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Originally Posted by Steely Dan
of course.
i was simply correcting the distances.
the south florida MSA is an entirely different animal in that it is one of the most land-constricted major metros in the nation, squeezed onto a relatively thin little strip of land smooshed between the atlantic ocean to the east and the everglades to the west.
central texas has no such land constraints.
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This is actually a misconception. Most of the Texas Hill Country between the two cities is preserved by a complicated system of parkland and reserves owned and managed by multiple levels of government (including Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, about 1/5 of Travis County) as well as conservation agreements by multiple major property owners managed by a collection of local nonprofits as well as easements placed into property owners directly by local governments. All of this stuff flies under the radar, but the practical effect has been to create a buffer skirting from San Antonios northwest side (Government Canyon State Natural Area) all the way thru Canyonlands out to Bend State Park.
The Violet Crown Trail system, part of this collection of parklands and preserves, is a nearly contiguous collection of (narrow but expanding) protected land between Austin and Sam Antonio a few miles west of Interstate 35 that acts as a barrier to denser development.
https://nri.tamu.edu/blog/2019/march...ents-in-texas/
Wish I had a better map to show you.
The same effect is starting to be felt on the east, with some of Texas’s only true grasslands and Lost Pines State Park, though it is less pronounced and not as far along. A second point about the east is that there are portions which are, despite being flat, not buildable at low cost due to the soft soil. These tend to be outer areas nearest the Colorado River. Hence why development never went east and went north and south instead where the limestone is much closer to the surface and can easily stabilize structures.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Right, but Miami to Palm Beach is a bit different. That's a narrow, linear region that's had dense, contiguous development for at least a generation or two. Quite distinct from two separate metros that happen to have some sprawl potentially converging at a few highway exits.
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Maybe it isn’t as dense, but Austin and San Antonio are connected by comparatively less dense, but generationally present development. It just happens to be west of the interstate in towns like Canyon Lake, New Braunfels, Bulverde, Wimberley, Wood Creek, and Dripping Springs so not as visible or noticeable. The growth of these towns for the last 40 years is also what has fueled local conservation efforts to protect out water supply (it largely parallels the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone). There really is not much easily accessible land - though some - still developable outside of the Marble Falls area throughout the Hill Country, which is part of why development has shifted to the I-35 corridor.