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  #5861  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2018, 4:33 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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Well Austin is getting it's first multi-lane roundabout next year so we'll see how people here do. The Muller and Riverside roundabouts are basically 1 lane curve roads.

It's at the SB 35 frontage road and 51st. There will be an intersection bypass lane for anyone who just wants to go straight through the intersection.

Video Link





It's a part of a longer project to reduce the number of entrances and exits on I-35 in order to reduce constant lane switching and merging. Instead of an exit for 51st and exit for airport, there is a single exit for both and people who are intending to go to airport can just bypass the 51st intersection.
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  #5862  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2018, 9:29 PM
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Originally Posted by masonh2479 View Post
Agreed
Non-driving-related: at one point it seemed like a WOW air announcement of AUS-KEF (Keflavík/Reykjavik, Iceland) was almost imminent. Service was hinted at on the airport’s Facebook page... and then, nothing. Whatever happened with that? Does anyone know?

(Other than the fact that WOW, Icelandair, and American are all going head to head on the apparently lucrative Dallas-Keflavik route starting next year.)

I know we now have Norwegian stepping in on the low cost TATL end - just wondering? Icelandair just announced Kansas City - did we miss our shot?
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  #5863  
Old Posted Jan 12, 2018, 1:37 AM
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I learned to merge onto highways from my Dad. He said gaps between cars travel down the highway the same as cars do. Find one while you're driving on the frontage road, then adjust your speed on the ramp so that you hit the gap as you get to the highway lane. Usually works well for me, unless the timing of it doesn't work as there's a semi or two in the right lane. Mucks everything up.
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  #5864  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2018, 5:21 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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Hold on to your butts because a massive construction project has started on 35 around the 183 area and it's going to succkkkkkkkk.

Highlights:
-Demo and rebuild half of the current 35NB to 183 NB Direct Connector. It'll be elongated so it has a more gradual slope so bigger trucks can take the ramp without slowing everyone else down.
-Build new direct connectors: 35SB to 183NB; 35SB to 183SB; 183NB to 35NB. The remaining direct connectors (183SB to 35 NB and 35 NB to 183SB) have to be a part of a bigger 183 project
-Demo and rebuild St Johns Bridge adding U turns in both directions to St Johns Bridge
-Build bypass lanes for cars traveling on the frontage rd who don't wish to turn at St Johns
-Move the entrance to NB 35 from the frontage Rd after the NB35 to NB183 ramp to stop the slowdown of cars entering 35 from passing through cars headed to 183. Unfortunately, until the next wave of 35 work (which was put on hold indefinitely) the last place to get access to 35 in order to get on the 183 ramps is between Airport and 51st.

The new ramps between the north section of 35 and south section of 183 will complement the increased usage of 183 as it finishes its transformation from a 4 lane road with lights to an expressway all the way to the airport. It'll take some burden of 35 until development in far east austin picks up.

The red in the image is the part of the current bridge being demolished and the green is where the new bridge is going to start.


You can see the detailed schematics in the spoiler section. The images are very very large.



Luckily, this was far enough along where it wasn't canceled. Unfortunately for Austin, the riverside area and overpass reconstruction wasn't. It was folded into Cap Express which was then shelved. This 183 project along with the current projects at Oltorf, WilliamCannon/Stassney, and 51st are the last projects along 35 you'll see for a while. Abbot and the ledge need to figure out in 2019 how to increase funding for highway projects now that they killed toll lane partnerships. I'm not pro toll, I'm pro building and if that is the only way to finance badly needed improvements then so be it. People think only in lanes and don't see all of the other work that is done to the roads with help of that money that improves traffic flow like the construction of new ramps, overpasses, merge lanes etc.
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  #5865  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2018, 5:40 PM
Novacek Novacek is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freerover View Post
Hold on to your butts because a massive construction project has started on 35 around the 183 area
Is there a news story/link that it's started, or did you just notice driving by?

If the former, I was going to copy it to my neighborhood's group on facebook (to remind everyone to avoid the area if possible).
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  #5866  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2018, 6:28 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Novacek View Post
Is there a news story/link that it's started, or did you just notice driving by?

If the former, I was going to copy it to my neighborhood's group on facebook (to remind everyone to avoid the area if possible).
http://kxan.com/2018/01/23/construct...35-and-us-183/
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  #5867  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2018, 9:40 PM
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Here's a rendering of the new flyovers:


https://communityimpact.com/austin/n...existing-ramp/
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  #5868  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2018, 10:09 PM
Tyrone Shoes Tyrone Shoes is offline
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where are they???

