New IH-35 Thread (for Austin)...

[ztejas 43411]

10 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

The physical barrier causes the psychological barrier.  And that creates the homeless attraction.

Look at Boston--by covering I-93 and making the area attractive, people actually want to walk from the North End to the Public Market (and vice-versa).  It used to be quite the opposite.  You could always make that walk along Hanover, but nobody would want to (and nobody did). 

And that attracts the homeless.  The homeless generally don't want to be around other people; they go where there are no pedestrians.  So it is a self-reinforcing phenomenon that the infrastructure doesn't invite pedestrians (and actually discourages them), the homeless move in because there are no pedestrians, and so pedestrians are even further discouraged.

Make the area attractive for pedestrians, and you're going to see more amenities, more retail, more activity, fewer homeless, and less crime.

I'm not disagreeing that making the area more attractive will increase the appeal of the immediately surrounding areas. I am disagreeing with your homelessness police work. Like 6 or 9 months ago or whenever it was the city as a whole was infested with homeless encampments - and it wasn't particularly discriminatory in terms of geography, surrounding affluence or pedestrian traffic. There were tents lining Cesar Chavez between Congress and South first - which - for my money - is one of the most heavily foot trafficked areas of the city. 

You are ignoring my points that CC and 6th street are already bustling on both sides of 35 and across it. Could they be more so? Sure. But acting like that stretch is some dilapidated blight of urbanization is inaccurate and makes me feel like you aren't particularly familiar with what it looks like right now. 

If the situation is that unsafe and homeless infested then the PD can get off their asses and do something about it. It doesn't require billions of dollars put into rebuilding the infrastructure. 

Actually - come to think of it - those proposed parks and plazas look like great places for the homeless to set up shop. 

And I don't understand you giving examples of what's been done or worked in other cities. We're talking about Austin. Austin has had, has, and will always have a very unique set of circumstances distinguishing it from pretty much any other city in the country. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by ztejas

[DanRydell 799]

They are going to spend billions to add one lane in each direction? 

I’d prefer they spend billions to remove 1-2 lanes in each direction.

[Guest Lobo]

You arrogant asses.  They've already spent a billion dollars to talk about adding and/or removing 1-2 lanes in each direction.  With neither happening.  

[RPM 26316]

Will this "IH-35" have service roads, access roads or feeder roads?

[Hefeweizen 5310]

4 minutes ago, RPM said:

Will this "IH-35" have service roads, access roads or feeder roads?

Yes.  And gondolas.

[CooterBrown 18003]

Do Austinites use 35 except to leave town? I think I’ve driven on 35 once, in the city limits, in the past year.

I honestly don’t care if suburbanites have a shitty downtown commute. Move to civilization if you don’t want to be stuck in traffic. Through traffic has a great option to use the toll road. Pay the $2 and drive 90.

[gurt 748]

Do Austinites use 35 except to leave town? I think I’ve driven on 35 once, in the city limits, in the past year.

I honestly don’t care if suburbanites have a shitty downtown commute. Move to civilization if you don’t want to be stuck in traffic. Through traffic has a great option to use the toll road. Pay the $2 and drive 90.

Insert hank Scorpio gif

[ChickenSandwich 9826]

29 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Do Austinites use 35 except to leave town? I think I’ve driven on 35 once, in the city limits, in the past year.

I honestly don’t care if suburbanites have a shitty downtown commute. Move to civilization if you don’t want to be stuck in traffic. Through traffic has a great option to use the toll road. Pay the $2 and drive 90.

TLDR fuck the poors

shut up and buy a million dollar house closer to downtown 

seems teachers and service industry folks can easily afford housing within the Austin city limits. Your drink isn’t going to fill it self. Nor will the lawn cut it self….

Austin 2%er. The only two that matter, the top and bottom 1%. The rest are stuck in traffic. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[DanRydell 799]

TLDR fuck the poors
shut up and buy a million dollar house closer to downtown 
seems teachers and service industry folks can easily afford housing within the Austin city limits. Your drink isn’t going to fill it self. Nor will the lawn cut it self….
Austin 2%er. The only two that matter, the top and bottom 1%. The rest are stuck in traffic. 

You can’t build your way out of traffic by just adding lanes

[royiv 9247]

2 hours ago, DanRydell said:

You can’t build your way out of traffic by just adding lanes

True dat. Look no further than the Katy Freeway in Houston at rush hour.

[dcar00 14153]

On 12/17/2021 at 8:34 AM, RPM said:

Who the fuck calls it IH-35? Negged.

only everyone...

[dcar00 14153]

On 12/17/2021 at 12:12 AM, TKthunder2 said:

Serious question, why?  The land to the East is already being bought and renovated like crazy.  I35 isn’t stopping gentrification like it used to.  I understand the historical significance, but I don’t understand why people say they need to do it to fix anything other than raising land prices, taxes, so they can open more fucking Juicelands and cupcake shops for the yuppies that will continue to move in driving up rents.  I mean if we’re spending 10 billion then fine make it nicer and get rid of the upper deck but it seems like a weird waste of money.  Expand the bridges across Town Lake so they don’t bottle neck and limit the number of on and off ramps would probably be far more effective.

highways are violence...

[Ghost of LL 15531]

On 12/17/2021 at 9:39 PM, ztejas said:

I'm not disagreeing that making the area more attractive will increase the appeal of the immediately surrounding areas. I am disagreeing with your homelessness police work. Like 6 or 9 months ago or whenever it was the city as a whole was infested with homeless encampments - and it wasn't particularly discriminatory in terms of geography, surrounding affluence or pedestrian traffic. There were tents lining Cesar Chavez between Congress and South first - which - for my money - is one of the most heavily foot trafficked areas of the city. 

