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Originally Posted by kornbread
So transportation was the topic of the Austin-San Antonio growth summit. I don't really see the big deal about mayor Taylor bringing up air travel. They are talking about 2050. It's pretty clear that San Antonio needs to have some plans in place to address air travel from the city after that. Now whether Austin would be interested in a future project or not doesn't really matter. If so, they can discuss regional use; if not, then they won't. I can't imagine that the distance is going to be a stopping point in 35 years.
But it does bring up a good point. Right now there is little cooperation between the cities. Does there really need to be? In Austin, I don't get that there is much interest based on comments in these forums and just from what I generally hear in conversations on the street. The rail is an expensive proposal and I could see using it once in awhile as a person with SA ties, but I'm just as happy and comfortable driving. It probably benefits the smaller cities in between more than the cities themselves since they deal with commutes in the area more often or always.
So, I'm just interested in hearing why people think they should spend the time and energy on Lone Star rail, or any regional discussions anyway? If the cities are not close enough to be considered a region what is the benefit?
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China is building all kinds of infrastructure, including lots and lots of rail. This is very relevant because they're thinking and planning long term. So what if they go through a few years of recession (which they might). They'll come out of it in a very good place because they've been building with the long term in mind.
You may be happy driving in and around San Antonio now. But you won't in 35 years. I lived in San Antonio 35 years ago and traffic is much worse now. In another 35 years it will be exponentially worse.
San Antonio and Austin will most likely be one big metro area by then and having rail based transit between the two, as well as around the whole region, will be key in getting around.
Every large city goes through its primary years of growth, reaches a crisis point, and then starts planning better public/rail transportation. Dallas and Houston have reached that point and they've started doing something about it. San Antonio and Austin would be wise to make it happen sooner rather than later.