San Antonio & Austin METRO? (Houston, Dallas: homes, buying, airports)

[imaterry78259]

Originally Posted by preppydude04

I really don't understand why people don't believe that SA & Austin growing together/becoming a CSA is possible. Where do y'all live? I am from SA, born & raised, but I'm going to school at Texas State in San Marcos & I often commute back & forth to SA since I go home often. Likewise I often go to 6th street in ATX to party & to Wimberly, the Hill Country, etc. I have been doing this since 2009 & trust me SA & ATX are growing together. SA & New Braunfels (along with Shertz, Cibilo, Live Oak, Universal City, Garden Ridge, Seguin, Lockhart & all in between) are already one/attached/continuous development. Same thing with San Marcos, Kyle, Buda & ATX. The only little piece of "open/non-continuous development" of land is between New Braunfels & San Marcos & that only like 10 minutes of car driving. If the horrid traffic doesn't show that, then I don't what does. Texas State in SM alone already has 32,000 students & is expected to continue growing. Likewise SA & ATX for various reasons continue to grow & consistently rank in the top as fastest growing cities. So yeah, SA & ATX are obviously farther apart than DFW & it maybe another 10 years or so (def not 50 or 100) but being that I've driven down & up I-35, oh I don't know, say about 50-75 times in the last 2 years, I'd say take my word for it, they're growing together.

I agree, there is no reason why the two cities cannot be together. I believe from Bulverde you can et to Austin in about 45 minutes. SA is slowly becoming a mega powerhouse and will become the fastest growing major city in Texas

[Tarheelhombre]

I think they will become a CSA sometime in the not too distant future.

[chud]

Originally Posted by bgrn198

They are looking into a Austin/San Antonio commuter rail i'm shure it will be several years before it's done though

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Austin to San Antonio commuter rail plans back on track | kvue.com | Austin, Texas News | KVUE | Austin, TX | Breaking News

Bah. They've been talking about commuter rail between Austin and S.A. since I was a kid, and it's never happened. And it's only going to get more difficult to accomplish as time goes on. Pipe dream.


Regarding Austin and San Antonio merging into one big metro area, I might have believed it possible back in the boom times of the 80's and 90's, but now that we're in this recession/depression, I don't see it happening. Even though things are looking up a bit, we are going to be in a slow burn for the next 15 years at least...basically, we are Japan (economically speaking).

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by Lucidus

I don't think so.

When Austin was planning to build a new airport, the FAA recommended that Austin and San Antonio build a shared airport halfway between the two cities. The people from Austin were like "what and drive halfway to San Antonio, no way man!" That doesn't sound like Austin has strong cultural ties to San Antonio, which is part of the definition of an MSA. But there are other reasons, like what Htownlove said.

Austin seems to look down on SA. Austin's a nice town with a great university and state gov and some high tech jobs. Definately doesnt feel like a city to me and I dont value party central near DT which seems to be a big claim to fame among some. San Antonio doesnt feel like a large city either but appeals to me more with Riverwalk and West side hill country.

I believe Austin and SA will become a connected area but with this Austin centric attitude it will take longer than it should or would with a pro attitude to this change.

[chud]

Originally Posted by Johnhw2

Definately doesnt feel like a city to me and I dont value party central near DT which seems to be a big claim to fame among some. San Antonio doesnt feel like a large city either but appeals to me more with Riverwalk and West side hill country.

Agreed. I have lived in both cities, and prefer San Antonio. Less pretentious, and more to offer.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by Tarheelhombre

I think they will become a CSA sometime in the not too distant future.

even csa is unlikely and the more these cities develop the more unlikely it becomes.

Joining msa's depends on people living in one metro working in another. for CSA the level is 15%. that may sound like a small number to you, but 15% amounts to almost 200k for san antonio. No matter how close the suburbs are to each other 200,000 is a lot of people to drive to Austin to work.

and remember metros are not joined by the burbs. This is between Travis County and Bexar county. The workers need to leave Travis and work in Bexar or leave Bexar and work in Travis. The burbs running into each other are irrelevant. the commuter rates are to the very core of the metro not to the edge. If it was the edge places like San Francisco and Sam Jose would be one metro, Baltimore and DC would be one metro etc.

neither SA or Austin has a large enough employment base to pull enough workers to join the MSA's

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

even csa is unlikely and the more these cities develop the more unlikely it becomes.

