Austin has one of the worst dealings problem in the US , which wo n’t be a surprise to anyone who ’s been here for more than five minutes . Texas A&M recently ranked Austin as have the10th regretful traffic in the US , and the Texas Department of Transportation named the Austin reaching of I-35 asthe worst dealings in Texas . understandably , those Aggies and Libertarians are just jealous , and stress to give Austin a bad name … right ? Well , in 2012 , INRIX ranked Austin as thefourth worst congested urban center in the US , while cost the state over$201 million a year . mean about that the next time you ’re sitting in rush 60 minutes traffic on the 35 .
That is , if you’re able to stop your blood from boiling . Austin hate traffic ! We hate it so much that83 % of residentsstated that it was our city ’s most urgent issue – even more than skyrocket rents . Even Will Wynn , Austin ’s former mayor , once experience out of his elevator car toyell at an 18 - wheelerthat was embarrass Fifth St during rush time of day . I ’m sure that you would n’t find fault him .
So if Austin detest traffic so much , how did we let it get so bad ? Just like everything else in the Violet Crown , it all amount down to one affair : pathetic planning .
Flickr/Miles Bintz
The Mopac and I-35 are still unfinished
Originally , Mopac and I-35 were always small part of a much bigger plan to produce an inner - city freeway electronic web . Even back then , no one wanted to move out of central Austin , and so the plan was quarrel . Great job , guys .
And have you ever noticed that going North - South , even if it imply hacking through the concrete jungle , is a dream compare to traveling East - West ? And that I-35 is in a really weird seat , count that it should be feed into our cardinal line of work and university districts ? That ’s intentional , through some less - than - subtlesegregationist policiesthatwould put a clear dividebetween White neighborhoods and Black and Hispanic neighbourhood , make it difficult to travel from one to the other . This is afterward how you twist up in bumper to bumper traffic on Saturday night on E Sixth St.
We have too many people living here
Then NAFTA rolled around , and Austin became one of the major thoroughfares for Mexico - Canada merchant marine , bring even more over-crowding to an already - at - capacity freeway system . Do n’t worry , we can still blame the Californians . Austin is booming faster than any other American urban center ( 6.1 % economic outgrowth over the past five years ) , and our fabled music finish has been draw in new occupier from all over the rural area . braggy traffic is an index number of bragging money , and with over110 music - loving tech - entrepreneursmoving to Austin every solar day , it does n’t show any signs of slowing down .
Past solutions have failed with flying colors
“ Year after yr we see one paper that continue to resonate , our grow biotic community and decline dealings over-crowding … call for a variety of solution , ” says Marc Williams , deputy executive film director for the Texas Department of Transportation . Over the years , we ’ve sure as shooting tried a variety of solution . CapMetro used to have free transferral options . But , as they serviced mostly UT pupil , who prefer to walk or drive , there was little usage . Eventually , they were reduce , in favor of MetroRail and MetroRapid . The lights Downtown sync up beautifully , and let you power directly through the heart of the city , ifonlywe hadenough multitude to staff them . And you have it off that empty toll route that you pass every time you ’re coming back from Dallas ? That was build as a shipping bypass , but nobody want to spend $ 10 to avoid an hour ’s Charles Frederick Worth of dealings .
Since 2012 , Frog Design has been essay to win over Austin to buildsky gondolas , like you ’d regain at Six Flags , to jump over engorged areas . It seems like they ’ve mislay momentum since the Rail and Roads fund was defeated . But , we can all accord , that ’d follow suit with keep things weird .
As Mayor Adler sound out , “ Everything we try wo n’t work . But that ’s okay . This is Austin , Texas , and we try thing . ”
Flickr/Lars Plougmann
The big , and most recent , shift to Austin ’s transportation system has been the introduction and remotion of Uber and Lyft . In hypothesis , these services would take passengers to and from high - traffic destination . However , Nate Silver’sFiveThirtyEighttells a dissimilar story . Instead of reduce traffic , for - hire number one wood rising tide busybodied areas like Downtown and Sixth St , making congestion much worse . The effect on dealings has yet to be meet , but a shift back to public transportation would be good for the city ’s dealings plans .
So what can be done about Austin’s traffic?
Widening the 35 has been pitched time and again , but displacing all the businesses and university building alongside the state highway would cause an garboil – you seek say UT that they need to move their $ 4 million stadium . I ’ll be learn from the safety of my sky car . And some believe that by adding more lanes , we ’d just be add together more congestion as the 35 becomes the most attractive option in town .
Why do n’t we just be adrift the whole thing up , and bury it underground ? That ’s actually an idea that ’s gaining a lot of reinforcement from both Austin residents and the Department of Transportation . The democratic “ cut and cap ” resolution would make an belowground highway system , reducing the shipping traffic on the street above and alleviating gridlock . Any heart-to-heart space created by this project would be apportion to public parks . It ’s ambitious , to be certain , but imagine the epic Eeyore ’s Birthday Party that we ’d be capable to bemuse !
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Flickr/Ruth Hartnup
Flickr/Robert Young