You are ignoring my points that CC and 6th street are already bustling on both sides of 35 and across it. Could they be more so? Sure. But acting like that stretch is some dilapidated blight of urbanization is inaccurate and makes me feel like you aren't particularly familiar with what it looks like right now. 

If the situation is that unsafe and homeless infested then the PD can get off their asses and do something about it. It doesn't require billions of dollars put into rebuilding the infrastructure. 

Actually - come to think of it - those proposed parks and plazas look like great places for the homeless to set up shop. 

And I don't understand you giving examples of what's been done or worked in other cities. We're talking about Austin. Austin has had, has, and will always have a very unique set of circumstances distinguishing it from pretty much any other city in the country. 

The notion that Austin is sui generis and that the experience of other cities has no relevance is . . . so peak Austin.

An equally absurd take is that Cesar Chavez was heavily foot-trafficked during the pandemic.  It simply wasn't.  And that's what facilitated the homeless encampments in that particular area.  In that area, you had the perfect storm--a lack of police enforcement and a sudden absence of pedestrians.

Between Cesar Chavez and 6th, you have development on both sides of IH-35.  But the only time you see pedestrian traffic there is on the weekend nights.  That's not the kind of pedestrian traffic that facilitates development or is seen as much of an amenity by most people.  Go down there on a Saturday morning--am I going to see people walking around under IH-35?  Now compare that with the Woodall Rodgers deck park or the deck over I-93.  Which do you think is preferable?

[MAUFRAIS 6619]

Does Mopac create a psychological barrier between tarrytown and pemberton?

[blacklab 11926]

Oh yeah, when I lived in tarrytown I hated those fuckers in pemberton

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, MAUFRAIS said:

Does Mopac create a psychological barrier between tarrytown and pemberton?

The Clarksville-Westfield struggle is real.  Can't even get a decent marina slip some days.  

[DDD Dad 14325]

1 hour ago, blacklab said:

Oh yeah, when I lived in tarrytown I hated those fuckers in pemberton

But you hate everybody.

[blacklab 11926]

True

[ZB'Tejas 593]

If they did decide to bury I35 it sure would take care of the homeless issue of people camping under I35. Sure the parks above it could then be where they go however I would feel the city would be invested in keep those parks nice and usable for the general public and keep that from happening. Recently, much of the blatant camping in that area is gone and those people have moved in to parks that were previously not affected. Chavez and I35 area is still a huge mess however. 

East of 35 have been developed quite a bit however the block or 2 on either side is still quite rough and this makeover could help that.

[texasdago 7567]

On 12/18/2021 at 8:24 AM, DanRydell said:

You can’t build your way out of traffic by just adding lanes

Truth - ask Houston.

BTW, was on a call with a client the other day and she told me she lived in Katy and referred to "The 10" and "the 90"

[Revolution512 1487]

On 12/17/2021 at 6:50 PM, Hefeweizen said:

My favorite part of this project is that the city of Austin has created a whole new position just to handle utility line relocations along 35. I’d rather scrub elephant ass all day than do that job.

Luckily they’ve kept great records throughout the years……there’s no telling what they’ll find in the ground during construction that’ll create further design delays. 

[LonghornSean 3989]

On 12/21/2021 at 9:28 AM, texasdago said:

BTW, was on a call with a client the other day and she told me she lived in Katy and referred to "The 10" and "the 90"

 Probably a California transplant

[ABSR 5308]

On 12/16/2021 at 2:15 PM, blacklab said:

They are going to spend billions to add one lane in each direction? 

But think of the wheelchairs and strollers!

On 12/17/2021 at 11:05 AM, Ghost of LL said:

The historical significance is . . . significant.

But even if you don't think it's worth spending a dime to suture over a holdover from Jim Crow, it's still important from a traffic flow (speaking of "traffic" in terms of moving people, not necessarily cars).  An interstate through the middle of a city creates a huge physical and psychological barrier to the movement of people.  From a physical standpoint, it blocks traffic flow.  But from a (perhaps more critical) psychological standpoint, it draws a line in people's minds between "this side" and "the other side."  I don't know precisely why that is, but it is.

Getting rid of that barrier is going to improve density and traffic flow.  And yeah--that improves land valuations and increases tax revenue.  And I don't know why you would dismiss those benefits.  

But beyond that, it also increases quality of life by providing additional park land and other amenities and allows people more efficiently to travel to get to the things offered between Downtown and near East Austin.

It's the "Interregional."  Or IH-35.  And if you call it something else, then you're a goddamned Californian.

That's a lot of words to say "Young affluent white people will like it."

[ChickenSandwich 9826]

23 minutes ago, ABSR said:

But think of the wheelchairs and strollers!

That's a lot of words to say "Young affluent white people will like it."

…

The “Downtown High-rise Vanity Park for wealthy and affluent Gentrifiers” while accurate, doesn’t seem to poll as well as using racist trigger words to pretend this in any way addresses the issue from decades ago. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by ChickenSandwich

[The University 851]

35.

360.

183.

71.

290.

mopac.

2222.

 

no additional verbose fuckery is needed.

[ABSR 5308]

2 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

…

The “Downtown High-rise Vanity Park for wealthy and affluent Gentrifiers” while accurate, doesn’t seem to poll as well as using racist trigger words to pretend this in any way addresses the issue from decades ago. 

Neither does “Homeless Haven”.  But Austin is likely getting both of these.

[atomheartbevo 89626]