AUSTIN | Transportation Updates
There's a lot of talk all over the forum on transportation issues in Austin. These conversations are spilling over in the city compilation threads and individual building threads and getting those threads off topic. Those threads are intended to be a compilation of updates to the skyscraper projects. A little discussion about transportation issues is fine, but they have a way of getting way out of hand and throwing the thread off topic.
So I've posted this thread which we can use to talk about transportation in Austin. These can be updates to highway projects or new ones and rail projects. And we can even use it to talk about transportation that is attached to certain projects such as the Seaholm project. Please keep the discussion on topic and keep it civil. No name calling is allowed. This is not a place to argue. Please do discuss and debate, but no arguing. The posts below were moved to this thread out of the 'Austin - Seaholm site prep work has started' thread since it was getting that thread way off topic from the subject of Seaholm. |
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Cap Metro "designed" this line with Mike Krusee; the city of Austin had nothing to do with it (and, in fact, are similarly skeptical of their claims of choice commuters loving shuttle-bus transfers).
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Well, if planners really want a street car system, than creating an environment that demands it would necessitate that goal...
It's very interesting to watch all of this unfold! |
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Back to the question of a shifting downtown. Good question. I "think" it will balance out in the long run. Don't forget there is a great deal of new ( and planned) development on the east end as well. Joining the Milago soon will be the Shore, Legacy, Hotel Van Zandt, 21c, Red River Lofts, The Orsay, 5th and Sabine conversion, Brazos Lofts conversion..... and that;s off the top of my head. I "think" that with so much going on the east edge of downtown and the growing population east of 35 that we will no longer have such a small "center" of downtown. It seems to be speading in all directions! I like the fact that different areas of the CBD actually have different feelings.....
thoughts? |
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Generalizations have their purpose - in this case, it's clear to me that the stuff on the east side of downtown is not going to be an attractor for commuter rail passengers from outside downtown (i.e. there's no offices and no major retail going in there). Seaholm might end up being that kind of attractor (more retail and some office?) but the rail doesn't go anywhere near it, as noted. Those differences are, in fact, worth talking about rather than just getting vague and insisting that it's all one place even though you'd never walk from A to B on a daily basis.
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Yes, if you're willing to walk more than 1/4 mile per day to/from a transit stop, you are an anomaly and, frankly, irrelevant to the discussion about how to get choice commuters to ride the thing. I used to walk from my condo in Clarksville downtown (even to Red River for shows), but I was under no illusion that the typical person would ever do so.
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It's not that far to Seaholm from Congress. It's kinda like walking from the bus stop of Esther's Follies or something.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it's crazy to think people will walk if there is no parking. If there is parking, people won't take PT. I think that has more to do with ridership than distance to destination from the stop. |
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So has Cap Metro decided where this thing is going to terminate downtown? It seems to have been a moving target. Have there been recent discussions to bring it to Seaholm? In the spring, the planning commission meeting indicated Austin Electric would go up for sale and discussions indicated that the Austin Electric land could be used to provide the proper turning radius. |
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If you're willing to walk that far to take rail transit, you could just walk a much shorter distance and take an express bus (one-seat ride) that goes the same place today (Guadalupe/Lavaca stops for the 98x series express buses which go to the same suburban park-and-rides plus hit a few better spots like the Arboretum). Here's a hint: if you don't, you're (in aggregate) not going to take the "walk 1.5 miles to rail stop" option either, because the 1.5 mile walk takes long enough that it's basically the same trip length as the bus would have been, if not longer (same goes for the shuttlebus, which would entail a wait and then a slow, stuck-in-traffic, bus ride to the Convention Center). Wishful thinking can't override transit research from all over the friggin' country. |
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