Saw some more interesting news in the paper today, about how much money is rolling into central Texas for road projects. According to the article in the Statesman, the "Central Texas transportation planning board approved $56 million dollars for road projects. That amount includes almost $5 million for a new bridge for cyclists. It would be paid for by money out of TxDot's Proposistion 12 fund, borrowed dollars that by law are dedicated to highways".
Well, I'm glad cyclists are getting a new bridge, but $5 million? Is it gold plated? And why is it being paid for out of money that BY LAW IS DEDICATED TO HIGHWAYS? Last time I checked, a bicycle bridge is NOT a highway.
But wait, there's more (italics are mine):
"The decisions were occasioned by Central Texas receiving two infusions of transportation cash. The board had $78.7 million in federal metropolitan mobility funds, about $34 million more than normal, to apportion for the next three years. AND, TxDot, which got an ADDITIONAL $3 BILLION from the Legislature under Proposistion 12, alloted $47.6 million of that to Campo, along with ANOTHER $6 million. The area will get ANOTHER $91 million in Proposition 12 funds."
That's a lot of money. 78.7 million, 3 BILLION, plus ANOTHER $91 million. Total = $3,169,700,000.
Three BILLION, one hundred sixty-nine million, seven hundred thousand dollars. You've heard that old saying, "A Billion here, and Billion there, pretty soon you're talking about some real money." Well, there's more than 3 Billion, right there. Is that "real" enough for you?
You think maybe, just possibly, they could afford to build an overpass or two? Add a lane here and there?
It kills me when I hear "there's just no money to build any roads".
If they can spend almost $5 million to build a bicycle bridge, then they can certainly spend at least that much to construct an overpass to take Ben White/71 over Riverside Dr and alleviate the traffic backups that occur there on a daily basis. They could spent 100 times that - A HUNDRED TIMES THAT - in other words, $500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million dollars) to continue the 290/71 freeway west through Oak Hill and alleviate the bottleneck that has existed there for decades, and still have BILLIONS of dollars left over.
We NEED the roads. We HAVE the money.
BUILD the damn roads, already.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Interesting news today....
Both of the articles below are from the Austin American Statesman website:
"For the second consecutive year, the Austin area ranked No. 3 nationally in traffic congestion, ahead of Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, according to a study to be released today by Texas A&M University researchers.
In 2010, the year studied in the report, the Austin area had a "travel time index" of 1.28 , meaning that a rush-hour trip takes 28 percent longer on average than one in free-flowing traffic. That puts the area behind only metropolitan Los Angeles, at 1.38, and the Washington area, with an index of 1.33, and tied with New York City and the San Francisco Bay area.
Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, with 1.27 and 1.23, respectively, have more acceptable traffic by that single measure from the Texas Transportation Institute, which is on the Texas A&M campus.
But Austin's 2010 congestion index remains at its 2007 level and down from a peak of 1.32 in 2005. Institute research engineer Tim Lomax, who initiated the mobility study as a Texas A&M graduate student in 1982 and has been one of its authors ever since, said the 70 miles of tollways that have opened in Austin's suburbs since late 2006 have had something to do with the change.
"But probably the biggest thing we've seen is the economy," Lomax said. "It's a serious drag on everything, and traffic congestion is certainly affected by the economy."
The study, which looked at traffic in more than 400 American cities, shows a similar depressive effect on road congestion nationwide. The overall travel time index, which was 1.25 in 2005, is now at 1.20 . Lomax and the other authors of the 51-page study warn that when economic numbers rise, so will traffic congestion, absent aggressive construction of road and rail projects and other traffic mitigation efforts.
"We recommend a balanced and diversified approach to reduce congestion — one that focuses on more of everything," the report said.
Austin, as in previous reports, fares better nationally on other congestion measures in the report.
The authors calculated a "commuter stress index" that looks only at the rush hour delay percentage in the main direction of travel (northbound on Interstate 35 from South Austin and Hays County in the morning, for instance, and southbound in the afternoon) and thus has higher numbers than the travel time index.
Austin's stress index for 2010 is 1.38 , putting it at eighth in the country. Houston traffic has a stress index of 1.40 , according to the report.
Austin's congestion cost, a measure that includes lost productivity and excess fuel from time spent idling in traffic, ranks 28th nationally, and the annual delay per commuter of 38 hours (about nine minutes per weekday) puts Austin at 15th .
Austin's congestion is heavily influenced by the presence of I-35 and all the cross-country traffic that flows through Austin on it, Lomax said.
San Antonio, by contrast, fared much better with a travel time index of 1.18 , which ranked 26th nationally , and a commuter stress index of 1.27 , which ranked 28th nationally .
"The couple of decades that (Austin) spent not building roads hoping people would not come, San Antonio spent that time building roads," he said. "They expanded I-10 and 410. They've got more ways through town."
Hello! That's exactly what I've been saying - Austin has WASTED the past few decades, refusing to build the roads needed, but hundreds of thousands of people moved here anyway. Now we're stuck with the results of them not doing anything - hours wasted every day sitting in traffic.
Now, this is some interesting news:
"Hays County commissioners, looking to get the endlessly delayed Texas 45 Southwest road built after more than 20 years of planning, voted unanimously Tuesday to put
$5 million into what would be a county road rather than a state highway.
The Commissioners Court called upon Travis County commissioners to join them as a financial partner in building a two- to three-lane , non-tolled version of Texas 45 Southwest linking FM 1626 to the south end of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1). Travis County, which would home to virtually all of the three-mile route, would have to come up with the balance of the estimated $22 million construction cost.
The highway, as currently envisioned on Central Texas' long-range transportation plan, would be a four-lane divided tollway built and operated by the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT, under this scenario, would have to transfer back to Travis and Hays counties right of way bought by the two counties.
TxDOT Austin district engineer Carlos Lopez, who said he supports building Texas 45 Southwest in some form, did not foresee TxDOT standing in the way of a local effort to build a more modest version.
