Austin's walkability rating not the best

[JAM]

IF you walk around Austin enough, you'll realize its not very walkable. If you drive around Austin most of the time, you'll never know the difference......

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For Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, and pretty much everyone else in the room, it was a "huh?" moment.

The Transit Working Group, a civic concoction that is spending a few months considering what sort of rail lines might make sense for this area, was batting around the merits and deficits of an Austin streetcar line in mid-December. Travis County Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt said that from a "completely, self-serving, myopic standpoint," she wanted to know how such a line would work for the lower-paid Travis County government workers who might be predisposed to use transit.

Oh, Capital Metro board member John Langmore said, I thought you were wondering how it might work for you personally. No, no, Eckhardt said.

"This is totally academic to me. I live at 10th and Lorrain. I can walk to work. When you go on the walkability index for me, I have a 78."

Go on the ... what?

"I didn't know there was one," Leffingwell said. Based on the mumbles and chuckles around the table, this was new territory for most of the political and civic leaders on the panel.

Turns out there is a website called Walk Score, sponsored as best I can tell by the Seattle-based Sightline Institute, where some good folks have spent a whole lot of time evaluating how "walkable" cities are. Go to walkscore.com, and you'll see what looks like a weather map for Austin (and other cities as well), with greens and oranges and yellows showing how every neighborhood in Austin scores. Green, you won't be surprised to hear, indicates good in walkability terms (70 to 100 percent).

And, again, no surprise, most of that green is downtown and neighborhoods close to downtown

....


Austin is car-dependent.

The city overall scored a 46.7, putting us 31st among the 50 largest U.S. cities. (The site doesn't give a score for smaller cities like Round Rock or West Lake Hills, although it does compute scores for addresses in smaller cities.) Houston, so often cited as the epitome of car-centricity, came in at 23rd with a 49.8 score. Even Dallas bested Austin, with a 46.9 for 30th place. Grrrr ... New York, as dense a place as you'll find in the U.S., finished first with an 85.3 score, with some neighborhoods in Manhattan scoring as high as 100.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...t-2104186.html

[BevoLJ]

Lol, funny they mentioned Westlake. I'm sure our walk score is a big fat zero. We don't even have a bus line on Bee Caves Rd which always seemed quite odd to me.

[Scott Wood]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

Lol, funny they mentioned Westlake. I'm sure our walk score is a big fat zero. We don't even have a bus line on Bee Caves Rd which always seemed quite odd to me.

The vast majority of Bee Caves Road is outside the Capital Metro Service Area. No tax, no bus.

It's also mostly very low density, so would gain very few riders (and there are other, denser unserved/underserved areas that could use the investment should it become available). Maybe it could support a couple daily express runs to downtown/UT from a park and ride.

[BevoLJ]

Well I wish they had one on Bee Caves. I think I would use it some, especially when it was raining (though it doesn't rain very often now days). I recently got a Vespa to cut down on my carbon footprint, the free parking DT, and because it is FUN! But it would be nice when it is raining to be able to ride my scooter to a bus on Bee Caves. I have a car, but since I got my scooter I never use it now unless it is raining, I need to buy lots of stuff, or out to the farm. They do have a bus that goes to the Mall and down Walsh Tarlton to Bee Caves, but that area gets crazy and scares me sometimes on the scooter. I just wish maybe it went from the Mall to the Westlake Hospital Medical Center and that huge office complex and then down Bee Caves to Walsh Tarlton and on to Congress like it does now. There are tons of people working there and across the street that I think would use it too. But then there is the tax issue and so like you said, if no tax then no bus, which makes sense.

Also in some sad news...

Pickup driver sought in pedestrian's death
By Claudia Grisales
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 7:54 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

It was a daily work ritual for Justin Patrick Murphy: The 25-year-old would call his girlfriend during the five-mile trek home from his Apple Inc. job in Northwest Austin.

Sometimes he chatted away on his cellphone even as he walked alongside the new bicycle she had bought him for Christmas.

But his family said something went terribly wrong late Tuesday, when around 10:30 p.m. his girlfriend heard the phone suddenly go dead.

"She called 911, she called the hospitals and spent hours trying to find him," said Murphy's aunt, Janice Emmons. "A few hours later, the police showed up at his parents' home."

