).

For the residents on Shady Hollow and Circle C, as Karen Huber reportedly said (with sarcasm),

"You will probably get your road."

Was it worth it for Karen to fight her own voters (to no avail)?
Will it make life better for travel-clogged SW Austinites living in the fastest growing part of the city and Travis County?

What do YOU think?

[jobert]

I think that starting the road in 2020 is still 10 years away!!

This gives me absolutely no reason to ever want to live in Hays or Shady Hollow still, and tells me that the poor souls who rely on Brodie can expect 10 more years of this, all the while watching it grow worse. I think Shady Hollow residents should barricade traffic incoming from 1626 like sans culottes.

[gpurcell]

Austin's road system is a disgrace. MOPAC/45 to I-35 south should have been constructed years and years ago. Have it run through a damn greenbelt if you need to to preserve water quality but having MOPAC just stop south is pure insanity.

[Trae713]

Austin has a horribly planned highway/freeway system. Austin did have elaborate plans for freeways back in the day, but most of them were scrapped (and seem to be slowly coming back now).

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Scarface713

Austin has a horribly planned highway/freeway system. Austin did have elaborate plans for freeways back in the day, but most of them were scrapped (and seem to be slowly coming back now).

Well at least we aren't a maze if concrete and asphalt with tiny green specs in between like the ugliest city in Texas.

[atxcio]

I don't know how they can agree to fund a NEW highway when they don't include a penny to fix the existing problems -- like I-35. There is nothing in the plan to make any improvements on I-35, nothing for 360, and minimal for Mopac.

We don't need new highways when we can't even get the main arterials up to spec. Plus, TXDot builds the worst highways in the world -- terrible, sprawl-encouraging design. SH45 is simply going to help people get into the Mopac or I35 bottlenecks sooner, making them worse.

[gpurcell]

Atxcio, actually having SR130 and MOPAC/45 helps a great deal with fixing I-35 since the through traffic can be diverted. Because we don't have a ring road system (bad design) we can't really remove 50 percent of I-35s capacity for five to ten years as is necessary.

As far as MOPAC bottleneck, that's almost purely a matter of an underdesigned bridge across the lake.

[eepstein]

What most people don't realize is that the city of Austin PURPOSELY spends no money on roads. They couldn't give a damn less if you sit in traffic on Brodie Lane or Mopac. Austin is the most congested medium size city in the country and the city couldn't care less. The city of Austin puts nearly ALL of their money into the downtown core of the city. They ONLY CARE ABOUT RICH PEOPLE moving into the city. They have no interest in anyone who doesn't live in or near downtown.

For those of you who choose to move to South Austin, you WILL be sitting in horrible traffic for decades to come. The city will not do anything about it. The tollroads were built by TxDOT and little if any of them are located in the Austin city limits. (i think just a small piece of Mopac north of Parmer MAY be in the ACL)

ANY road improvements done by the city (due to public pressure) will almost certainly be half assed and done as cheaply as possible. A good example of that is the discussion of restriping Mopac with smaller lanes to accomodate an additional lane that rich people will have the option of PAYING for to avoid heavy traffic. Unreal.

KEEP AUSTIN WIERD!!!

Originally Posted by gpurcell

Atxcio, actually having SR130 and MOPAC/45 helps a great deal with fixing I-35 since the through traffic can be diverted. Because we don't have a ring road system (bad design) we can't really remove 50 percent of I-35s capacity for five to ten years as is necessary.

As far as MOPAC bottleneck, that's almost purely a matter of an underdesigned bridge across the lake.

[IHEARTPG]

what company is doing the work?

[jobert]

Originally Posted by eepstein

For those of you who choose to move to South Austin, you WILL be sitting in horrible traffic for decades to come.

Get it straight - If you actually lived in "South Austin" you wouldn't need a car because you would be between 0-4 miles from downtown. You must be talking about the far south/sw suburbs. For a little context, it takes me 20-25 minutes in bad traffic to get downtown (8 minutes without) and I live a stone's throw from the southern boundary of Austin. I wouldn't trade places with you, if that's what you're wondering.