But transferring right of way would appear to be the least of the significant hurdles for this latest effort. Travis County commissioners last year voted 3-1 to take Texas 45 Southwest out of a long-range regional transportation plan. The court's opposition was based primarily on the environmental concerns related to the project since its inception in the 1980s. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization brushed aside the county's official wishes and kept the proposed road alive.
Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe cast that lone vote on the Commissioners Court to sustain the tollway plan last year, and he supports the new, local-only plan as well, although he said $8 million from Hays County would make it an easier sell. Only the southern tip of the proposed road, where it would meet FM 1626 , is in Hays County.
Biscoe said there is $10 million to $12 million in "loose money" from other county transportation projects that came in under budget that could be directed to Texas 45 Southwest.
Travis County Commissioner Karen Huber , who represents Precinct 3 where the road would be located, was behind the move to take it out of the long-range plan last year. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
But Precinct 2 Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt , who voted with Huber last year on Texas 45 Southwest, said "there are still environmental and financial obstacles that translate to significant political obstacles. \u2026 I don't know where that loose money is."
Northern Hays County residents, who use FM 1626 to commute to Austin, and Shady Hollow residents in Travis County along Brodie Lane have long supported Texas 45 Southwest as a quick way to get to MoPac and relieve congestion on Brodie. The proposed tollway, however, faces a four- to five-year federal environmental study that was begun only recently, Lopez said. If the proposed road were taken off the state highway system and thus were built without federal money, the environmental review would be conducted by Travis County.
Steve Manila , Travis County's director of engineering and planning, said a county environmental review would take one to two years.
Hays County Commissioner Will Conley said he hopes Travis County's support is "strong because we've made not only a serious statement but attached a very large sum of money showing our dedication and commitment to moving this project forward."
Travis County has until Dec. 1 to respond to the Hays County offer, Conley said."
Hey, not a bad idea - if the Feds can't pull their heads out of their ass for years, tell 'em to get lost and build our own damn road. The stretch they're taking about would only run from the south end of Mopac over to 1626, but it really needs to extend all the way from I-35 to 290 west of Oak Hill - for now. After that's done, it can be extended to meet up with the south end of 620 at Hwy 71. (Hey, I think I mentioned that in my last post.)
"For the second consecutive year, the Austin area ranked No. 3 nationally in traffic congestion, ahead of Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, according to a study to be released today by Texas A&M University researchers.
In 2010, the year studied in the report, the Austin area had a "travel time index" of 1.28 , meaning that a rush-hour trip takes 28 percent longer on average than one in free-flowing traffic. That puts the area behind only metropolitan Los Angeles, at 1.38, and the Washington area, with an index of 1.33, and tied with New York City and the San Francisco Bay area.
Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, with 1.27 and 1.23, respectively, have more acceptable traffic by that single measure from the Texas Transportation Institute, which is on the Texas A&M campus.
But Austin's 2010 congestion index remains at its 2007 level and down from a peak of 1.32 in 2005. Institute research engineer Tim Lomax, who initiated the mobility study as a Texas A&M graduate student in 1982 and has been one of its authors ever since, said the 70 miles of tollways that have opened in Austin's suburbs since late 2006 have had something to do with the change.
"But probably the biggest thing we've seen is the economy," Lomax said. "It's a serious drag on everything, and traffic congestion is certainly affected by the economy."
The study, which looked at traffic in more than 400 American cities, shows a similar depressive effect on road congestion nationwide. The overall travel time index, which was 1.25 in 2005, is now at 1.20 . Lomax and the other authors of the 51-page study warn that when economic numbers rise, so will traffic congestion, absent aggressive construction of road and rail projects and other traffic mitigation efforts.
"We recommend a balanced and diversified approach to reduce congestion — one that focuses on more of everything," the report said.
Austin, as in previous reports, fares better nationally on other congestion measures in the report.
The authors calculated a "commuter stress index" that looks only at the rush hour delay percentage in the main direction of travel (northbound on Interstate 35 from South Austin and Hays County in the morning, for instance, and southbound in the afternoon) and thus has higher numbers than the travel time index.
Austin's stress index for 2010 is 1.38 , putting it at eighth in the country. Houston traffic has a stress index of 1.40 , according to the report.
Austin's congestion cost, a measure that includes lost productivity and excess fuel from time spent idling in traffic, ranks 28th nationally, and the annual delay per commuter of 38 hours (about nine minutes per weekday) puts Austin at 15th .
Austin's congestion is heavily influenced by the presence of I-35 and all the cross-country traffic that flows through Austin on it, Lomax said.
San Antonio, by contrast, fared much better with a travel time index of 1.18 , which ranked 26th nationally , and a commuter stress index of 1.27 , which ranked 28th nationally .
"The couple of decades that (Austin) spent not building roads hoping people would not come, San Antonio spent that time building roads," he said. "They expanded I-10 and 410. They've got more ways through town."
Hello! That's exactly what I've been saying - Austin has WASTED the past few decades, refusing to build the roads needed, but hundreds of thousands of people moved here anyway. Now we're stuck with the results of them not doing anything - hours wasted every day sitting in traffic.
Now, this is some interesting news:
"Hays County commissioners, looking to get the endlessly delayed Texas 45 Southwest road built after more than 20 years of planning, voted unanimously Tuesday to put
$5 million into what would be a county road rather than a state highway.
The Commissioners Court called upon Travis County commissioners to join them as a financial partner in building a two- to three-lane , non-tolled version of Texas 45 Southwest linking FM 1626 to the south end of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1). Travis County, which would home to virtually all of the three-mile route, would have to come up with the balance of the estimated $22 million construction cost.
The highway, as currently envisioned on Central Texas' long-range transportation plan, would be a four-lane divided tollway built and operated by the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT, under this scenario, would have to transfer back to Travis and Hays counties right of way bought by the two counties.
TxDOT Austin district engineer Carlos Lopez, who said he supports building Texas 45 Southwest in some form, did not foresee TxDOT standing in the way of a local effort to build a more modest version.
But transferring right of way would appear to be the least of the significant hurdles for this latest effort. Travis County commissioners last year voted 3-1 to take Texas 45 Southwest out of a long-range regional transportation plan. The court's opposition was based primarily on the environmental concerns related to the project since its inception in the 1980s. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization brushed aside the county's official wishes and kept the proposed road alive.
Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe cast that lone vote on the Commissioners Court to sustain the tollway plan last year, and he supports the new, local-only plan as well, although he said $8 million from Hays County would make it an easier sell. Only the southern tip of the proposed road, where it would meet FM 1626 , is in Hays County.
Biscoe said there is $10 million to $12 million in "loose money" from other county transportation projects that came in under budget that could be directed to Texas 45 Southwest.
Travis County Commissioner Karen Huber , who represents Precinct 3 where the road would be located, was behind the move to take it out of the long-range plan last year. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
But Precinct 2 Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt , who voted with Huber last year on Texas 45 Southwest, said "there are still environmental and financial obstacles that translate to significant political obstacles. \u2026 I don't know where that loose money is."
Northern Hays County residents, who use FM 1626 to commute to Austin, and Shady Hollow residents in Travis County along Brodie Lane have long supported Texas 45 Southwest as a quick way to get to MoPac and relieve congestion on Brodie. The proposed tollway, however, faces a four- to five-year federal environmental study that was begun only recently, Lopez said. If the proposed road were taken off the state highway system and thus were built without federal money, the environmental review would be conducted by Travis County.
Steve Manila , Travis County's director of engineering and planning, said a county environmental review would take one to two years.
Hays County Commissioner Will Conley said he hopes Travis County's support is "strong because we've made not only a serious statement but attached a very large sum of money showing our dedication and commitment to moving this project forward."
Travis County has until Dec. 1 to respond to the Hays County offer, Conley said."
Hey, not a bad idea - if the Feds can't pull their heads out of their ass for years, tell 'em to get lost and build our own damn road. The stretch they're taking about would only run from the south end of Mopac over to 1626, but it really needs to extend all the way from I-35 to 290 west of Oak Hill - for now. After that's done, it can be extended to meet up with the south end of 620 at Hwy 71. (Hey, I think I mentioned that in my last post.)
Friday, September 23, 2011
Loop the loop....
Let's talk about loops. Or, rather, the lack of loops. Austin has a lot of loops - in name only, though. Let's list some "loops":
Loop 1 - aka MoPac...is not a "loop".
Loop 360 - aka Capital of Texas Highway...is not a "loop".
Loop 275 - is not only not a "loop", it's not even a single road. It's TWO separate sections of pavement seperated by several miles, on each end of town. From Wikipedia:
"As currently configured, Loop 275 consists of two non-connected segments. The 6.0-mile (9.7 km) northern segment starts at an interchange at US 183, just west of Interstate 35. It proceeds north along Lamar Boulevard, passing FM 734, before terminating at the southbound frontage road of Interstate 35, just south of Howard Lane (Exit #246).
The 3.2-mile (5.1 km) southern segment starts at an intersection with Slaughter Lane just west of Interstate 35 (Exit #226B/227). It proceeds north along South Congress Avenue to its terminus at Williamson Creek south of US 290."
So, we've got a lot of loops - that aren't really loops. Obviously, they were probably meant to be at one time (why else would they be called "Loops"?), but they never made it that far. Too bad - we could use a Loop. Or two.
Hey, I've got an idea. What if there was a real, live, traffic Loop around Austin? What if there were TWO? We could call them - oh, I dunno, maybe "Inner" and "Outer" Loops, just to confuse people. Can't see it? OK, here's a map:
I borrowed CTRMA's "Planned Expressways" map, and modified it a little. I'm sure they won't mind.
Anyway, take a close look at it and you'll begin to see the ghostly image of an "inner" loop around Austin - Ben White/290/71 to the south, 183 (oh, sorry, the "Bergstrom Expressway", pardon me) to the east, 183/Research Blvd. to the north, and "Loop" 360 to the west. Now, Ben White across the south end of town and 183 across the north end are great - nice, wide, smooth, fast, LIMITED ACCESS freeways. Somebody dropped the ball on 183 on the east side and "Loop" 360 on the west, because there are numerous intersections and stoplights, some just a few miles apart, some even closer than that.
Now, what about an "outer" Loop? OK, on the east side, there's SH130 (Toll Road). On the north, SH 45 (Toll Road). To the west, there's 620 (which only goes as far south as Hwy 71, and is most decidedly NOT a freeway - way too many damn stoplights.) On the south side, this is where things get interesting - or would, if anything gets built. From SH130 (Toll Road) over the I-35, there's another little section of Toll Road - SH 45 again. OK so far - but it doesn't go far enough. That's where I modified the map a little - see the kinda squiggly red line from I-35 curving roughly northwest past 1626, connecting up with the extreme southern end of Mopac, following it over to 1826, then continuing on to 290 west of Oak Hill, and onwards, up to Hwy 71 where it meets the south end of 620. Notice that CTRMA has a very small portion of this planned to be the "Manchaca Expressway" - yep, another Toll Road.
Man, how awesome would that be? Think of it - a way for traffic to get AROUND Austin, instead of having to go through it. Hell, just the section I put in red would take a TON of traffic out of the hopelessly congested, bottlenecked intersection at the "Y" in Oak Hill - traffic coming in from the Dripping Springs area on 290 could go north towards the lake, or southeast towards I-35 (or even hop on Mopac to head into town).
Loop 1 - aka MoPac...is not a "loop".
Loop 360 - aka Capital of Texas Highway...is not a "loop".
Loop 275 - is not only not a "loop", it's not even a single road. It's TWO separate sections of pavement seperated by several miles, on each end of town. From Wikipedia:
"As currently configured, Loop 275 consists of two non-connected segments. The 6.0-mile (9.7 km) northern segment starts at an interchange at US 183, just west of Interstate 35. It proceeds north along Lamar Boulevard, passing FM 734, before terminating at the southbound frontage road of Interstate 35, just south of Howard Lane (Exit #246).
The 3.2-mile (5.1 km) southern segment starts at an intersection with Slaughter Lane just west of Interstate 35 (Exit #226B/227). It proceeds north along South Congress Avenue to its terminus at Williamson Creek south of US 290."
