AUSTIN | Transportation Updates - Page 153

hookem · #**3041** Posted **May 2, 2013, 10:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hill Country

FREKI is the CEO of the World Wide Copenhagen Chamber of Commerce. I find it amusing that he was reading the Austin thread of all places in the world and found a need to comment about the weather.

Probably was searching for "Copenhagen" using the forum search. I do the same with "Austin" all the time.

Slappy · #**3042** Posted **May 3, 2013, 7:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Sinking it isn't feasible here either because in order to do so (assuming you could get that slice of ROW, which would still be needed), you have to divert traffic somewhere.

Yep, take a look at the satellite photo to really grasp how much of a bottlenext that stretch is:

lzppjb · #**3043** Posted **May 3, 2013, 8:08 PM**

I've looked at the satellite quite a bit. I have no faith in Google's distance estimates anymore, so I can't estimate how wide 35 is there. Someone probably has the numbers. But the planned ROW that is buried and capped is 160 feet, which is about half what is currently there. If the narrow stretch has a little more than 160, it's feasible. That's even with the cemetery and everything else.

But I agree that it would be a logistical nightmare. Diverting that much traffic would be monumental. 130 would have to get a lot and 183 would have to be upgraded so traffic isn't stuck at lights through town.

FREKI · #**3044** Posted **May 4, 2013, 5:53 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novacek

Hmm, I wonder if there's a little bit of apples to oranges of a comparison.
Looking at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin,_texas

It's counted as a rainy day in Austin if there's .01 inches of precipitation. It's not counted as a rainy day in Copenhagen until there's 1 mm of precipitation, 4 times as much.

I can't speak for Wikipedia but a day with precipitation is a day counted as a "rainy day" here by the Meteorological Institute - the unit of measurement is irrelevant..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hill Country

FREKI is the CEO of the World Wide Copenhagen Chamber of Commerce. I find it amusing that he was reading the Austin thread of all places in the world and found a need to comment about the weather.

The site has a search engine - why not use it one in a while to keep up to date.. and when I find errors I correct them

Quote:

Originally Posted by jngreenlee

Those are metric days, equal to 251 Imperial days.

wwmiv · #**3045** Posted **May 4, 2013, 10:35 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lzppjb

I've looked at the satellite quite a bit. I have no faith in Google's distance estimates anymore, so I can't estimate how wide 35 is there. Someone probably has the numbers. But the planned ROW that is buried and capped is 160 feet, which is about half what is currently there. If the narrow stretch has a little more than 160, it's feasible. That's even with the cemetery and everything else.

But I agree that it would be a logistical nightmare. Diverting that much traffic would be monumental. 130 would have to get a lot and 183 would have to be upgraded so traffic isn't stuck at lights through town.

It isn't even about traffic being stuck at lights through town. To do this through that section, you would have to completely shut down 35 through that section. Completely. There would be no thru traffic there. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. It is more of a nightmare than you are thinking.

The ATX · #**3046** Posted **May 4, 2013, 10:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FREKI

The site has a search engine - why not use it one in a while to keep up to date.. and when I find errors I correct them

I enjoy your Copenhagen pics. My daughter moved to Sweden, and if/when I visit her the one thing I want to do is drive over the Øresund Bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo.

FREKI · #**3047** Posted **May 4, 2013, 2:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hill Country

I enjoy your Copenhagen pics. My daughter moved to Sweden, and if/when I visit her the one thing I want to do is drive over the Øresund Bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo.

Thanks

If you don't want to borther with renting a car the train trip over is nice too ( they drive on the lower level ) and probable gives you more time to look around when you don't have to keep an eye on traffic.. but of course won't see the pillars..

Personally I like the Great Belt bridge better - it's larger and taller and both train and cars are on the same level..

Where in Sweden does she live ( if you are into road trips I can't recommend Norway enough - superb roads, amazing scenery and friedly people ( only down side is the low speed limits and speed traps that also hunts Sweden, but both nations warn before you pass one )

wwmiv · #**3048** Posted **May 4, 2013, 2:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lzppjb

I've looked at the satellite quite a bit. I have no faith in Google's distance estimates anymore, so I can't estimate how wide 35 is there. Someone probably has the numbers. But the planned ROW that is buried and capped is 160 feet, which is about half what is currently there. If the narrow stretch has a little more than 160, it's feasible. That's even with the cemetery and everything else.

But I agree that it would be a logistical nightmare. Diverting that much traffic would be monumental. 130 would have to get a lot and 183 would have to be upgraded so traffic isn't stuck at lights through town.

