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).