So, we've got a lot of loops - that aren't really loops. Obviously, they were probably meant to be at one time (why else would they be called "Loops"?), but they never made it that far. Too bad - we could use a Loop. Or two.
Hey, I've got an idea. What if there was a real, live, traffic Loop around Austin? What if there were TWO? We could call them - oh, I dunno, maybe "Inner" and "Outer" Loops, just to confuse people. Can't see it? OK, here's a map:
I borrowed CTRMA's "Planned Expressways" map, and modified it a little. I'm sure they won't mind.
Anyway, take a close look at it and you'll begin to see the ghostly image of an "inner" loop around Austin - Ben White/290/71 to the south, 183 (oh, sorry, the "Bergstrom Expressway", pardon me) to the east, 183/Research Blvd. to the north, and "Loop" 360 to the west. Now, Ben White across the south end of town and 183 across the north end are great - nice, wide, smooth, fast, LIMITED ACCESS freeways. Somebody dropped the ball on 183 on the east side and "Loop" 360 on the west, because there are numerous intersections and stoplights, some just a few miles apart, some even closer than that.
Now, what about an "outer" Loop? OK, on the east side, there's SH130 (Toll Road). On the north, SH 45 (Toll Road). To the west, there's 620 (which only goes as far south as Hwy 71, and is most decidedly NOT a freeway - way too many damn stoplights.) On the south side, this is where things get interesting - or would, if anything gets built. From SH130 (Toll Road) over the I-35, there's another little section of Toll Road - SH 45 again. OK so far - but it doesn't go far enough. That's where I modified the map a little - see the kinda squiggly red line from I-35 curving roughly northwest past 1626, connecting up with the extreme southern end of Mopac, following it over to 1826, then continuing on to 290 west of Oak Hill, and onwards, up to Hwy 71 where it meets the south end of 620. Notice that CTRMA has a very small portion of this planned to be the "Manchaca Expressway" - yep, another Toll Road.
Man, how awesome would that be? Think of it - a way for traffic to get AROUND Austin, instead of having to go through it. Hell, just the section I put in red would take a TON of traffic out of the hopelessly congested, bottlenecked intersection at the "Y" in Oak Hill - traffic coming in from the Dripping Springs area on 290 could go north towards the lake, or southeast towards I-35 (or even hop on Mopac to head into town).
Monday, September 12, 2011
Fix these First.
Not ALL of the roads around Austin are bad, and the roads that ARE bad aren't always bad everywhere - it's usually just a few bad spots that manage to screw up traffic - sometimes for miles, sometimes in both directions. Maybe it's an intersection that backs up every day, maybe it's a stretch of freeway that's affected by an entrance or exit ramp that gets much more traffic than it can handle, maybe it's just bad design - the point is, if these "hot spots" would be taken car of, there would be a noticeable improvement in traffic flow on the roads they affect, and if enough of them are fixed, traffic flow around the whole are would improve. There are quite a few of these "hot spots" around town, I'll list a few I know of and what needs to be done about them.
* Ben White/71 at Riverside *
Seriously - why the HELL hasn't an overpass been built there yet? Why wasn't one built YEARS ago? Ben White is a wonderful, wide, smooth, fast freeway all way across the south end of town, from just east of of Oak Hill (we'll get back to that in just a moment), past Mopac, past Lamar, past Congress, past I-35, past Montopolis...and then, just before Riverside, it stops. Traffic on Ben White regularly backs up at the red light at the Riverside intersection for MILES - in BOTH directions. What's even crazier is that just on the other side of Riverside, there's an overpass that takes Ben White over 183, and 2 more overpasses at the entrance to the airport. The only bad spot for miles is...Riverside.
BUILD A DAMN OVERPASS! Holy crap, a BLIND man can see it needs one there, and it's needed one for YEARS.
Put an overpass there, extend the Ben White freeway at least to the airport (preferably a few miles further east to the 130 toll road), and watch traffic FLOW!
* 290/71/Ben White at the "Y" in Oak Hill *
What a joke. Again, the geniuses built a nice, wide, smooth freeway out towards Oak Hill, and then just..quit. You're tooling along at 70 mph, come over a bridge, and have to slam on the brakes because of the traffic backed up for miles east of the "Y". The freeway throws traffic onto a skinny surface street with a TRAFFIC LIGHT for a side road! How stupid can you get? A few hundred yards west, everybody has to sit at the light at William Cannon, then another few hundred yards to the "Y" itself, where traffic has to sit through several cycles of the light just to get through the bottlenecked interesction.
The "Y" needs an interchange, and it needs it BAD. It's needed it for years - DECADES, even. I live in Oak Hill, been here for 20 years, attended night school for my degree at Southwest School of Electronics back in the mid-80's - even back then, the "Y" was a bottleneck. With all the growth out this way (mostly the large, upscale housing developments between Oak Hill and Dripping Springs), traffic has increased dramatically...but the roads haven't.
* Southbound Mopac, south of the river, Bee Caves entrance ramp *
I've already talked about this in detail in an earlier post, but it still needs mentioning - and it NEEDS TO BE CLOSED. Blocked off, dug up, planted over, forgotten about. Traffic on the southbound frontage road can go through the light at Barton Skyway and use the nice, long, gentle entrance ramp and merge lane just on the other side, between Barton Skyway and the exit for 360/Barton Creek Mall.
Every single damn day, southbound traffic on Mopac comes to a screeching halt due to cars on the frontage road diving down that steep, short entrance ramp just before Barton Skyway, with no room to merge. It's a BAD design, it's a safety hazard, it's not even needed, and it should disappear. NOW.
* I-35 northbound frontage road, between 290 and St. John's. *
If you've got a death wish, this little stretch of road is made for you. You've got traffic coming north on the frontage road itself, traffic coming from 290 (east AND west), traffic coming around underneath I-35 making U-turns, and don't forget traffic exiting I-35 itself, flying down the exit ramp at 70+ mph. Throw in a couple of hotels, several restaurants, a side street or two, and, of course, the entrance ramp for northbound I-35 AND 183, and you've got a recipe for a constant stream of wrecks. Honestly, park in the Crowne Plaza parking lot facing west and watch - it's truly entertaining.
