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Longhorn Al

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On 10/10/2024 at 9:09 AM, Deej said:

This is a really good idea, and long overdue.

There really is no traffic on Congress north of Sixth.  Congress dead-ends into the Capitol at 11th, so the only traffic on Congress is whatever is coming from north/south of 7th to go over to I-35 on 11th.  And that's really not much.  

With no vehicle traffic and with very little in the way of office or residential north of 7th, there's little to keep retail/restaurants in business.  The only things you have are a couple small restaurants and a coffee shop.  It's really the only area in downtown that you have a bunch of empty storefronts.

Pedestrianizing roads is great for street-level retail.  It is an absolute magnet for pedestrians.  And pedestrians are more likely to go into street-level retail than car drivers.  After seeing something they might want to visit, a car driver has to find a parking space, get out of the car, and walk over to the business.  A pedestrian just has to walk in.  For an example, just take a look around Madison Square Park after Broadway was pedestrianized.  Or take a look at Akard & Jackson streets in Dallas.  Or fuck--look at Speedway on campus and how much nicer that is than when most of us were students.

If you pedestrianize Congress north of Sixth, you'd turn a lot of those empty storefronts into some of the most desirable retail in the state.

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On 10/16/2024 at 5:40 PM, Ghost of LL said:

This is a really good idea, and long overdue.

There really is no traffic on Congress north of Sixth.  Congress dead-ends into the Capitol at 11th, so the only traffic on Congress is whatever is coming from north/south of 7th to go over to I-35 on 11th.  And that's really not much.  

With no vehicle traffic and with very little in the way of office or residential north of 7th, there's little to keep retail/restaurants in business.  The only things you have are a couple small restaurants and a coffee shop.  It's really the only area in downtown that you have a bunch of empty storefronts.

Pedestrianizing roads is great for street-level retail.  It is an absolute magnet for pedestrians.  And pedestrians are more likely to go into street-level retail than car drivers.  After seeing something they might want to visit, a car driver has to find a parking space, get out of the car, and walk over to the business.  A pedestrian just has to walk in.  For an example, just take a look around Madison Square Park after Broadway was pedestrianized.  Or take a look at Akard & Jackson streets in Dallas.  Or fuck--look at Speedway on campus and how much nicer that is than when most of us were students.

If you pedestrianize Congress north of Sixth, you'd turn a lot of those empty storefronts into some of the most desirable retail in the state.

Is the thought that they want to connect it to 6th thinking it would bring foot traffic from there?

I think 7th is pretty valuable for traffic flow connecting 35 with Guadalupe, especially during the commuting hours. 8th is too but less so than 7th. These allow traffic flowing from downtown to UT/MLK to avoid the main commuter flows of 5th/6th (35/Mopac connect) and 1st (a cluster fuck everyone should avoid at all costs).

I don’t care greatly since I no longer have to be in downtown as often, and agree that 9th, 10th, and 11th could easily be closed off.

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9 hours ago, TKthunder2 said:

Is the thought that they want to connect it to 6th thinking it would bring foot traffic from there?

I think 7th is pretty valuable for traffic flow connecting 35 with Guadalupe, especially during the commuting hours. 8th is too but less so than 7th. These allow traffic flowing from downtown to UT/MLK to avoid the main commuter flows of 5th/6th (35/Mopac connect) and 1st (a cluster fuck everyone should avoid at all costs).

I don’t care greatly since I no longer have to be in downtown as often, and agree that 9th, 10th, and 11th could easily be closed off.

Not just 6th, but really from the Paramount and State theaters, too.  Have those as anchors at the south side of the project and draw foot traffic north.

It would not close 7th, 8th, or 11th--those would remain as cross-streets.  I'm not exactly clear on it, but it looks like it might close 10th and 9th.

Ninth is no loss.  It is closed at San Jac anyway because of the Pickle Federal Building.  And 10th really only sees very modest traffic across Congress.

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