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  #4321  
Old Posted May 9, 2015, 4:40 AM
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I drove from Round Rock to Buda on SH-130/SH-45 during rush hour today. It had been several months since I last drove it. I was surprised by how busy it is getting. There was a few miles long stretch around 290 and 973 where both sides of the highway had stop and go traffic. There was an even longer stretch that I couldn't drive any where near that 80 MPH speed limit because of the traffic volume.
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  #4322  
Old Posted May 10, 2015, 8:51 AM
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I drove from Round Rock to Buda on SH-130/SH-45 during rush hour today. It had been several months since I last drove it. I was surprised by how busy it is getting. There was a few miles long stretch around 290 and 973 where both sides of the highway had stop and go traffic. There was an even longer stretch that I couldn't drive any where near that 80 MPH speed limit because of the traffic volume.
The last time I was in the area (last summer or so), I was surprised at how much development was going in from 79 all the way to past the 45 connection, and then Manor probably contributes to it as well, though most of their development seemed a bit farther east, not right on the highway.
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  #4323  
Old Posted May 11, 2015, 1:30 AM
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Stop and go traffic already, yet toll revenue is lower than projected? So they built the freeway with immediate obsolescence as a necessary condition for making a profit. That's absolutely brilliant.
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  #4324  
Old Posted May 11, 2015, 2:20 AM
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Stop and go traffic already, yet toll revenue is lower than projected? So they built the freeway with immediate obsolescence as a necessary condition for making a profit. That's absolutely brilliant.
Without doing a Google, I believe the revenue is above projections. The privately built section south of Austin is the one not that's not living up to expectations.
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  #4325  
Old Posted May 11, 2015, 7:17 AM
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http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/polit...bill/27083037/

Well, not Austin, but complaint-worthy. Evidently some idiot added a rider to the transportation bill that could effectively kill the HSR between Dallas and Houston. Because our current transportation situation is fine, I guess. I hope lawmakers remove this or change it to allow the rail to move forward. What a shame if HSR doesn't happen.
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  #4326  
Old Posted May 11, 2015, 7:40 AM
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http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/polit...bill/27083037/

Well, not Austin, but complaint-worthy. Evidently some idiot added a rider to the transportation bill that could effectively kill the HSR between Dallas and Houston. Because our current transportation situation is fine, I guess. I hope lawmakers remove this or change it to allow the rail to move forward. What a shame if HSR doesn't happen.
It really is a local story since that idiot State Senator is from Georgetown.
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  #4327  
Old Posted May 11, 2015, 11:58 AM
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Good catch. In that case, all you folks who live in the Austin area need to pay him a visit.
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  #4328  
Old Posted May 11, 2015, 1:50 PM
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This touches Austin even more than that. The second line was to go from Fort Worth to Austin.
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  #4329  
Old Posted May 14, 2015, 4:22 AM
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Apparently traffic really is picking up on SH130.

http://www.woai.com/articles/woai-lo...rmant-13586433
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  #4330  
Old Posted May 14, 2015, 5:14 AM
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Wow, that's interesting. I'd love to see the numbers from Georgetown/Round Rock to 45 South versus 45 South to I-10. I believe the half loop around Austin (via 45 in Round Rock) is probably doing great - 183A might also with all the Cedar Park/Leander development, but I'm purely speculating. Not sure how much the areas of Lockhart and Seguin contribute, however.
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  #4331  
Old Posted May 14, 2015, 4:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Hill Country View Post
Apparently traffic really is picking up on SH130.

http://www.woai.com/articles/woai-lo...rmant-13586433
SH 130 is scary in the mornings heading downtown. It's packed from 1431 to 290. Since everyone is driving 75+, when things do come to a stop it gets a little crazy.

Has anyone noticed the complete lack of guardrails along SH 130?

Love the road, but it is pretty stressful driving on it in rush hour.
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  #4332  
Old Posted May 14, 2015, 6:51 PM
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Originally Posted by bearinaustin View Post
SH 130 is scary in the mornings heading downtown. It's packed from 1431 to 290. Since everyone is driving 75+, when things do come to a stop it gets a little crazy.

Has anyone noticed the complete lack of guardrails along SH 130?

Love the road, but it is pretty stressful driving on it in rush hour.
Occasionally I travel 130 from Gattis School Rd to Parmer during morning rush to avoid I35, and it can go from fast to slow in a hurry. I was a bit surprised at first about the amount of volume, but I even see traffic picking up during morning rush on 45 from 130 to Loop 1. After that it thins out until you get closer to 183 near Lakeline Blvd.

On the way home, 45 east clogs up to an almost standstill on the exit ramp and bridge to northbound 35. Even with the high speed exit ramps on the tolls, its the merging points at major highways that almosts defeats the purpose of paying tolls to get to your destination faster. Now I get to hurry up and wait. And its only going to get worse. Many of the newcomers I talked to have no issue using the toll roads unlike longtime locals, citing its easier not to get lost on them.