To fix that "hot spot", first there needs to be a flyover built for eastbound traffic on 290 to get onto I-35 northbound - that'll take a good portion of traffic out of that intersection and off the frontage road. Second, the St. John's exit ramp from I-35 down to the frontage road needs to be closed - every car coming down that ramp is traveling at 65-70 mph, they all think they have the right of way, and the vast majority of them try to force their way across all 3 lanes so they can pull into the parking lots of the few restaurants there. Third, the entrance ramp from the frontage road leading to northbound I-35 needs to be closed, or at least moved to the north side of St. John's - traffic using that ramp now conflicts with traffic on I-35 that's trying to get over to use the flyover for northbound 183. The entire area is a classic example of how NOT to design a stretch of road.
That's just a few - there are plenty of others. We'll tackle some more next time.
* Ben White/71 at Riverside *
Seriously - why the HELL hasn't an overpass been built there yet? Why wasn't one built YEARS ago? Ben White is a wonderful, wide, smooth, fast freeway all way across the south end of town, from just east of of Oak Hill (we'll get back to that in just a moment), past Mopac, past Lamar, past Congress, past I-35, past Montopolis...and then, just before Riverside, it stops. Traffic on Ben White regularly backs up at the red light at the Riverside intersection for MILES - in BOTH directions. What's even crazier is that just on the other side of Riverside, there's an overpass that takes Ben White over 183, and 2 more overpasses at the entrance to the airport. The only bad spot for miles is...Riverside.
BUILD A DAMN OVERPASS! Holy crap, a BLIND man can see it needs one there, and it's needed one for YEARS.
Put an overpass there, extend the Ben White freeway at least to the airport (preferably a few miles further east to the 130 toll road), and watch traffic FLOW!
* 290/71/Ben White at the "Y" in Oak Hill *
What a joke. Again, the geniuses built a nice, wide, smooth freeway out towards Oak Hill, and then just..quit. You're tooling along at 70 mph, come over a bridge, and have to slam on the brakes because of the traffic backed up for miles east of the "Y". The freeway throws traffic onto a skinny surface street with a TRAFFIC LIGHT for a side road! How stupid can you get? A few hundred yards west, everybody has to sit at the light at William Cannon, then another few hundred yards to the "Y" itself, where traffic has to sit through several cycles of the light just to get through the bottlenecked interesction.
The "Y" needs an interchange, and it needs it BAD. It's needed it for years - DECADES, even. I live in Oak Hill, been here for 20 years, attended night school for my degree at Southwest School of Electronics back in the mid-80's - even back then, the "Y" was a bottleneck. With all the growth out this way (mostly the large, upscale housing developments between Oak Hill and Dripping Springs), traffic has increased dramatically...but the roads haven't.
* Southbound Mopac, south of the river, Bee Caves entrance ramp *
I've already talked about this in detail in an earlier post, but it still needs mentioning - and it NEEDS TO BE CLOSED. Blocked off, dug up, planted over, forgotten about. Traffic on the southbound frontage road can go through the light at Barton Skyway and use the nice, long, gentle entrance ramp and merge lane just on the other side, between Barton Skyway and the exit for 360/Barton Creek Mall.
Every single damn day, southbound traffic on Mopac comes to a screeching halt due to cars on the frontage road diving down that steep, short entrance ramp just before Barton Skyway, with no room to merge. It's a BAD design, it's a safety hazard, it's not even needed, and it should disappear. NOW.
* I-35 northbound frontage road, between 290 and St. John's. *
If you've got a death wish, this little stretch of road is made for you. You've got traffic coming north on the frontage road itself, traffic coming from 290 (east AND west), traffic coming around underneath I-35 making U-turns, and don't forget traffic exiting I-35 itself, flying down the exit ramp at 70+ mph. Throw in a couple of hotels, several restaurants, a side street or two, and, of course, the entrance ramp for northbound I-35 AND 183, and you've got a recipe for a constant stream of wrecks. Honestly, park in the Crowne Plaza parking lot facing west and watch - it's truly entertaining.
To fix that "hot spot", first there needs to be a flyover built for eastbound traffic on 290 to get onto I-35 northbound - that'll take a good portion of traffic out of that intersection and off the frontage road. Second, the St. John's exit ramp from I-35 down to the frontage road needs to be closed - every car coming down that ramp is traveling at 65-70 mph, they all think they have the right of way, and the vast majority of them try to force their way across all 3 lanes so they can pull into the parking lots of the few restaurants there. Third, the entrance ramp from the frontage road leading to northbound I-35 needs to be closed, or at least moved to the north side of St. John's - traffic using that ramp now conflicts with traffic on I-35 that's trying to get over to use the flyover for northbound 183. The entire area is a classic example of how NOT to design a stretch of road.
That's just a few - there are plenty of others. We'll tackle some more next time.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Hold on to your wallets
Welcome to the new era of government - where it takes your tax money, throws it away, and then tells you to cough up some more.
"The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority". Quite a mouthfull, isn't it? And look, they're an "Authority" - heck, it says so, right there in the name. Ain't that nice? Here's their mission statement, right from their website:
"The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is an independent government agency created in 2002 to improve the transportation system in Williamson and Travis counties. Our mission is to implement innovative, multi-modal transportation solutions that reduce congestion and create transportation choices that enhance quality of life and economic vitality."
In other words, they've been appointed to find new and different ways to charge us taxpayers even MORE money just to get the roads we've ALREADY PAID FOR.
How? TOLL ROADS.
Now, toll roads, in and of themseleves, are not necessarily a bad thing. They can, in certain situations, provide a useful service. If a group of private investors decide to buy miles of right of way out in the sticks and spend lots of money to build a tollroad, and then charge drivers a reasonable fee to use that road, as an ALTERNATIVE to existing taxpayer funded roads and highways, that's fine.
