Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas
Austin would be a completely different city had those highways been built. It would have ruined South Congress and our waterfront. We likely would not have the vibrant downtown that we do or the residential influx that is happening there now. It would have made Austin even more car-centric and congested. And all those neighborhoods north of downtown would have been chopped up.
Can you imagine how much more worse I-35 would be with another freeway just south of downtown feeding onto it? The area just before the river is already a congested mess daily, and that would have made it much worse. It wouldn't have helped Mopac either.
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So happy someone else feels this way. The amazing thing to me about Austin is that it's a Texan city but yet is not choked on all sides by a downtown freeway loop. Consider the three other biggies: Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. You cannot reach the downtowns of any of those cities without passing over or under a freeway (only Klyde Warren Park in Dallas is an exception, and that only masks the behemoth underfoot). Austin has the unique distinction of having a downtown that freely evolves from a built up central district to smaller scale neighborhoods on simple, solid earth...and without any visual/mental obstructions...and that's valuable.
I don't think Austin needs more freeways (at least not in the core...the far-flung suburbs are a different story right now). I think it certainly should retrofit/improve the existing ones to handle the dramatic increase in population, but that should be a temporary solution, and they should continue to encourage smart growth and new urbanist design in and around the core, and enhance/add to the public transit options. Consider the benefits to Portland of investing heavily in new transit infrastructure.
One might argue that a citywide initiative to build new transit, encourage smart development, and generally change the opinions and habits of people in regards to walking, biking or riding transit is an evolution that would happen far too slowly. ..but really, with TxDOT only at the point where they're studying options, substantial completion of any sort of sweeping, massive improvement project may not happen for up to 10-15 years, during which the headache of major roadwork on an already-congested freeway system would become a daily nightmare. (I know this firsthand here in NY, as they are presently completely reconstructing part of the Staten Island Expressway, while simultaneously adding an HOV lane to the BQE in Brooklyn. Talk about a nightmare.)
In the same amount of time, an initial transit system could be built and major walkable developments could completely reshape the look of the city. It's not impossible when you think of the 30/10 initiative in Los Angeles..or roughly the amount of time it has taken for the Portland system to grow from one MAX line to a substantial and mature variety of services. I'm well aware this is already happening, and it's truly fantastic, but imagine if all the time, effort and money going into studying these freeways also went to those causes? The effect could be staggering.
..and fortunately for Austin, a culture of biking and walkable, localized neighborhoods is already in place. The majority of long-time residents support it, and the new residents are drawn to the city by it. With the attitudes of Austinites already aimed well in the right direction, a marked change is far from impossible, or even too challenging. It's not even too much of a change, just encouraging good habits and killing bad ones.
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