Should I fall in "Lubbock"? (Austin, Abilene: hotel, homes)

[Westerner92]

Indeed doctorjef, those must be long gone as I have no idea what you're talking about. I think the area you're talking about has been turned into the Rawls Golf Course. Tech still owns about a square mile or two just inside the North Loop that is used for the ag department and environmental studies (or something to that effect). It's weird seeing large fields surrounded by several-story apartment complexes and neighborhoods.

[doctorjef]

The crop field was just west of the law school, occupying the sort of triangular piece of land wedged between 19th Street. and what we used to refer to as either Tech Freeway (a very short freeway) or 4th St. Cut-off. I just realised that I misspoke earlier and said University Ave. when I meant 19th St. I'm less able to recall precisely where the livestock yards and barns were, though I drove past them constantly and when I was a teacher's asst. with Head Start we took the children for a tour of the barns, where I recall seeing some extremely clean pigs! By the same token, there was a big piece of undeveloped land along the east side of Quaker from a little north of 19th Street all the way to 4th Street, and I would think that is surely gone by now. For a long time all the development seemed to occur on the southwest end of town, with little change on the north/northwest side.

[Fraghawk]

I would perfer Amarillo over Lubbock, because Amarillo has I-40 and is 4 hours away from OKC and Albaquerque, and 5 hours from DFW. Amarillo also has Pala Duro Canyon 15 mins south of town, and thats cool.
Plus, Amarillo is only 10,000 smaller than Lubbock, and thats going to change, as the Amarillo-Canyon metro is larger. (I Think?)

[juggler]

Originally Posted by Fraghawk

I would perfer Amarillo over Lubbock, because Amarillo has I-40 and is 4 hours away from OKC and Albaquerque, and 5 hours from DFW. Amarillo also has Pala Duro Canyon 15 mins south of town, and thats cool.
Plus, Amarillo is only 10,000 smaller than Lubbock, and thats going to change, as the Amarillo-Canyon metro is larger. (I Think?)

Whoa Fraghawk, you have quite a few factual errors in this post.

Amarillo is indeed about 4 hours from Albuquerque and OKC, but it is a minimum of 6 hours from DFW. Lubbock is actually closer to DFW, arguably a more important metro area than Albuquerque or OKC.
Population-wise, Lubbock is about 30,000 larger than Amarillo, both in terms of city population and metro population.
And... Lubbock has Texas Tech. Amarillo's answer to that is...???

[cobolt]

I lived in Amarillo for 13 years. It is a bit smaller than Lubbock. I think because of TT, Lubbock has a bigger variety of dining and entertainment options. That's not to say that Amarillo is lacking. It has an excellent symphony, opera, and little theatre among other things, and certainly has a great antique store selection. It's a bit more laid back, but housing is more expensive than Lubbock and wages in Lubbock are a tad bit higher. I like both, but I've lived in Amarillo so now it's time to get back to Lubbock. Besides, my family and friends are there.

[case44]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Of course, you've got a pretty limited number of nonstop, direct destinations by air from Lubbock. That's even true from Austin, however.

I can't imagine anyone other than some old grandma being afraid to drive in the Hub. The major streets are mega-wide, many with three lanes in each direction. To give credit where credit's due, Lubbock has long had great streets! I will always recall my parents coming down to Austin to visit me when I was in university and my dad being shocked by the narrow streets in Austin around the campus area -- after living in Lubbock for a few years he was having real trouble negotiating Austin's narrow little lanes.

Cross-posted with Cathy. Where was there a traffic circle in Lubbock? I can't remember that.

What separates Lubbock from many other Texas cities is that most of the side-street thoroughfares do not have a concrete median, but rather, a long turn/turnaround lane in the middle, giving the road(s) a five-lane/seven-lane feel. Now, there are a few exceptions where a concrete median was used, usually on some older streets (I know there's a portion of University Avenue and, maybe, 34th Street, among others), but most of the ones I've seen in Lubbock implement the turn lane. It can, however, be dangerous without the separation if people drive carelessly.

As for the traffic circle, from what I understand, it was in the area where Avenue Q, Avenue A, Slaton Highway, Tahoka Highway, and 66th all came together at one time, but was long since truncated due to Interstate 27's arrival in the city many years ago.

[kaykay]

Originally Posted by case44

As for the traffic circle, from what I understand, it was in the area where Avenue Q, Avenue A, Slaton Highway, Tahoka Highway, and 66th all came together at one time, but was long since truncated due to Interstate 27's arrival in the city many years ago.

Wow, it HAS been a long time, I guess, since I've been in Lubbock (as I posted earlier, born and raised there.) So the "circle" as we called it is long gone? It's probably a good thing. I do remember that supposedly there were quite a few traffic accidents occurring on "the circle" because people didn't really get the hang of it and merged in unsafely I suppose.

[doctorjef]

Speaking of things long ago and far away, does anyone here remember the student underground newspaper, The Catalyst? It was published in the early 1970s and was Lubbock's equivalent to Austin's The Rag, though a little less radical than the Rag was in its prime.

[Fraghawk]

Originally Posted by juggler

Whoa Fraghawk, you have quite a few factual errors in this post.

Amarillo is indeed about 4 hours from Albuquerque and OKC, but it is a minimum of 6 hours from DFW. Lubbock is actually closer to DFW, arguably a more important metro area than Albuquerque or OKC.
Population-wise, Lubbock is about 30,000 larger than Amarillo, both in terms of city population and metro population.
And... Lubbock has Texas Tech. Amarillo's answer to that is...???

Thanks for the corrections, and Amarillo,s answer to TT is WTAMU.

[doctorjef]

OK, it was still West Texas State University the last I ever knew. However, even if it's a part of the A&M system, I can't see how appending "A&M" to the rest of the name works well. I would have though University of West Texas a better name. You know the story on how Texas Tech University got that name when they changed from Texas Technological College? The thinking was that "technological" was too limiting a designation for a comprhensive university, and conversely the football supporters didn't want to change the double-T symbol; so they arrived at this name that involves a made-up and previously nonexistant word "Tech". Should have got the name Texas State University while they could , years before Southwest Texas State University snagged it for themselves. OTOH, I hate it when states have one school called "The University of..." and the other major institution called "...State University".