BUT, that's not what's happening, here and now. The CTRMA has taken it upon themselves to decide that tollroads are the ONLY answer to our transportation woes - they want to make sure that ANY new highway construction in the Austin area is TOLL ROAD construction, and so far they've pretty much succeeded. They call them "expressways", note the distinction from "FREEways".
Texas 130? Toll road.
183A? Toll road.
The Mopac "extension"? Toll road.
Texas 45? Toll road.
How about the new "Manor Expressway? Toll road.
"Bergstrom Expressway"? Toll road.
"Manchaca Expressway"? Tol road.
Possible Mopac "improvements"? Toll road.
"Oak Hill Expressway"? Toll road.
Hey, don't take my word for it, here's their own map:
Yep, EVERY single area where new roads or improvements to existing roads are needed, the CTRMA has decided that it HAS to be a toll road, or it won't get built. To make things worse, they're spending money building roads that aren't even needed yet, and ignoring hotspots that have needed relief for DECADES.
Take, for example, the "Manor Expressway". Nice name, and it looks like it's going to be nice road, all the way from US 183 all the way out to Texas 130. Problem is, it's not really NEEDED yet. Sure, at some point in the future, there MIGHT be enough traffic out that way to need an expressway, but not NOW. Trust me, I have driven in that part of town just about every day, morning, noon, and evening, and there's NEVER a miles-long backup of traffic in that area that other parts of town suffer through EVERY DAMN DAY.
Same thing with Texas 130, specifically the new section that's being built along the US183 right of way from Mustang Ridge down past Lockhart - it's' impressive and all, but damn, I've driven that stretch of 183 for decades, at all times of the day, and there's just never been that much traffic on it. Certainly not anywhere NEAR enough to require a huge, massive, 100 yard-wide MAJOR expressway contruction to take place.
Now, CTRMA and some other people may say that for those areas, they're just "planning for future", and that's fine...but there are plenty of other places around Austin that need roads NOW. That have needed roads for YEARS, and still nothing has been done to rectify the situation.
Try this: Drive west on 290/71 towards Oak Hill any midafternoon. See what happens when you get just west of Mopac...a solid traffic jam due to the freeway ending right before McCarty Ln, and the idiotic traffic light there. At this point, all the traffic is squeezed down to 2 surface lanes in each direction, another light at William Cannon, and another light at at the "Y", where 290 and 71 split off and go on their merry ways.
Or, try this: Get on Mopac anywhere around the William Cannon/290/71 area on weekday morning, and head north. OK, TRY to head north - you won't get very far. It's a solid parking lot of cars as far as the eye can see. Same thing , southbound on weekday afternoons - parking lot.
Those are just 2 examples of traffic that I have lots of personal experience with - there are plenty more, at different locations all over town. WHY is CTRMA spending money to build expressways in places where they're not needed yet, and ignoring all the other places where they ARE so desperately needed? WHY does everything have to be a toll road, in their opinion? WHERE is all of our tax dollars being pissed away, and WHY is not being used to BUILD SOME ROADS THAT WE NEED?
"The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority". Quite a mouthfull, isn't it? And look, they're an "Authority" - heck, it says so, right there in the name. Ain't that nice? Here's their mission statement, right from their website:
"The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is an independent government agency created in 2002 to improve the transportation system in Williamson and Travis counties. Our mission is to implement innovative, multi-modal transportation solutions that reduce congestion and create transportation choices that enhance quality of life and economic vitality."
In other words, they've been appointed to find new and different ways to charge us taxpayers even MORE money just to get the roads we've ALREADY PAID FOR.
How? TOLL ROADS.
Now, toll roads, in and of themseleves, are not necessarily a bad thing. They can, in certain situations, provide a useful service. If a group of private investors decide to buy miles of right of way out in the sticks and spend lots of money to build a tollroad, and then charge drivers a reasonable fee to use that road, as an ALTERNATIVE to existing taxpayer funded roads and highways, that's fine.
BUT, that's not what's happening, here and now. The CTRMA has taken it upon themselves to decide that tollroads are the ONLY answer to our transportation woes - they want to make sure that ANY new highway construction in the Austin area is TOLL ROAD construction, and so far they've pretty much succeeded. They call them "expressways", note the distinction from "FREEways".
Texas 130? Toll road.
183A? Toll road.
The Mopac "extension"? Toll road.
Texas 45? Toll road.
How about the new "Manor Expressway? Toll road.
"Bergstrom Expressway"? Toll road.
"Manchaca Expressway"? Tol road.
Possible Mopac "improvements"? Toll road.
"Oak Hill Expressway"? Toll road.
Hey, don't take my word for it, here's their own map:
Yep, EVERY single area where new roads or improvements to existing roads are needed, the CTRMA has decided that it HAS to be a toll road, or it won't get built. To make things worse, they're spending money building roads that aren't even needed yet, and ignoring hotspots that have needed relief for DECADES.
Take, for example, the "Manor Expressway". Nice name, and it looks like it's going to be nice road, all the way from US 183 all the way out to Texas 130. Problem is, it's not really NEEDED yet. Sure, at some point in the future, there MIGHT be enough traffic out that way to need an expressway, but not NOW. Trust me, I have driven in that part of town just about every day, morning, noon, and evening, and there's NEVER a miles-long backup of traffic in that area that other parts of town suffer through EVERY DAMN DAY.
Same thing with Texas 130, specifically the new section that's being built along the US183 right of way from Mustang Ridge down past Lockhart - it's' impressive and all, but damn, I've driven that stretch of 183 for decades, at all times of the day, and there's just never been that much traffic on it. Certainly not anywhere NEAR enough to require a huge, massive, 100 yard-wide MAJOR expressway contruction to take place.
Now, CTRMA and some other people may say that for those areas, they're just "planning for future", and that's fine...but there are plenty of other places around Austin that need roads NOW. That have needed roads for YEARS, and still nothing has been done to rectify the situation.