Quote:
Originally Posted by The ATX View Post
Here's a rendering of the new flyovers:


https://communityimpact.com/austin/n...existing-ramp/
From this rendering I don't see the toll plaza locations......
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  #5869  
Old Posted Jan 24, 2018, 10:27 PM
Novacek Novacek is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Shoes View Post
From this rendering I don't see the toll plaza locations......
They're all up and down 183

https://www.183south.com/
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  #5870  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 3:15 PM
Novacek Novacek is offline
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Moving from HQ2 thread, since my reply is getting more generic

Quote:
Originally Posted by lzppjb View Post
How would a true BRT system work in Austin? Does it take up an existing lane? I've said before a few times, I like Ottawa's system because it has dedicated roadways just for their huge buses. But I'm not sure Austin has the room for that. Underground perhaps?
BRT vs. LTR is basically orthogonal to the other design decisions of a system. For either mode (rubber tires vs. metal rail), you can have at grade, you can have exclusive way, you can have shared lanes, you can have elevated or underground (slightly harder with buses, due to emissions, but it can be done, especially with new electric buses). Ticketing (on board vs. off-board) can be done either way for both. The wheels are even (theoretically) independent from the power system, historically there's been cases of rubber wheeled trams that are powered by an overhead wire.

So for an Austin system specifically, you'd probably see the overall form of a BRT be pretty similar to what a LTR would be, exclusive right or way where there's extra RoW and/or _if_ Austin is willing to reduce lanes. Shared lanes if not. Minimal chance for full grade separation (due to cost), or if so extremely limited cases*


*CapMetro is claiming that regulatory reasons _might_ require full grade separation from the Red Line/Freight rail if and only if they do light rail, while BRT would be allowed to pass it at-grade. If so, this would be a lot cheaper for the BRT option (though less ideal operationally, as it would mean the BRT getting stuck at a crossing waiting on a freight train every so often at night ~10 PM).
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  #5871  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 3:41 PM
urbancore urbancore is offline
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I like the BRT idea. How do we handle the final mile problem?
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  #5872  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 3:52 PM
Novacek Novacek is offline
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Originally Posted by Dcbrickley View Post
I like the BRT idea. How do we handle the final mile problem?
The same way you do for any other transit system.

1) you run it where there is resident/job density is (*or about to be), so that for many riders it's the final 1/4 mile, final 1/2 mile.

2) you improve the sidewalk system (especially but not exclusively around stations) to better serve those 1/4 mile walks.

3) you improve the bike system, so that using bicycles as a "final 2 miles" is feasible for some.

4) you don't ignore the rest of the bus system, so that a frequent core network (which connects to the mass transit system) is a good/reliable/convenient transfer for some riders.
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  #5873  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 4:45 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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Last edited by freerover; Jan 25, 2018 at 5:31 PM.
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  #5874  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 5:08 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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Work is also starting on the Slaughter and LaCross underpasses at Mopac. Slaughter will become a diverging diamond interchange which means it'll be able to process a ton of cars per cycle.

They are going to hopefully be finished by the time Tx 45 SW is finished so traffic coming from south 35 will not get stuck at the Slaughter light.



This should alleviate some traffic from I35 between 71 and Slaughter of people commuting from the far south austin metro area to west austin.
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  #5875  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 8:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dcbrickley View Post
I like the BRT idea. How do we handle the final mile problem?
Use vans in neighborhoods that then connect to main lines and/or BRT lines.
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  #5876  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 8:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freerover View Post
Work is also starting on the Slaughter and LaCross underpasses at Mopac. Slaughter will become a diverging diamond interchange which means it'll be able to process a ton of cars per cycle.

They are going to hopefully be finished by the time Tx 45 SW is finished so traffic coming from south 35 will not get stuck at the Slaughter light.

This should alleviate some traffic from I35 between 71 and Slaughter of people commuting from the far south austin metro area to west austin.
I saw all the trees cut down. I didn't know how recently they had done that.
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  #5877  
Old Posted Jan 25, 2018, 8:30 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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Originally Posted by lzppjb View Post
I saw all the trees cut down. I didn't know how recently they had done that.
In the last month I believe. They are going to start digging out the underpass as close as they can get to where the current slaughter road is, build a bridge across the gap, move slaughter traffic to that bridge, demo and dig out the current slaughter crossing, finish the rest of the bridge and build mainlanes. Nice thing is they have a ton of land for construction.
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  #5878  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2018, 6:25 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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New 183/35 Interchange:
Video Link

Last edited by freerover; Feb 1, 2018 at 7:32 PM.
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  #5879  
Old Posted Feb 1, 2018, 6:56 PM
resansom resansom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freerover View Post
New 183/35 Interchange:
Video Link
That video link didn't work for me. Try this one:

Video Link
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  #5880  
Old Posted Feb 2, 2018, 8:44 PM
freerover freerover is offline
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Just discovered Cap Metro is considering converting 4th St to transit only lanes from San Antonio to Trinity. It would basically be express East-West service in downtown connecting the downtown rail station and Convention Center to Republic Park at the Guad/Lavaca Bus corridor. This would go along with making improvements to Republic Park.

This isn't the only east west service currently in the plan of study phase. They are also looking at a circular bus that would outline Red River, 3rd, Lamar and 15th. It would require building a new bridge over shoal creek. This route could be a Streetcar, Shuttle, light rail or bus priority.

In other news:
-Randy Clark becomes new Cap Metro head. Dude has skills. He was just the vice president of operations and member services with the Washington, D.C.-based American Public Transportation Association, and has prior transit agency experience with Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Hopefully if he says that Guad/Lamar is best served as a bus corridor then people will believe him.

-City Council on Thursday approved the creation of a pilot program that will allow private companies to put their on-demand rental bikes on city-owned right of way throughout the city.
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