Now family and friends are pulling together to help find the driver of a Ford F-150 pickup that police say struck and killed Murphy as he was walking his bicycle along the northbound frontage road in the 12600 block of Research Boulevard. Murphy was less than two blocks from his apartment near Oak Knoll Drive, his family says.

...

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...type=rss_local

[nixcity]

^Yea, that story really broke my heart. On the news his parents said that he was one or two paychecks from being able to get a car. As others have pointed out before access roads are nighmares for pedestrians.

[migol24]

you'd think that the people driving in these terrible accidents aren't really bad people and that it was just a very terrible and unfortunate accident. why do people not stop and help the person they've just hit? those victims could have more chances of surviving. i picture them just freaking out when they hit the person, and now they're just making it worse on themselves. i bet they probably can't even eat or sleep well considering that not only they killed someone but did nothing about it. i feel terribly sorry for the victim and his family. i used to walk a lot in austin... and i think about it all the time how fortunate i'd been to never having even being close to an accident.

[JAM]

Being that I live downtown, I walk it a lot. I also cycle the area a lot. Both for transport, trips to banks and to conduct other business and for dedicated exercise. I've had way too many close calls, seen way too many. In order to survive, you must be on your guard at all time, its not relaxing. It shouldn't be that way, but it just shows you the state of affairs in this city.

The bottom line is, the pedestrian is not respected, just in the way. Its sad that this city thinks it is so green, ie. solar panels, plastic bags, aquifers but it could two cents about pedestrians. There is zero education on educating motorist concerning pedestrians. Completing the boardwalk had everyone up in arms. This is the very reason it so hard to get any type of decent mass transport - very few are willing to walk or give up their cars for even a half a day.

I might need to change my log in name to "Austin: Green my ass" .....

[BevoLJ]

An update to the story I posted above where the young man was killed in a hit and run last week. It seems the guy who did it turned himself in.

Austin man charged in hit and run
By Claudia Grisales
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 10:02 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012
Published: 9:53 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012

An Austin man has been charged in a fatal hit-and-run crash last week, authorities said Wednesday.

Michael Joseph Eggenberger II, 31, faces a charge of felony failure to stop and render aid after telling police he saw a "black blob" and then heard a thud while driving at night in the northbound frontage lane of U.S. 183 near McNeil Drive. Police say his vehicle struck Justin Patrick Murphy, 25, whose body was found in the roadway by a bus driver.

After media reports, Eggenberger went to police three days after the Jan. 23 incident. He couldn't be located for comment Wednesday.

"We didn't have any leads to go on," Austin police Detective Michael McCarter said Wednesday. But now, "we have evidence to file the charge."

Eggenberger was not jailed Wednesday but faced $25,000 bail. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

"We are obviously relieved, but it doesn't change anything — Justin is gone," Murphy's aunt Janice Emmons said from her home in Orlando, Fla.

Murphy moved to Austin two years ago from Schertz, Emmons said. He had joined a new church, was in a serious relationship and was saving to buy a car in a few weeks, she said.

It was unclear Wednesday if Murphy was walking or riding his bicycle at the time of the 10:30 p.m. crash. His girlfriend said he was walking his bicycle while talking to her on his cellphone when the call went dead, according to his relatives. Police say he was riding the bicycle at the time of the crash.

...

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...type=rss_local

[Slappy]

Originally Posted by JAM

The bottom line is, the pedestrian is not respected, just in the way.

Indeed. No place is this more true than in central Austin. I always say to fellow cyclists: you think we're not respected? Try walking for a change. Start in West Campus in the middle of the day. If you survive, come back to discuss...

Some sort of public information campaign would be a good start to rectifying this problem.

[JAM]

Originally Posted by Slappy

Some sort of public information campaign would be a good start to rectifying this problem.

I think this would be a cost effective way of handing the issues. It would have to be maintained and never let up. It should start with Drivers Education School.

[migol24]

From the article, "he saw nothing in the roadway" and "assumed he did not collide with a person," it said.

The next day, he saw media coverage on the crash and "became concerned that he may have been responsible," the affidavit said."

I'm willing to bet his attorney told him to say that.

[BevoLJ]

I think he only said what he lawyer told him to say. It says he was coming from downtown and my guess from what is said in there is he was drunk. I'd guess he was drunk, knew dang well what he did, and went home to sleep it off and called his lawyer in the morning knowing if they knew he killed someone while drunk he would face even more punishments.