Try this: Drive west on 290/71 towards Oak Hill any midafternoon. See what happens when you get just west of Mopac...a solid traffic jam due to the freeway ending right before McCarty Ln, and the idiotic traffic light there. At this point, all the traffic is squeezed down to 2 surface lanes in each direction, another light at William Cannon, and another light at at the "Y", where 290 and 71 split off and go on their merry ways.
Or, try this: Get on Mopac anywhere around the William Cannon/290/71 area on weekday morning, and head north. OK, TRY to head north - you won't get very far. It's a solid parking lot of cars as far as the eye can see. Same thing , southbound on weekday afternoons - parking lot.
Those are just 2 examples of traffic that I have lots of personal experience with - there are plenty more, at different locations all over town. WHY is CTRMA spending money to build expressways in places where they're not needed yet, and ignoring all the other places where they ARE so desperately needed? WHY does everything have to be a toll road, in their opinion? WHERE is all of our tax dollars being pissed away, and WHY is not being used to BUILD SOME ROADS THAT WE NEED?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
What could have been...
Maybe you've noticed, as you drive around the Austin area, how it seems that some roads are a lot wider than others (Riverside Dr from I-35 down to 290 just west of 183):,
how some elevated, divided highways just..end, and suddenly become surface streets (290 East as it comes into town, goes under I-35 and over Airport Blvd, and then just dies out right at the railroad tracks and "becomes" Koening Ln):
and 290/71 as it enters Oak Hill and runs straight into a bunch of traffic lights). Why is this?
The answer?
Enviromental impact studies and clueless politicans.
WAYYYYYY back in the early 1960's, there were ambitious plans for an extensive network of freeways in and around the Austin area. Here's a map:
They had crosstown freeways going east/west just north AND south of downtown, a freeway running north/south roughly paralell to Lamar, and a connector running from it at 35th street over to a freeway west of town (which WAS built - we know it as Mopac).
Speaking of Mopac, this is what it might have looked like as it crosses the river, looking north:
A little overkill at the time, maybe, but damn, all those roads would sure move some traffic if they exisited today. However, all these great plans were killed by enviromentalists and idiot City Councils over the years, even as newer, better plans were brought up.
Don't believe me, go here:
http://www.texasfreeway.com/austin/historic/freeway_planning_maps/freeway_planning_maps.shtml
Spend some time at that site (it's where I linked the above photos from), and see what could have been...and why it isn't.
Austin has always been growing, and will continue to do so. Austin NEEDS MORE ROADS. We need to make a few changes to the roads we've already got to help traffic flow better. There have always been plans to improve the network of roads around Austin, but a few greedy, small-minded idiots have always managed to throw a wrench into the works every chance they get.
Now, yet another opponent to freeway construction has come upon the scene....TOLLWAYS. Yes, that's right, why should TxDot bother to use the billions of dollars we taxpayers cough up every year to actually build roads for us to use, when they can contract out the work to foreign investor owned companies to do so and then CHARGE us to drive on them? I don't know about you, but I don't mind paying a fair amount of taxes, as long as that money is used for things it should be used for. I DO get just a little pissed off (and you should, too) when my tax dollars are pissed away and I'm told they only way any new roads will be built is if they're TOLL roads that I'll have to pay yet AGAIN just to drive on to get where I need to go.
Details in my next post.
The answer?
Enviromental impact studies and clueless politicans.
WAYYYYYY back in the early 1960's, there were ambitious plans for an extensive network of freeways in and around the Austin area. Here's a map:
Speaking of Mopac, this is what it might have looked like as it crosses the river, looking north:
Don't believe me, go here:
http://www.texasfreeway.com/austin/historic/freeway_planning_maps/freeway_planning_maps.shtml
Spend some time at that site (it's where I linked the above photos from), and see what could have been...and why it isn't.
Austin has always been growing, and will continue to do so. Austin NEEDS MORE ROADS. We need to make a few changes to the roads we've already got to help traffic flow better. There have always been plans to improve the network of roads around Austin, but a few greedy, small-minded idiots have always managed to throw a wrench into the works every chance they get.
Now, yet another opponent to freeway construction has come upon the scene....TOLLWAYS. Yes, that's right, why should TxDot bother to use the billions of dollars we taxpayers cough up every year to actually build roads for us to use, when they can contract out the work to foreign investor owned companies to do so and then CHARGE us to drive on them? I don't know about you, but I don't mind paying a fair amount of taxes, as long as that money is used for things it should be used for. I DO get just a little pissed off (and you should, too) when my tax dollars are pissed away and I'm told they only way any new roads will be built is if they're TOLL roads that I'll have to pay yet AGAIN just to drive on to get where I need to go.
Details in my next post.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Fix this damn traffic.
Is anyone else besides me fed up with this ridiculous Austin traffic? Why can't we get across town without sitting and staring at an unending stream of brake lights? I-35 is a joke. MoPac is a parking lot, Lamar is jammed up at 5th and 6th Street constantly. The 130 toll road is an alternative, BUT - it's a TOLL road, and it's several miles out of the way, with more traffic lights to sit through just to get to it.
We pay millions and millions of dollars in taxes, where is it being wasted? Why isn't it being used to BUILD MORE ROADS?
Mopac was designed and built to be a cross-town EXPRESSWAY, these days it's more like a long, skinny parking lot. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the entrance and exit ramps, allowing more and more cars onto a road that's already packed beyond capacity. Pay attention next time you're on it, notice where the traffic jams occur - at the entrance ramps. The cars trying to get on Mopac force their way into the right lane, the cars already IN the right lane either have to slam on the brakes or move over into the center lane, which causes the cars already in the center lane to have to hit the brakes or move into the left lane, which causes, you guessed it, the cars in the left lane to have to hit the brakes. Wonderful - just because a few drivers want to barge onto a road that's already full of traffic, it screws up the ENTIRE ROAD, all 3 lanes of it.
