Will Greater Houston stretch into Greater Austin or even San Antonio? (Dallas: new home, neighborhood)

[micmac99]

One of the reasons I came here to Houston is for the close proximity to Austin. The western suburbs of Houston are literally springing up like weeds. When the Grand Parkway is complete, anything west of that is not going to be rural for much longer.

It's hard enough to believe that my own Westchase neighborhood was open farm/ranching land in the 1960s. There are some very small sections of Westheimer near Highway 6 that look as if they were never developed from the original farmland, and whoever owns that land is just waiting for the right price, and a strip mall or a McDonalds (or a gated community of McMansions) will be in that spot in six months.

Does anyone foresee the growth in places like Fayette County and the far reaches of Fort Bend, Richmond, Rosenberg, et al, to get to the point where the Houston area, for all intents and purposes, extends into the Austin area, or even to the point of bedroom communities along Hwy 71 rising up to serve Houston, Austin AND San Antonio???

[tebor79]

A professor i once had said at the current rate of expansion, Houston and dallas would meet in under 200 years.

If that is true, Austin will probably meet sooner.

[SouthernBoy205]

All of that growth would be very scary.

[micmac99]

Originally Posted by tebor79

A professor i once had said at the current rate of expansion, Houston and dallas would meet in under 200 years.

If that is true, Austin will probably meet sooner.

Some of the southside suburbs of Dallas are becoming desirable locations for African Americans with a little money. Duncanville, DeSoto.

And is Houston expanding north of The Woodlands and Kingwood? What impact will ExxonMobil have in that regard?

Although I strongly feel metro Austin and metro Houston will become a megalopolis within 25 years, especially if Austin keeps growing eastward and Houston keeps growing westward. East Austin traditionally is the "hood" but my ex-wife and son live in a subdivision in Williamson County that was so new it took Google a couple years to include it in the street view. People keep talking about places like Manor as a hot new area for Austin to grow into.

I hope places like Brenham on the 290 corridor are preparing to explode with growth. I can easily see it being a bedroom city like Casa Grande, AZ, which has become a major suburb of both Phoenix AND Tucson being halfway between them on I-10. Tons of new homes and commercial development and the only thing that stopped it was the housing crash.

[JoninATX]

Thats a scary thought.

[marcopolo2000]

Higher gas prices will prevent this from ever happening; especially considering the fact that Houston lacks severly in the mass transportation department. Theres alot of room for growth inside the Loop and even more inside the Beltway. That should be the focus in my opinion.

[annie_himself]

Hopefully not. Just more sprawl.

[SouthernBoy205]

Next, people are going to be asking is Houston going to expand into Louisiana. LOL!

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

No.

Eventually Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio will reach a tipping point. They will go out to a certain point and then start filling in the center and the suburbs around it. Distance becomes too much at some point.

[SouthernBoy205]

How many miles do you think Houston will stop growing away from the center? 80 miles? 90 miles? 100+ miles?