1604 Traffic on the West Side (San Antonio, Paris: sales, apartment, HOA)

[ryneone]

Originally Posted by nrlatsha

You're right and obviously well liked around here to say the least, your contributions have been great, and well received by all.

The Texas highway man does have alot of information he gathered, and put it into a great site on the internet, but that doesn't mean he's an authority. Some of his information is dated, and sources inside the department disagree with the "facts" he's posts.

I'm not going to turn the thread into a bash highwayman thread, because that's not what it should be, but it should just be known that he isn't the authority for highway issues around here, and if you agree with what he says blindly, without followup or investigation of your own, well, it's on you. Self proclaimed experts are usually just self-absorbed.

Easy way to find out true information is to ask txdot themselves.

Are you sure? You have been doing a lot of it.

[nrlatsha]

Originally Posted by ryneone

Are you sure? You have been doing a lot of it.

Only responding to other points about him being the authority around here. I'm just saying he's the most versed, but not the authority.

[svg210]

Originally Posted by wellguy

BRAVO majormadmax and ryneone !

dvlpr -Do you care to retract any of the comments you've made about all of us Suburban Dwellers? We're not crying , just pointing out that TXDOT Screwed Up and wasted the allocated funds. If you can't see that then please stay outside of Loop 1604. I don't want your car to overheat in the heavy traffic. If it does you can always call Rick Perry's "Tow N Go"

as I have always stated M2 for Governor!!!

[svg210]

Originally Posted by rd2007

and stop wasting funds on artsy fartsy crap. Most of us could care less about that garbage and almost all of us drive on the streets and highways. Stop appealing to a couple of loud-mouthed whiners and actually listen to the people for a change. oh yeah, get rid of the corruption too..

I wouldnt say theres lots of corruption in the TX government Laziness is another thing. I used to deliver to the state building's and the secretaries come in at 8 then gossip for an hour, They I flirted for another hour so, they would get to work at 11 only for a few minutes, then go to luch, for two hours, come back at 2 to get ready to leave at 3 LOL (just a scenario in which 25 percent it true LOL)

[vankai]

Originally Posted by wellguy

The boom out here although fast did not take place overnight.*The State saw this coming and the proof is how HWY 151 was built. To build it there had to be enough data that people would travel it. That's why the service roads came first and they existed for years as growth occured. Money was allocated and plans were drawn up for overpasses on 1604, then POOF it went elsewhere. The State failed in their attempt to make the strech of 1604 from Braun to HWY 90 continuous.

Toll Roads for TXDOT have been on the table as a solution since the mid 90's, if not before. The mistake could have been reallocating the funds, for the stretch and plans you speak of, since the new plan was for outsourcing the construction via tollroad ownership.

The State did know, and probably expected the 1604 toll road would be in place by now, but may have failed to foresee the issues that have been in place in the courtroom.

Throw in the housing boom, the ease of access to mortgages and developers scrambling to buy lots of land to keep up with the housing demand, and it seems this stretch of 1604 is a casualty of the perfect storm.

Unfortunatly, the situation favors TXDOT as they have many excuses they can hide behind, while a few try and divert the cause of the problem to the alleged fools who travel 1604, the same ones who made a lot of developers rich.

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by vankai

the alleged fools who travel 1604, the same ones who made a lot of developers rich.

Somehow, we only ever hear about the first part, not the second. NEVER the second.


Great post.

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by nrlatsha

Only responding to other points about him being the authority around here. I'm just saying he's the most versed, but not the authority.

He's the "most versed" but he's not "the authority"?

Huh.

I didn't say the guy was infallible. I said (and I stand by this) that, on this message board, the guy knows more about TXDOT-related issues than anyone else.

I still can't figure out what your particular problem is with the guy...you should really try adding something substantive to the debate instead of trying to disqualify people...

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by wellguy

rd2007- I'm sorry that I read into the "artsy" comment that you made earlier.

dvlpr-I'll take ownership of my previous comment and assumption. You know in life it is okay to admit you are sometimes wrong. I'll take ownership of the comment amd to answer your question NO I won't retract it.

