AUSTIN | Projects & Construction III

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Austin has SH-130, a toll road that runs from Seguin, Texas, 80 miles north through East Austin to Georgetown. The problem is, the trucks choose not to use it. Just short of banning trucks from I-35, there's no way to encourage them to use it. For one thing, it's a toll road and there's nothing motivating them to choose to pay to use it, and it's kind of in the middle of nowhere, though, in true Texas style, it's being developed. I agree, though, the trucks are bad. We drove I-35 last night from north of downtown to our house in South Austin, and with some construction going on, it was down to a crawl. I counted 97 18 wheelers on both sides of I-35 from just south of downtown to our exit in South Austin. That was in the span of maybe 20 minutes.

I lived in San Antonio and traveled to Arkansas about every month. I used 130 one time, and that was just for the novelty of driving 89 with cops passing me. Its route is horrible for avoiding Austin traffic heading to SA. It veers south on its southern portion instead of continuing west towards SA.

According to ole Google, if I leave at 8am today, a trip from DT SA to DT Austin would take:

1 hour 20 mins-1 hour 50 mins I-35
1 hour 30 min- 2 hours 10 min 130

If I expand the trip from DT SA to downtown Temple, the roads are almost identical in time.

Why would anyone on Earth looking at those economics(time and money) and pick the toll route? Its intentions are not the current realities. It now has just become a route for sprawl on the eastside , which hey, isn't a bad deal seeing that its vastly underdeveloped compared to the other sides of Austin.

[Dariusb]

At it's worst how bad has traffic on I-35 gotten during rush hour through Austin. I'm in the Temple/Belton area. I-35 can be a little congested but nothing like down there.

[dc_denizen]

They should ban noisy trucks — the property values would increase (further) in that whole red river/ East Austin area north of 6th.

No need for a major north south export import thoroughfare should go through central Austin (anymore)

Anyhow was there recently, Austin is looking great u guys should be proud

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

They should ban noisy trucks — the property values would increase (further) in that whole red river/ East Austin area north of 6th.

No need for a major north south export import thoroughfare should go through central Austin (anymore)

Anyhow was there recently, Austin is looking great u guys should be proud

Ban trucks on an extremely important international highway route? Where should this traffic go?

[KevinFromTexas]

Engine brakes are already banned. I agree about the trucks. I-35 is a blessing and a curse. The trucks aren't fun, and Austin tends to get blamed for the traffic on I-35, even though it's the state that maintains it (TxDot). Not to mention a lot of the traffic on I-35 is just passing through.

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, Dripping Springs is being developed into cookie cutter neighborhoods. Traffic is gonna be fun out there. It's telling when every evening most of the traffic on I-35 is headed south (out of Austin) back to the suburbs.

[dc_denizen]

As I said, they should build a truck bypass and force trucks to use it

[llintner]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

As I said, they should build a truck bypass and force trucks to use it

I think most people forget those truck don't all just drive through Austin. Many are delivering goods TO Austin. How many trucks a day does it take for just one grocery store, much less all of them? How about Amazon? How about every other industry in this fast growing town?

[H2O]

It isn't new information - but maybe surprising to some. It was stated at the ULI presentation this morning that 70% of traffic on I-35 is local.

Hazardous goods are already not allowed on I-35. TxDOT / CTRMA has experimented with lowering tolls on 130 to lure truck traffic with some limited success. Construction on I-35 will probably convince trhough trucks to use 183 or 130, but a lot of trucks are going to points in between those roads connections to I-35.

[dc_denizen]

Or do you think the city be more accommodating to trucks? Maybe they should tear down those new midrises in East Austin and build a couple of truck stops and truck weigh stations in downtown Austin since trucks are so all important

“A truck stop instead of st peters
Yeah yeah yeah yeah ...”

[jtown,man]

The problem is where would you put the bypass? If I was playing Simcity this would be easy, I would fix 130 and make it free. But that probably ain't gonna happen. So dealing with current realities, the idea of transferring truck traffic(or the majority of it) is about zero.

[KevinFromTexas]

We have enough buildings proposed now to give us 115 buildings over 200 feet. That doesn't sound too exciting, but the year I was born, we had a whopping 9 buildings in that bracket with two more under construction. We also had a whopping 51 high rises back then, compared to almost 250 now.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n....html?ana=kxan

37 towers in the works for downtown Austin
Will all of them rise? Time will tell

By Erin Edgemon – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal
5 hours ago

If you needed further evidence of Austin's boomtown status, there are now at least 37 towers proposed for or rising downtown.

A whopping 3.7 million of the 10 million square feet of office space under construction in the metro is happening downtown, according to CoStar Group Inc. — and there are more offices on the drawing board. And condos. And apartments. And hotels. Plus a courthouse.

[clubtokyo]

Boomtown for sure! Go Austin!

[KevinFromTexas]

It's crazy to think that we have more high rises under construction and proposed now than the total number Austin had the year I was born. We're basically adding the number that Corpus Christi and El Paso have combined, and that includes every single building over 115 feet of theirs.

[clubtokyo]

Wow that is crazy to think about! Austin’s growth is phenomenal.

[Dariusb]

What I love so much about what's happening in Austin is that most of the highrises being built are downtown instead of spread across the city in multiple highrise districts. I know some may disagree but I think Austin's downtown is shaping up to be the liveliest and most heavily populated of Texas' major cities.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

What I love so much about what's happening in Austin is that most of the highrises being built are downtown instead of spread across the city in multiple highrise districts. I know some may disagree but I think Austin's downtown is shaping up to be the liveliest and most heavily populated of Texas' major cities.

I think that is indisputable. San Antonio is pretty lively at River Walk level, but the street level is comparatively quiet. Downtown Dallas and Houston are quite sleepy in comparison to Austin.

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

What I love so much about what's happening in Austin is that most of the highrises being built are downtown instead of spread across the city in multiple highrise districts. I know some may disagree but I think Austin's downtown is shaping up to be the liveliest and most heavily populated of Texas' major cities.

Totally agree!!

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

What I love so much about what's happening in Austin is that most of the highrises being built are downtown instead of spread across the city in multiple highrise districts. I know some may disagree but I think Austin's downtown is shaping up to be the liveliest and most heavily populated of Texas' major cities.

It for sure is!

[427MM]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

What I love so much about what's happening in Austin is that most of the highrises being built are downtown instead of spread across the city in multiple highrise districts. I know some may disagree but I think Austin's downtown is shaping up to be the liveliest and most heavily populated of Texas' major cities.

YesX1,000!! The lack of urbanity-killing interstates crisscrossing is the secret ingredient. We're so lucky to have missed that bullet though motor-heads may disagree. The walkability is magnificent and should only get better as we allow more housing and commercial development.

Build up not out!