Our local government has proven over the past few years that it is incapable of a solution to traffic in Austin. Austin is the 4th most congested city in the nation, and the fastest growing as well. The obvious elephant in the room is that Austin's roads cannot fit all of the cars that are here and are moving here. The city needs a plan.
One of the solutions that they have been trying to implement is an above ground rail system. This extension was shut down by the public, due to the inefficiency and lack of riders of the current train system. The metro bus system has begun to improve with the speed buses that are said to adjust lights so that they can travel through the city faster. Unfortunately, I-35, Mopac, 183, and 360 are all more congested than ever.
So what can be done to fix the issue? Building highway 130 to alleviate traffic on I-35 turned out to not reduce traffic, as the road was too inconvenient and truck drivers worried about the high speeds endangering their trucks. Wild ideas have been thrown out by the public, such as digging under the city to make a pass-through highway or installing a large subway system. One can dream. Others have claimed that a fix would be to adjust behavior by adding incentives for ride-sharing or staggered business starting hours.
Whatever the fix may be, the city needs to make this issue a high priority or the problem may become un-fixable. This problem needs to be solved while Austin is just the 11th largest city and not the 10th or 9th.
3 comments:
The issue of traffic congestion in the city of Austin has gotten out of hand in recent years. Before, traffic was a bother in Austin, but know it has become an intrinsic part of life in the city in a very negative way. People everywhere have to shape their lives in accordance to deal with the traffic. Things that go as complex as buying a home and getting a job to just being able to comfortably drive to a supermarket have become tasks that require complex planning. In my case, traffic has restricted the places where I look for a job, an apartment, and even the times that I get my classes for the semester. I must consider that my job has to be close to where I am at the time my classes end so I can make it in time because if I have to drive I will most certainly be late. I must also confine myself to an area to look for apartments so that I can manage to make it to campus on time in morning for my classes without having to get up three or more hours before the start of class. As you can see, the issue of traffic in Austin is very serious, and it is even more troubling because it will only continue to get worse.
The blog post titles “Congestion in Austin” in the blog “Lonestar State of Affairs” brings much needed attention to the issue. Various plans that have been mentioned in regards to possible solutions to the issue of traffic are covered in the blog post but very briefly. One thing that caught my attention and would like to know more detail is the above ground rail system mentioned in the blog post. In my opinion this seems like a great idea, and I don’t fully understand the logic behind the explanation of why this idea was shut down. Also, another thing I think could be added that would give the blog post much more substance is the inclusion of some statistics regarding the vehicles in the city, the amount of people that move to the city, and the square footage of parking space that can be found in the downtown area of the city at any given point in the week. I think these numbers would help provide perspective and understanding as to how real an issue traffic is in the city of Austin.
Everyone who lives in Austin knows the worst part of this growing city, its traffic. Traffic in Austin can become very annoying for everyone, especially those who have to commute to downtown. My classmate Colin McNelis, stated his concerns and ideas on how to improve the traffic in Austin. His blog post is very simple and gets to the point which I really like. We both share the same opinions on the traffic problem. I also agree about the government being unable to fix this congestion in Austin. If they were able too, it would have been fixed a long time ago. Building an underground railroad or highway is a great idea especially if it is build in way that can help people reach downtown much easier.
In the post it says that we need to find solutions fast before Austin grows even more. The solutions that my classmate provided were excellent but I also believe that while the government takes their time to find solutions, we as individuals can reduce the traffic by a little. People can start to carpool with people nearby or encourage college students to take the Metro bus. People should also avoid peak times. One way to do this is leaving the house earlier than one normally would do to get to their work or destination. By leaving early the person will have more time to prepare themselves for a long day at work and students in UT could take this time to study for their classes. Another important way to get yourself out of traffic is planning which route to take to avoid construction or any car accidents.
These are just a few ideas to add to the list that my classmate has provided in his post. Combining the big solutions with these small solutions can really make a difference with Austin's terrible traffic.
The post Congestion In Austin was written be Lonestar State of Affairs. This post makes a brief summary about the traffic congestion in Austin. The author supports the idea that the city needs to implement a plan for the traffic issue.
I was so glad to read this post because the traffic issue is such a trouble here in Austin and it affects everyone. However, I have some questions that were not answered in your post. I feel you could of elaborated more on the proposal of the ground rail system and why it failed. Was it due to a lack of traffic of riders in a certain areas or just in general. What were the other solutions to reduce the traffic congestion? If i could make a suggestion, maybe add more statistics about Austin's congestion and about the rail system. For example, how long was the rail system in effect and what were the numbers? How close or far was the vote to shut it down.
Overall, this was a very interesting article and i look forward to researching to see what plan the city puts in effect to help alleviate or solve the traffic issue.
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