We can live wherever and with that we have every right to complain or voice opinions. As we all know with complaining and speaking out about problems can come solutions. When we moved out here in 1999 traffic was tolerable and to me it still is but that comment is made today when school is out for summer. I will feel much different in 2 weeks. I'm thankful that I have several options when I drive to work at 281N and Mulberry. I'll adapt as I have for several years by leaving earlier for work.

The boom out here although fast did not take place overnight.*The State saw this coming and the proof is how HWY 151 was built. To build it there had to be enough data that people would travel it. That's why the service roads came first and they existed for years as growth occured. Money was allocated and plans were drawn up for overpasses on 1604, then POOF it went elsewhere. The State failed in their attempt to make the strech of 1604 from Braun to HWY 90 continuous.

By the way money spent will come back many times over. As you know with improvements come dollars spent and with dollars spent comes tons of money in the form of taxes.

My "retraction" comment should have been accompanied by one of these - . I was just kidding. And I'm certain I've said things on this board that I wish I could take back. I'm a big proponent of civil disagreement.

The 151 example is an interesting one (by the way, most of the frontage roads for 151 were constructed by private owners, not TXDOT). I know that many suburbanites fully expect that "someone" is going to solve their traffic problem by building the next 151, or 1604. But I really don't think that's going to happen.

From 1960-today, 151 was more-or-less how we built our cities. The public constructed "free" highways and roads, making the surrounding rural land more accessible to the "old" center city (by auto). Developers filled the surrounding landscape with inexpensive new subdivisions (and shopping centers, etc). These subdivisions were filled (quickly) by people who got a heckuva good bargain - cheap housing, more "greenspace", and better public schools.

But this good bargain for suburban dwellers was heavily subsidized by the rest of us. It required huge public monies for the construction (and, ultimately, maintenance) of ever-more highways (and, ultimately, "major thoroughfares"). And when the existing highways (and intersections) became choked with traffic, our solution was......to build more freeways.

Today, though, building highways is a much more expensive endeavor (for a number of reasons). And we (that is, the state, county, and city) simply don't have the money to continue to construct highways in the manner that many suburbanites have grown accustomed. You're just not going to see highways built like we've been building them over the last 40 years.

I think this entire debate is a perfect example of how the old "heckuva good bargain" of suburbia really comes at quite a cost (mostly horrible traffic). And suburban residents shouldn't look to the rest of us to make financial sacrifices to further subsidize their choices. That's my point.

It doesn't mean you're bad people, or that I'm arrogant. It's just reality.

I don't know what your commute is like. But coming from that part of town to Mulberry-281 is a pretty substantial drive. I'm sincerely curious: how bad would your commute have to get before you might move closer to where you work? Is it a school district issue (which I know is often the defining criteria for many families)?

I know we probably won't agree on this. But I hope you can see that my involvement in this debate is really motivated by a desire to build better, more sustainable neighborhoods.

[dvlpr]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Somehow, we only ever hear about the first part, not the second. NEVER the second.


Great post.

Great point. There are a number of developers (and property owners) who have made obscene amounts of $$$ because we collectively decided to build this mega-expensive infrastructure for their benefit.

Of course, the single largest beneficiary of our suburban subsidies are the production homebuilders - publicly-traded companies like Horton, Centex, KB, Pulte, etc.

I wish people who purchase out in the burbs would understand this dynamic.

[nrlatsha]

Originally Posted by dvlpr

He's the "most versed" but he's not "the authority"?

How is "most-versed" vs "authority" hard to understand?

Let me google that for you
Let me google that for you

Your quote actually was:

Originally Posted by dvlpr

TexHwyMan is the definitive resource on TXDOT-related issues

I'm merely stating that TXDot is the authority. When presented with information given to me by TXDot, TXhighwayman disagreed with that information and continued to post his dated information. I'll leave it at that.

How bout we just put this under, "hear what you want to" and "opinions are like $$$$$".

On another note, I hear the city is considering spend some money cleaning up downtown.

Why? I don't use it, why should I have to pay for it? People can move out of there, they chose to live downtown.

Is that along the same lines as this argument?