Austin Transportation & Roadways

[CooterBrown 17848]

How bad is that going to screw up the NB morning commute on mopac?

I would guess it’ll be worse. The turn from slaughter metered the traffic getting in Mopac. Now it’s all coming at once.

[clapclapclap 9000]

1 hour ago, Pasken said:

Tx 45 SW opens up May 18th. Hopefully it takes some traffic off 35, Slaughter and 71 in south Austin. Project came in on time and on budget.

Are there plans yet to finally close that ridiculous gap between 1626 and I35?  I don't care if it adds 30 seconds to some NIMBYs commute, the other 98% of the region would benefit.

[Pasken 1309]

12 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

Are there plans yet to finally close that ridiculous gap between 1626 and I35?  I don't care if it adds 30 seconds to some NIMBYs commute, the other 98% of the region would benefit.

I believe CAMPO has it listed in long term projects but I don't believe TXDOT has even started acquiring ROW through all the private property inbewtsween. It's likely going to be another very difficult battle with Save Our Springs and Bill AssHat.

[Armybrat 40644]

Judges should throw out nuisance lawsuits. Their delaying tactics have cost taxpayers untold millions over the decades, not to mention increasing air pollution.

[Longhorn Al 440]

re: Mopac NB traffic

It'll definitely help Brodie.  That Buda traffic won't be crammed into Shady Hollow.  If I lived in Shady Hollow, I'd go south to 1626, then over to Mopac, and skip the Slaughter/Mopac intersection.  I think that'd be faster once both underpasses on Mopac are complete, and you wouldn't have to deal with merging with all that unmetered traffic - you would already be a part of it.

Fix the rest of Mopac north to the river and it'll really help a lot.

[Nueces River Rat 5521]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

Judges should throw out nuisance lawsuits. Their delaying tactics have cost taxpayers untold millions over the decades, not to mention increasing air pollution.

Judges are politicians too.  If one tells you they are not and they are not paying attention to what is being said on the street or in the news regarding controversial local issues,  he/she is lying to you. I've seen it first hand down here where ultimately a Judge sided with the city in a demolition of our old coliseum.  But a very vocal and politically active group of preservationists wanted to try to delay  the demo so they could try to get it declared a historical landmark.   Thankfully the state historical commission didn't get involved and the Judge relented.  

[Armybrat 40644]

1 hour ago, Longhorn Al said:

re: Mopac NB traffic

It'll definitely help Brodie.  That Buda traffic won't be crammed into Shady Hollow.  If I lived in Shady Hollow, I'd go south to 1626, then over to Mopac, and skip the Slaughter/Mopac intersection.  I think that'd be faster once both underpasses on Mopac are complete, and you wouldn't have to deal with merging with all that unmetered traffic - you would already be a part of it.

Fix the rest of Mopac north to the river and it'll really help a lot.

Yep, and when they do, I hope they fix the backup problem going westbound on 71 to 360 via the flyover to get down to turn north on MoPac. That seems to be a solid mass of cars anytime before 8pm.

[Pasken 1309]

Not sure to put this here or the S. Austin thread.

 

A 20 year old kid died in a crash on 290 west of the Y near Oak Hill. I think this has been an area that has seen a lot of accidents. The Oak Hill Y project will actually rebuild this section of 290 as well all the way to Tara Ln. Hope it saves lives in the future.

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190418/traffic-alert-deadly-crash-in-southwest-austin-closes-us-290

 

It includes;

-Intersection Overpasses

-Median Barriers

-U Turns in both directions on all overpasses. I wish it was required to always include U-Turns for all overpasses

 

Click to Enlarge:

290 West of Oak Hill

 

290-Scenic Brook Overpass

 

290-1826 Overpass

 

290- Scenic View Overpass

 

290- Convict Hill Overpass

 

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Pasken

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

All 7 projects are in design/engineering/environmental review. First one should be ready for construction around 2022 and the last one around 2026. Hopefully they aren't sued by Save our Springs.  Hold onto your butts because a diverging diamond intersection is coming to 2222. 

Just FYI on this - they have chosen option 3 for most of the overpasses. Meaning that 360 will be an underpass to Westlake, Spicewood springs, and most of the other intersections save courtyard which will be some kind of hybrid.

[Pasken 1309]

General concepts are out for 35 reconstruction but no schematics yet. I doubt anyone knows how they are going to fund the central portion as it won't include tolls and likely cost 5-6 billion.

Capital Express North - North of 2222/290 - 400 million - Target Start Q1 2022

Capital Express Central - 71 to 2222/290 - Not Cost Yet

Capital Express South - South of 71 - 300 million - Target Start Q1 2022

 

The Mainlanes will lowered under east-west cross streets between MLK Blvd. and Cesar Chavez St. and construction would require a new "signature bridge" over the lake.

Edited April 25, 2019 by Pasken

[Guest Lobo]

If the MoPac expansion has taught us anything...spend a lot of time and money to expand your expressway by only one lane but then somehow compress it by two lanes as it approaches the CBD.  

[Pasken 1309]

4 minutes ago, Lobo said:

If the MoPac expansion has taught us anything...spend a lot of time and money to expand your expressway by only one lane but then somehow compress it by two lanes as it approaches the CBD.  