[JAM]

Woman critically injured, two hurt in downtown hit-and-run

By Claudia Grisales | Friday, February 3, 2012, 05:32 AM

Update:

A driver is in custody after witnesses said a vehicle ran a red light and drove into a crowd of pedestrians, critically injuring one woman, in downtown Austin, a police official said.

The driver is facing charges in connection with the incident after a witness followed him and tackled him until police arrived, said Austin police spokeswoman Veneza Aguinaga.

Witnesses said the driver of a Chevy Impala ran a red light around 2 a.m. while driving west on Eighth Street at San Jacinto Boulevard, Aguinaga said. At that time, several pedestrians were walking north in the crosswalk on San Jacinto crossing Eighth Street, she said.

The vehicle then struck three pedestrians, two women and a man, and left the scene, Aguinaga said.

Earlier:

A woman was critically injured this morning when she was struck by a vehicle in downtown Austin, while another pedestrian suffered minor injuries, officials said Friday.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...ured_in_d.html

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by JAM

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...ured_in_d.html

Hopefully they are OK. Scary that someone would drive into a crowd like that.

Also from that story...

A motorcyclist who witnessed the incident followed the suspected hit-and-run driver for several blocks until the suspect stopped at 10th Street and Rio Grande, she said. The motorcyclist then tackled the suspected driver and detained him until police arrived, she said.

Alcohol is suspected in the case.

The driver could be facing several charges in connection with the case, including driving while intoxicated and failure to stop and render aid, she said.
The injured female remained in critical condition this morning, Aguinaga said.

Way to go motorcyclist! Way to catch that cager (people who drive those steel cages on wheels called cars)!

Apparently the cops often have a hard time catching those who do the hit and runs. Glad this motorcyclist followed and caught the drunk driver.

[BevoLJ]

Motorcyclist chases down hit-and-run suspect
By Patrick George and Claudia Grisales
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

As he sat on his motorcycle waiting at a red light downtown, Sisto Perez joked with the man and two women crossing in front of him about how hard it would be to find a cab at 2 a.m. on a Friday morning.

Then he remembers seeing a flash of light in his mirror and feeling a blast of wind pass by him.

The driver of a Chevrolet Impala had run the red light and crashed into the pedestrians, critically injuring four-year University of Texas soccer player Kylie Doniak and hurting two other people, officials said Friday.

"That guy ran that light, and just ran them over. He didn't even stop. I don't think there's skid marks out there," Perez said.

That's when the 47-year-old private contractor and father of four chased after the driver on his motorcycle.

...

Perez said he briefly lost sight of the driver, but then heard a crash and caught up. Perez pulled up close to the car, he said, yelling at the driver to get out.

The driver stopped to look at him, Perez said, then crashed around West 10th and Rio Grande streets before coming to a stop.

Perez said he reached into the car to pull out the driver, who appeared to be intoxicated and was vomiting. Using a belt, he hogtied the man and detained him until police arrived.

...

Perez said it was not the first time he has gone after someone on his motorcycle.

A few months ago, he said, he chased down a drunken driver who struck a bicyclist on 45th Street and took the person's car keys away until police arrived.

Perez said an officer recognized him Friday, asking him, "Didn't you try to do this about nine months ago?"

Perez said Friday morning that he was merely following an example set by his father.

"My daddy didn't bring up cowards," he said. "A man has to step up when he needs to step up."

...



http://www.statesman.com/news/local/...type=rss_local

This guys is my new hero. lol.

I personally would have tried to help those who were hit, but I doubt I could have detained or done anything to the guy who hit them. I am glad he caught him.

I sure hope the young lady who got hit is going to be OK. She is a senior Academic All-Big 12 soccer player at UT, and on the UT web page they say she is still in a coma.

Here she is..

[JAM]

It's sad that the Chief of Police cracked down on jay-walking a while back, but does nothing about motorist that park on cross walks and cross over them when pedestrians have the right of way. Sure, crack down on jay-walkers, but reciprocate on the motorists. I find myself jay-walking in places because its safer, not because I'm too lazy to walk down to the cross walk.

The hit and runs mentioned in this thread are just plain sad. These happened to involve alcohol, but there are plenty of near misses just because too many motorist have no respect for pedestrians.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by JAM

It's sad that the Chief of Police cracked down on jay-walking a while back, but does nothing about motorist that park on cross walks and cross over them when pedestrians have the right of way. Sure, crack down on jay-walkers, but reciprocate on the motorists. I find myself jay-walking in places because its safer, not because I'm too lazy to walk down to the cross walk.

