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Originally Posted by JManc
That's an understatement. Traffic there is awful as it is. Tack on another million or so and it will be unlivable. 35 is a total fucking nightmare on a good day.
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Yep. The thing is, people here always just say build more roads. I mean, in Austin's case that's a fair argument since we only have two core north/south highways - I-35 and Mopac, though, Mopac isn't an interregional highway. It really only serves Austin, so it's not a viable alternative if you're driving from say Dallas to San Antonio and want to avoid Austin. There is SH-130 now, but hardly anyone uses it for nearly the same reason. It's mostly seen as a Austin region highway, and few people outside of the metro use it to get through Austin even though it's 130 miles long and spans Austin's metro to the northern part of San Antonio's. Widening I-35 through Austin has already been done in places where it needed it, but adding more isn't going to solve problems. We really need rail options. We already have metro rail, but it doesn't go west or south of downtown. Austin did vote for a huge transportation package that would include light rail and even a subway through part of downtown, but as with everything transportation here it's going to take forever. Austinites are also notorious for complaining about traffic while not being receptive to ways to deal with it. I'm really amazed that the transportation package passed. I think what helped it was being put forth in the 2020 election, which no doubt got out the progressive vote in Austin.
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Originally Posted by llamaorama
I think we are already at the point where for the vast majority of people, moving to Austin actually means moving to Buda or Jarrell. Do those places sound cool to anyone?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasPlaya
Austin hasn't kept it weird for sometime... Austin is finally expanding eastwards as the pressure to be close to "hip" and wooded hills has tipped.
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The suburbs are soul sucking, though. Of course, I wouldn't exactly want to live in a high rise either. To me, there isn't much difference between being in a box on the first floor among a bunch of other boxes in the suburbs or in one 30 floors up among a bunch of other boxes. Granted, it's what's around you that makes that better. That's where the suburbs fail and cities shine.