AUSTIN | Transportation Updates - Page 387

freerover · #**7721** Posted **May 28, 2021, 4:31 AM**

They’re going find a cavern up there.

Echostatic · #**7722** Posted **May 28, 2021, 5:20 AM**

This is going to take forever. I can't wait. This is real big-city stuff!

Novacek · #**7723** Posted **May 28, 2021, 11:43 AM**

Transit only through the drag. That’s big.
I know at one point they had floated the idea of putting cars in a tunnel there, but I don’t see that indicated on this diagram.

I’m not quite sure how pedestrian access to NLTC station is going to work. I’m guessing that yellow thing is some sort of bridge structure to get across the depressed lanes. But to get there do you still have to cross the frontage road at grade?

Austinsible · #**7724** Posted **May 28, 2021, 2:45 PM**

So orange sections sometimes means subway (downtown) and sometimes means elevated (everywhere else)?

freerover · #**7725** Posted **May 28, 2021, 3:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austinsible

So orange sections sometimes means subway (downtown) and sometimes means elevated (everywhere else)?

They are also doing a subway near Tech Ridge. Elevated will have yellow supports drawn in at regular intervals.

Novacek · #**7726** Posted **May 28, 2021, 3:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by freerover

They are also doing a subway near Tech Ridge. Elevated will have yellow supports drawn in at regular intervals.

I'm pretty sure that tech ridge section has always been planned to be elevated.

Where it starts (switches from blue to orange) it has a note "end retained fill section, begin aerial".

I think it's just less planned out (and isn't showing the support locations yet).

paul78701 · #**7727** Posted **May 28, 2021, 3:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novacek

Transit only through the drag. That’s big.
I know at one point they had floated the idea of putting cars in a tunnel there, but I don’t see that indicated on this diagram.

If it's transit only and there is no tunnel or whatnot, how could car traffic be routed around/through the Drag at all? I can't see any other real options to get that done.

Any way you slice it, this section of the line is going to present some interesting engineering issues.

Novacek · #**7728** Posted **May 28, 2021, 4:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul78701

If it's transit only and there is no tunnel or whatnot, how could car traffic be routed around/through the Drag at all? I can't see any other real options to get that done.

Any way you slice it, this section of the line is going to present some interesting engineering issues.

It looks like the design includes changes/improvements to Nueces/San Antonio (including the intersection of Nueces with Guadalupe). Also a short extension of Dean keaton to SA.

But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what pushback this proposal gets.

Sigaven · #**7729** Posted **May 28, 2021, 4:28 PM**

MNan i wish it would be all underground up to the north edge of campus

paul78701 · #**7730** Posted **May 28, 2021, 4:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novacek

It looks like the design includes changes/improvements to Nueces/San Antonio (including the intersection of Nueces with Guadalupe). Also a short extension of Dean keaton to SA.

But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what pushback this proposal gets.

Ah. I see now. I wasn't looking close enough.

paul78701 · #**7731** Posted **May 28, 2021, 4:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sigaven

MNan i wish it would be all underground up to the north edge of campus

That seems a lot more preferable, despite the added costs it would bring. I can't see this going over well as is. It's hard to see how car traffic doesn't become even more of a cluster through this area. Not that I care much about that, but there are a lot of people who will. It could help push people to take the train instead of trying to drive to/through there though.

H2O · #**7732** Posted **May 28, 2021, 5:06 PM**

Yeah, that is some pretty radical reconfiguration of the 29th / Guadalupe intersection area. I would also expect some push back on the utility of the 27th Street Station vs. sacrificing Dirty Martin's. But even without the station, it looks like the tracks would need to be aerial or underground to avoid that impact.

The ATX · #**7733** Posted **May 28, 2021, 5:37 PM**

Each line is being designed by different architecture/engineering firms which would explain the variation in colors used in the schematics. I added the legend to the first post in each series of posts I made.

Here is the Blue Line legend:

Here's the Orange Line:

ATX2030 · #**7734** Posted **May 28, 2021, 5:38 PM**

Hopefully they go subway for the drag. The city center should all be subway. I wasn't aware of tunnels south of the river. So the orange will be a tunnel under town lake while the blue line will be a bridge?

Novacek · #**7735** Posted **May 28, 2021, 6:10 PM**

There's tradeoffs for grade separating the tracks. Surface tracks/stations have some advantages in regards to accessibility, visibility.

Especially if you're not going to be able to do/or not planning the sort of placemaking they're doing for the downtown underground stations.

Maximusx1 · #**7736** Posted **May 28, 2021, 7:40 PM**

Well crap, I loved everything about this until they took out Dirty Martins Hamburgers. Now I'm against it. Poop on a stick!!!

The ATX · #**7737** Posted **May 28, 2021, 7:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maximusx1

Well crap, I loved everything about this until they took out Dirty Martins Hamburgers. Now I'm against it. Poop on a stick!!!

And that's how NIMBYs are born.

Maximusx1 · #**7738** Posted **May 28, 2021, 7:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The ATX

And that's how NIMBYs are born.

Hahahaha, very true, touche!

freerover · #**7739** Posted **May 28, 2021, 7:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The ATX

And that's how NIMBYs are born.

It'll be really funny if we see an uproar. The entire point of the 2014 plan was to build light rail where there was plenty of ROW and nothing around so you can build from scratch and everyone hated that.

The ATX · #**7740** Posted **May 28, 2021, 8:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by freerover

It'll be really funny if we see an uproar. The entire point of the 2014 plan was to build light rail where there was plenty of ROW and nothing around so you can build from scratch and everyone hated that.

Yeah, once the plans are officially made public, there will be a lot of upset people. I think the plans we have are for the ideal routes. The final plans are very much dependent on changes due to "neighborhood concerns" and local politics as well as updated cost projections.