The hit and runs mentioned in this thread are just plain sad. These happened to involve alcohol, but there are plenty of near misses just because too many motorist have no respect for pedestrians.

Personally, I think that cities should begin having midblock crosswalks that are light signaled (yellow flashing for caution and every regular light cycle - in conjunction with the lights at the ends of the blocks, obviously - a red stop light) instead of allowing corner-to-corner crossing. It would be much safer, both by the fact that the pedestrian has to only look two ways instead of four and the fact that lights are installed. Ofcourse this wouldn't work everywhere, but on certain truly pedestrian oriented streets it would be better than the current setup. 6th from Lynn to 35, The Drag, 2nd, Congress, 4th, Red River, 5th from Lynn to Congress, and a single instance on Lamar between 5th and 6th, Dean Keaton, SoCo, Barton Springs, etc.

[JAM]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Personally, I think that cities should begin having midblock crosswalks that are light signaled (yellow flashing for caution and every regular light cycle - in conjunction with the lights at the ends of the blocks, obviously - a red stop light) instead of allowing corner-to-corner crossing. It would be much safer, both by the fact that the pedestrian has to only look two ways instead of four and the fact that lights are installed. Ofcourse this wouldn't work everywhere, but on certain truly pedestrian oriented streets it would be better than the current setup. 6th from Lynn to 35, The Drag, 2nd, Congress, 4th, Red River, 5th from Lynn to Congress, and a single instance on Lamar between 5th and 6th, Dean Keaton, SoCo, Barton Springs, etc.

this is a great idea. I think they do this in London, if I recall correctly. It works great. There I'm not sure if they are timed, but you can pretty much walk out in front of cars and they will stop for you. If they even think you may be "fixin" to walk, they will stop. (and get annoyed if you don't walk) Maybe BevoLJ can chime in on that.

[BevoLJ]

London has more pedestrian deaths than anywhere I have ever lived or been to. It is a disaster, and big problem there. Problem there from my experience isn't so much the drivers like in Austin, but that there is there are just so many pedestrians doing dumb stuff, the pedestrians are the biggest problem there. People not wanting to wait for for the walk signals or wait for cars or just not paying attention or talking to their mates or on their phone and walking into the street or whatever. West Campus in Austin kind of reminds me of London because so many people walking tend to do crazy stuff like that. Problem in Austin is, the Austin drivers are all loons and talking on their phones not paying attention too. lol So in Austin you have the pedestrians doing dumb stuff, plus the drivers doing dumb stuff = YIKES!!!!!!

For the timed thing you asked, not all are. At least I don't think they are. They have the little buttons. They just take a long time for the walking guy to come on, and when they do change they are super fast so you have to be quick about it.

Their ones where the pedestrians have the right away are a lot like ours. They have the think lines like the Abbey Road album, but with the dotted lines on the outside where we have solid lines on the outside. Those the walkers have the right of way, and cars can't stop in them or they get tickets. For mid street one think of like the ones on Red River near the Erwin Center or many of the ones near schools in the school zones, and they are like that but with dotted lines. They also have good no parking areas near many of the cross walks so you can see which we don't. Like even near the Erwin Center cars can park right up next to the cross walks, but luckily there is plenty of visibility in that area. If there wasn't like if that was DT where it is busier or elsewhere it would be bad.

One thing about London I still have yet to figure out is the squiggly lines. Someone told me they are no parking areas, which is why they are near cross walks and intersections, but they have them in areas like the middle of intersections that I would assume there would be no need to tell anyone not to park right in the middle of a busy intersection. So I don't know. I don't have a car in London and don't drive so never cared much why they have them. lol.

[BevoLJ]

Some asshole on 6th hit Slim. But it sounds like he is doing OK now.

Slim was loading gear after a gig and someone ran him down and then backed up and speed off. Lots of people saw it and tried to chase after the SUV but didn't get any plate numbers. It had paper plates like it was new or something.

I don't know if it is just me or not but it seems like hit and runs are up. Or at least in the news a lot more recently. I haven't been using my car much lately, so it might be just that this stuff catches my attention more now that it is more relevant to me? Or does it seem to others that they are up as well?

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