Southbound Mopac just south of the river is a perfect example of this - the entrance ramp right before Barton Skyway dumps traffic from Bee Caves Rd into the right lane of Mopac with no room for traffic to merge. WHY? There's a perfectly good entrance ramp just on the other side of Barton Skyway with a nice, long lane to get up to speed and hundreds and hundreds of feet for them to merge. The short, steep entrance ramp just north of Barton Skyway need to be CLOSED. Shut down. TxDot needs to get a couple of Jersey Barriers, place them across the entrance ramp, dig up the pavement, throw some dirt and grass where it used to be, and call it good. The traffic on the frontage road can go through the light at Barton Skyway and use the entrance ramp just on the other side.
I-35 - it's such a joke, I don't know where to start. There's so much traffic on it, from long-haul trucks coming and going to Mexico and the rest of the U.S., commuters using it to get across town, people using it to get to and from downtown streets - it's hopeless. TxDot needs to decide what it's going to used for - local access to and from downtown, or Interstate traffic - one or the other. It CAN'T handle both. What they really should to is require all traffic that is going THROUGH Austin to bypass it and use the Texas 130 instead, and let only traffic that's going downtown to use that section of I-35.
183, on the east side of town, would be a viable alternative, but the lack of just a few overpasses make it a frustrating failure. It's a nice, wide, fast freeway all the way across the north end of town, but once you get south of Springdale Rd, it turns back into a pumpkin, with stoplights at Loyola, 51st, TechniCenter, etc. It tries to become a freeway again down by the Airport Blvd intersection, but it's like TxDot got a great idea, got about halfway done, and just......quit. There are bridge columns standing up in the air, but no bridge. The southbound lanes have to squeeze down to ONE LANE to squeak underneath Montopolis, and then there's more red lights at Vargas and Thompson, then at last traffic makes it to the antiquated interchange at Ben White.
Speaking of Ben White, why the HELL isn't there an ovepass at Riverside yet? Just like 183 up north, Ben White is a nice, wide, fast freeway all the way across south Austin, but at Riverside, it just.....quits. Traffic backs up for MILES just because of the the light at Riverside. Over on the west side, Ben White/290/71 is a nice, wide, fast freeway, until you almost make it into Oak Hill, and then it just.....stops. In a monumental example of traffic planning screwups, it goes from 3 lanes, to 2 lanes, and then...BAM. A nice little traffic light at McCarty Ln, which isn't even a cross street. The backed up traffic through the Y in Oak Hill extends for miles east and west, EVERY DAMN DAY.
Who designs this crap? Do the people who make descisions about what roads to improve even DRIVE in Austin? Are they BLIND? All you have to do is open your eyes and SEE where the problems are, how to fix the trouble spots is relatively easy...WHY AREN'T THEY DOING ANYTHING?
We pay millions and millions of dollars in taxes, where is it being wasted? Why isn't it being used to BUILD MORE ROADS?
Mopac was designed and built to be a cross-town EXPRESSWAY, these days it's more like a long, skinny parking lot. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the entrance and exit ramps, allowing more and more cars onto a road that's already packed beyond capacity. Pay attention next time you're on it, notice where the traffic jams occur - at the entrance ramps. The cars trying to get on Mopac force their way into the right lane, the cars already IN the right lane either have to slam on the brakes or move over into the center lane, which causes the cars already in the center lane to have to hit the brakes or move into the left lane, which causes, you guessed it, the cars in the left lane to have to hit the brakes. Wonderful - just because a few drivers want to barge onto a road that's already full of traffic, it screws up the ENTIRE ROAD, all 3 lanes of it.
Southbound Mopac just south of the river is a perfect example of this - the entrance ramp right before Barton Skyway dumps traffic from Bee Caves Rd into the right lane of Mopac with no room for traffic to merge. WHY? There's a perfectly good entrance ramp just on the other side of Barton Skyway with a nice, long lane to get up to speed and hundreds and hundreds of feet for them to merge. The short, steep entrance ramp just north of Barton Skyway need to be CLOSED. Shut down. TxDot needs to get a couple of Jersey Barriers, place them across the entrance ramp, dig up the pavement, throw some dirt and grass where it used to be, and call it good. The traffic on the frontage road can go through the light at Barton Skyway and use the entrance ramp just on the other side.
I-35 - it's such a joke, I don't know where to start. There's so much traffic on it, from long-haul trucks coming and going to Mexico and the rest of the U.S., commuters using it to get across town, people using it to get to and from downtown streets - it's hopeless. TxDot needs to decide what it's going to used for - local access to and from downtown, or Interstate traffic - one or the other. It CAN'T handle both. What they really should to is require all traffic that is going THROUGH Austin to bypass it and use the Texas 130 instead, and let only traffic that's going downtown to use that section of I-35.
183, on the east side of town, would be a viable alternative, but the lack of just a few overpasses make it a frustrating failure. It's a nice, wide, fast freeway all the way across the north end of town, but once you get south of Springdale Rd, it turns back into a pumpkin, with stoplights at Loyola, 51st, TechniCenter, etc. It tries to become a freeway again down by the Airport Blvd intersection, but it's like TxDot got a great idea, got about halfway done, and just......quit. There are bridge columns standing up in the air, but no bridge. The southbound lanes have to squeeze down to ONE LANE to squeak underneath Montopolis, and then there's more red lights at Vargas and Thompson, then at last traffic makes it to the antiquated interchange at Ben White.
Speaking of Ben White, why the HELL isn't there an ovepass at Riverside yet? Just like 183 up north, Ben White is a nice, wide, fast freeway all the way across south Austin, but at Riverside, it just.....quits. Traffic backs up for MILES just because of the the light at Riverside. Over on the west side, Ben White/290/71 is a nice, wide, fast freeway, until you almost make it into Oak Hill, and then it just.....stops. In a monumental example of traffic planning screwups, it goes from 3 lanes, to 2 lanes, and then...BAM. A nice little traffic light at McCarty Ln, which isn't even a cross street. The backed up traffic through the Y in Oak Hill extends for miles east and west, EVERY DAMN DAY.
Who designs this crap? Do the people who make descisions about what roads to improve even DRIVE in Austin? Are they BLIND? All you have to do is open your eyes and SEE where the problems are, how to fix the trouble spots is relatively easy...WHY AREN'T THEY DOING ANYTHING?
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