The ROW for much of this section, btw, is ~200 feet, but it does vary from place to place. It really would be wonderful if we could do this all the way to Airport with a brief section between Dean Keaton and MLK above ground to allow for exits and entrances and "air". Unfortunately, it just isn't doable.

The ATX · #**3049** Posted **May 5, 2013, 3:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FREKI

Thanks

...Where in Sweden does she live ( if you are into road trips I can't recommend Norway enough - superb roads, amazing scenery and friedly people ( only down side is the low speed limits and speed traps that also hunts Sweden, but both nations warn before you pass one )

We're talking damn near Arctic Circle territory- Lulea. It was a huge change for a South Texas girl. (Obviously there was a boy involved.) What I find amusing about Swedes is their disdain and jokes about Finns.

KevinFromTexas · #**3050** Posted **May 16, 2013, 5:08 AM**

I'll have to remember to get some photos of these the next time I'm downtown for photos.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/l...isguise/nXsGk/

Quote:

Posted: 5:17 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Downtown sculptures are bike racks in disguise

By Ben Wear
American-Statesman Staff

The two aquatic plants, assayed in brown steel and each 10 feet high, stand along East Second Street as if perched aside Lady Bird Lake.

Seven blocks away, a second sculpture on Congress Avenue evokes a set of silvery pipe cleaners linked to form a jungle gym.

JT5 · #**3051** Posted **May 17, 2013, 3:44 AM**

Community Impact - Central Austin - 5/14/13

"Keahey said the next step in the urban rail plan is to look at a range of alternatives for rail alignment and to explain [justify] where it would be more expensive [Guad/Lamar] to put rail and where ridership would improve [Mueller]."

Could the announced UT med school plans help tilt this in Mueller's favor even more? Reading between the lines on this quote?

http://impactnews.com/articles/austi...in-early-2014/

The ATX · #**3052** Posted **May 17, 2013, 7:49 PM**

@Electricron - I hope you're OK up there in Granbury

austlar1 · #**3053** Posted **May 18, 2013, 5:22 AM**

Oops! Just figured there was a tornado being discussed. My bad. Previous post deleted.

electricron · #**3054** Posted **May 18, 2013, 5:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hill Country

@Electricron - I hope you're OK up there in Granbury

I'm okay. The EF4 was 4 miles away from my home, and on the opposite side of the lake.
There was debris flying around faster than cars at COTA or TMS.

wwmiv · #**3055** Posted **May 21, 2013, 6:31 AM**

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/...eets-run-wild/

These are great ideas that should be looked at for downtown streets. The stuff that was done on Park Lane would be great for 6th and also for a few others.

austlar1 · #**3056** Posted **May 21, 2013, 7:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwmiv

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/...eets-run-wild/

These are great ideas that should be looked at for downtown streets. The stuff that was done on Park Lane would be great for 6th and also for a few others.

Very interesting.

electricron · #**3057** Posted **May 21, 2013, 9:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwmiv

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/...eets-run-wild/

These are great ideas that should be looked at for downtown streets. The stuff that was done on Park Lane would be great for 6th and also for a few others.

Why not every street downtown? If you're really wanting to make downtown more pedestrian friendly, do so to every street. If just one street isn't, you divide downtown in half. Precisely what that British city didn't want...

lzppjb · #**3058** Posted **May 21, 2013, 11:19 PM**

I watched some of the video. All I have to say is Hell No to that stupid traffic circle. Looks like a nightmare. I'd rather not have any of those things. I'm all for making downtown more walkable. Have wider sidewalks. Have better crosswalks. But keep your circles.

By the way, that intersection they changed in that video was terrible. Whomever made that to begin with should be flogged.

wwmiv · #**3059** Posted **May 21, 2013, 11:58 PM**

... it seemed to work very well without being a nightmare at all. I have no idea what you're talking about.

But I wasn't referencing the circles at all anyway, I was referencing the other street that they changed and referred back to a few times.

KevinFromTexas · #**3060** Posted **May 22, 2013, 3:09 AM**

That's interesting, but I'm not sure that would work everywhere. That's actually a fairly small intersection really. Our smaller intersections in downtown don't get all that much traffic anyway, and the ones that do might be too large and not quite a right fit for that.

What I liked the most was the idea of drivers and pedestrians interacting more, making eye contact and (polite) hand gestures. One of the things I do a lot on my bike is to wave to cars to let them go before me, or if they let me go, I'll wave as a way to say thank you. One of the things that bugs me about American transportation is how impersonal it is.