Joining msa's depends on people living in one metro working in another. for CSA the level is 15%. that may sound like a small number to you, but 15% amounts to almost 200k for san antonio. No matter how close the suburbs are to each other 200,000 is a lot of people to drive to Austin to work.

and remember metros are not joined by the burbs. This is between Travis County and Bexar county. The workers need to leave Travis and work in Bexar or leave Bexar and work in Travis. The burbs running into each other are irrelevant. the commuter rates are to the very core of the metro not to the edge. If it was the edge places like San Francisco and Sam Jose would be one metro, Baltimore and DC would be one metro etc.

neither SA or Austin has a large enough employment base to pull enough workers to join the MSA's

If one of the counties in between were made into a central county then it would only need to be 15% or 25% (for MSA I believe) for them to join. Keep in mind I know diddly squat about SA and Austin and what's in between.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

If one of the counties in between were made into a central county then it would only need to be 15% or 25% (for MSA I believe) for them to join. Keep in mind I know diddly squat about SA and Austin and what's in between.

The development economically around these central cities are not like around DFW or Houston where you have huge employment centers in Fort Bend, Montgomery County, etc, Before you leave Bexar on the north west side you are already in the Hill Country. The connection they are talking about in this thread are strings of small (quite lovely) German towns. Not powerful economic centers like Plano, Mesquite, The Woodlands or Sugar land.

so yes, the commuter rates would be to that county if that county was made a central county but its almost impossible for economic growth to spill out into these counties to cause them to develop into a central county. Austin may get another central county but it most probably will be to the north of Travis, and thus away from SA.

It is more likely that Austin will join with Killeen and Temple via Georgetown (Williamson County) that it is to join with SA. Between Austin and SA is Hays and Comal counties, and I don' see these two ever becoming core counties. They will forever be a buffer between the two cities. well a buffer is a harsh word. maybe a gateway is better

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

The development economically around these central cities are not like around DFW or Houston where you have huge employment centers in Fort Bend, Montgomery County, etc, Before you leave Bexar on the north west side you are already in the Hill Country. The connection they are talking about in this thread are strings of small (quite lovely) German towns. Not powerful economic centers like Plano, Mesquite, The Woodlands or Sugar land.

so yes, the commuter rates would be to that county if that county was made a central county but its almost impossible for economic growth to spill out into these counties to cause them to develop into a central county. Austin may get another central county but it most probably will be to the north of Travis, and thus away from SA.

It is more likely that Austin will join with Killeen and Temple via Georgetown (Williamson County) that it is to join with SA. Between Austin and SA is Hays and Comal counties, and I don' see these two ever becoming core counties. They will forever be a buffer between the two cities. well a buffer is a harsh word. maybe a gateway is better

Oh I see. I thought it was more similar to Houston with jobs and residents spread all over. But now I remember majority of metro SA is in SA. I don't think it would work now.

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Oh I see. I thought it was more similar to Houston with jobs and residents spread all over. But now I remember majority of metro SA is in SA. I don't think it would work now.

Yeah the biggest counties around SA are Guadeloupe and Comal with about 100K each. There are no large counties suburban counties such as Fort Bend, Brazoria, Montgomery, Collin, Denton, etc.

In perspective, there are as many people around Sugarland, Pearland The Woodlands as there are in the entire county of Comal or Guadelope.

More perspective. The County of Comal is about exactly the size of the city of Houston. You think the City of Houston is empty looking can you imagine it with 2M people less???

The biggest city in Comal is New Braunfils. Love that place. In the last 10 years it has grown from a town of about 35K to about 70K now. It is losing a lot of its character and would indeed be unrecognizable if Comal became a central county.

The density would have to spike to 1000 ppsm which would mean 400,000 more people spread across the area There goes the Charm of the hill country if SA and Austin developed enough to combine.

Anyway, I don't think Texas has the might to allow enough industry into the state to allow these areas to grow that much. Not even California was able to. The economy in SA is not great enough that business campuses are spring in up in adjacent counties like they are in DFW or Houston. The jobs there are largely tourist related or services.