About the lack of guardrails, they exist where there are hazards, but there are long stretches without them, not sure I see this as a safety concern since any curves are designed for high speed and the yellow warning stripes which run the length of the toll roads are grooved to remind you that you are drifting off the highway.
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  #4333  
Old Posted May 14, 2015, 7:02 PM
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Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
About the lack of guardrails, they exist where there are hazards, but there are long stretches without them, not sure I see this as a safety concern since any curves are designed for high speed and the orange warning stripes which run the length of the toll roads, are grooved to remind you that you are drifting off the highway.
Plus if you do, it's level grassy ground 100 feet from opposing traffic most places.

130 has a _wide_ RoW, like 500-600 feet. I believe it's intended to eventually grow many more lanes.
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  #4334  
Old Posted May 14, 2015, 11:02 PM
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Plus if you do, it's level grassy ground 100 feet from opposing traffic most places.

130 has a _wide_ RoW, like 500-600 feet. I believe it's intended to eventually grow many more lanes.
When they built this, I never would have though the additional lanes would be necessary, but considering actual "congestion" on the current lanes at peak times, maybe I was wrong.
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  #4335  
Old Posted May 15, 2015, 10:17 AM
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http://impactnews.com/austin-metro/c...ortation-plan/

CAMPO Adopts 2040 Long-Range Transportation Plan
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  #4336  
Old Posted May 24, 2015, 11:10 PM
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Bullet train project saved in late-night vote

The private plan to build a bullet train between North Texas and Houston has survived, despite attempts from a Republican state senator to kill it on Thursday.

Check out this story on KVUE.com: http://kvue.tv/1Spuve2
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  #4337  
Old Posted May 26, 2015, 5:38 PM
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Bullet train project saved in late-night vote
Sweet! There is still hope for sanity in Texas. I've been flummoxed by the highly vocal opposition to this, and can only conclude that Texas politics are dominated by vested interests in all aspects of oil and gas production. Maybe we can thank the diversifying economy for saving this project.
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  #4338  
Old Posted May 26, 2015, 11:45 PM
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Well, I don't know that it's only oil and gas production. It's also a lot of ranchers between Dallas and Houston who think that they're going to lose their land. It seems that the Georgetown senator's argument was to "protect" people whose land rights were seemingly being infringed upon as well as keep taxes from contributing to the construction and development of the rails. I don't disagree that people shouldn't have their land essentially stolen from them, but that's not what's happening here, especially if they primarily utilize right-of-way, with a few exceptions to straighten out the lines, as is needed for HSR (doing sharp curves at 200 mph isn't wise), in which cases I'm sure deals can be made.
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  #4339  
Old Posted May 27, 2015, 12:04 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drummer View Post
It seems that the Georgetown senator's argument was to "protect" people whose land rights were seemingly being infringed upon as well as keep taxes from contributing to the construction and development of the rails. I don't disagree that people shouldn't have their land essentially stolen from them, but that's not what's happening here, especially if they primarily utilize right-of-way, with a few exceptions to straighten out the lines, as is needed for HSR (doing sharp curves at 200 mph isn't wise), in which cases I'm sure deals can be made.
The landowners will be fairly compensated, the land isn't being stolen from them for nothing.
The little rider they had submitted, thankfully removed now, didn't limit TXDOT's actions to just financially, it limited TXDOT's actions completely. Every time the railroad had to cross a TXDOT funded highway, TXDOT couldn't assist Central Texas in any way what-so-ever, including not releasing rights cross the highway that Central Texas may had been willing to pay for. It was a complete overreach, and the Texas House told the Texas Senate so.
Central Texas is going to need to make contracts with TXDOT to cross highways. Without these agreements, building anything 240 miles long in Texas is impossible.
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  #4340  
Old Posted May 27, 2015, 5:35 AM
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The landowners will be fairly compensated, the land isn't being stolen from them for nothing.
The little rider they had submitted, thankfully removed now, didn't limit TXDOT's actions to just financially, it limited TXDOT's actions completely. Every time the railroad had to cross a TXDOT funded highway, TXDOT couldn't assist Central Texas in any way what-so-ever, including not releasing rights cross the highway that Central Texas may had been willing to pay for. It was a complete overreach, and the Texas House told the Texas Senate so.
Central Texas is going to need to make contracts with TXDOT to cross highways. Without these agreements, building anything 240 miles long in Texas is impossible.
Right, I didn't mean that the landowners land was being stolen, I meant that a lot of people are using that as a straw man argument. I was just agreeing that land shouldn't be "stolen" whether through some loophole or some badly designed imminent domain, etc. I don't mean to say that this is what's happening here at all. I'm very glad this rider was removed - thanks for your insight on it.
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