What were they thinking? (Houston, San Antonio: new construction, safe, rail)

[shoe01]

1. Why did Austin/Travis Co. etc. forsake state freeway funding in the 1980's when it was exploding?

2. Why did Houston not protest when a certain congressman blocked federal rail funds for Harris County?

There are more of these, feel free to contribute/answer.

[case44]

Well, shoe, I can partially answer number 1 for you. It's a safe bet that a large portion of people in Austin did everything they could to stop freeway construction, and there were numerous plans on the drawing board that dated back to the 1960s, some of which got cancelled along the way. The new construction was needed and was inevitable that they get built whichever way possible. And the result? Gridlock on I-35 between Round Rock and South Austin. Only now are we seeing the infrastructure going in, with pending expansion or reconstruction of MoPac and I-35. They've got to play catch-up now with the development already in place in most locations.

[coog78]

Originally Posted by shoe01

1. Why did Austin/Travis Co. etc. forsake state freeway funding in the 1980's when it was exploding?

2. Why did Houston not protest when a certain congressman blocked federal rail funds for Harris County?

There are more of these, feel free to contribute/answer.

Houston did protest Tom DeLay rather vigorously. His lobbyist friends, corrupt accomplices and his brainwashed minions were too much to overcome however. It is one thing to contend with a regular congressman, yet quite diificult to deal with one that is the Majority Leader in the House.

Houston's mass transit, already horrible, was set back decades by the baffoon.

[Poltracker]

Originally Posted by coog78

Houston did protest Tom DeLay rather vigorously. His lobbyist friends, corrupt accomplices and his brainwashed minions were too much to overcome however. It is one thing to contend with a regular congressman, yet quite diificult to deal with one that is the Majority Leader in the House.

Houston's mass transit, already horrible, was set back decades by the baffoon.

Coog is of one opinion, I am of another on the rail funds. There were many folks in the community who also protested. DeLay did not do it on his own. Point was that Metro rearranged the proposed route of the rail line expansion to a location (Richmond) that was not at all what folks had voted for and agreed to. Many more folks and businesses were going to be completely disrupted by this alternate path. Not to mention the possible damage to one of the main city water conduits just below this new proposed route from the stray electrical voltage and construction issues. I don't really think it would have been such a problem if they had stuck to the Westpark route like originally proposed. I hate when the public votes on a specific thing and politicians take that as a blank check to rearrange it however they want even though that is NOT what the public approved.

[shoe01]

Thanks. I had only read a brief article on the Houston matter and didn't know that there were protests. Last I heard there was rail in the city but it paled in comparison to what it could be.

At least the Katy Freeway is finished.

If some other cities (like San Antonio with 281 next to Stone Oak) could get the ball rolling on transportation, that would be nice (jmo).