Not sure if it's helpful to point this out but the mopac south project is in engineering after being halted for years by a lawsuit from Save or Springs. That project will get rid of the pinch. 

[MAUFRAIS 6571]

Are there any plans to make the mopac walls look less fuckin’ stupid? I hate how they don’t go all the way to the ground, and I hate how you can also see through the seams.

Those things suck. I preferred the old wooden fences. I wish they would get all overgrown with vines or something.

[Pasken 1309]

To all you North West Austinites, CAMPO will vote to put 75 million toward frontage roads along 183A between RM 1431 and Avery Ranch Blvd. They will also put 25 million toward a grade-separated intersection at RM 620 and Anderson Mill.

 

IH 35

CAMPO will vote to put 400 million toward IH 35 work.  Currently, CAMPO and TxDOT collectively have committed $805 million dollars toward the construction costs of the program. Construction costs are currently estimated at $5.6 billion with total project costs including engineering, right-of- way acquisition and utility relocations throughout Travis County possibly reaching near $8 billion. So....Almost there!  I know I might be in the minority but I would much rather make the managed lanes into tolls so we can finance the damn thing sooner and so I can use it if I am in desperate need. I don't think HOV lanes really drive up carpooling that much and you aren't going to be getting as much use as you would if there were variable tolls. 

 

290 West, 71 West, Oak Hill

SO, I was wrong before. The part of this project that is funded stops at just west of 1826. The Oak Hill reconstruction including the 1826 overpass will start construction in summer 2020.  TXDOT is working on short term fixes to the section between Fitz and 1826 on 290. I think this was the compromise when they canceled the toll road part of the project. They just didn't have the money to do the whole thing at once. 

[Updawg 2253]

Do you know how long it will take to finish the oak Hill project. Hopefully quicker than mopac.

[HornOnTheBayou 8874]

2 hours ago, Pasken said:

To all you North West Austinites, CAMPO will vote to put 75 million toward frontage roads along 183A between RM 1431 and Avery Ranch Blvd. They will also put 25 million toward a grade-separated intersection at RM 620 and Anderson Mill.

 

How and why? There are neighborhoods right up against 183A in that entire section.

[Pasken 1309]

3 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Do you know how long it will take to finish the oak Hill project. Hopefully quicker than mopac.

 

I don't think they'll know until the bids come back next year. There were a lot of lessons learned with the North MoPac project and a lot of good changes have been made. I could go into them if anyone is interested but it's pretty boring. 

My GUESS would be a 4 year project given how much ROW is currently unused. It makes it faster to build on and more elbow room for construction and less reliance on overnight closures to do work. The project will likely look like it's making a lot of progress until it comes time to excavate dirt for the sunken 290 mainlanes. That shit takes a lot of time.

 

 

[Pasken 1309]

4 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

How and why? There are neighborhoods right up against 183A in that entire section.

The Why:

People complained a lot about no frontage road even though it was built as a new road.  Also, It would become the new official US 183 and allow Cedar Park to move forward with the redevelopment of Bell Boulevard which is currently delineated as old 183. Cedar Park is currently planning to realign a portion of Bell to make space for a mixed-use center with residential, retail, restaurant and park components.

 

The How:

I think there are just houses where the giant toll plaza is by Park St. I haven't seen a schematic but this graphic suggests they'll have the frontage roads run right next to the toll lanes in that area. They might have to dig out more of the hill. The state owns the land right to all the back fences of those houses.

 

[Pasken 1309]

 

TxDOT motion rendering of proposed expansion to Interstate 35 in downtown Austin if they can ever get the money to pay for it.

 

 

[hayden_horn 11353]

does that double white line indicate tolled lanes in green? because that's what it looks like. 

[MAUFRAIS 6571]

Spoiler alert. The Erwin center survives.

[bschoolprof 6225]

I like how 5.6 billion later, there’s still mostly projected gridlock. We have that now for free.

[Pasken 1309]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

does that double white line indicate tolled lanes in green? because that's what it looks like. 

As of now there are no tolls. They would be managed lanes which I assume means carpool. 

[Texas Jeff 1930]

On 4/25/2019 at 2:23 PM, Pasken said:

General concepts are out for 35 reconstruction but no schematics yet. I doubt anyone knows how they are going to fund the central portion as it won't include tolls and likely cost 5-6 billion.

...

The Mainlanes will lowered under east-west cross streets between MLK Blvd. and Cesar Chavez St. and construction would require a new "signature bridge" over the lake.

I think they also plan to nuke the IH-35 upper deck.  UT, toss in some bucks to cap your section and create a contiguous campus!

if they do all of that work, many of the capitol view corridors along the east side of downtown will protect a view from a location that no longer exists.  I say get rid of most of the CVCs, especially those that provide a view from a place that is gone.  Keep the really iconic ones.  The east side of downtown could use the height.

 

 

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

On 5/2/2019 at 12:36 PM, Pasken said:

Cedar Park is currently planning to realign a portion of Bell to make space for a mixed-use center with residential, retail, restaurant and park components.

I love this, as I love most of what happens in Cedar Park. Who doesn't want to live in a mixed-use center right on top of a huge freeway, 20 miles from the actual city center? So charming.

[phdhorn 6224]

The best thing about that rendering is that the northbound frontage road has no lights at all!  Fuck cross traffic!

[Armybrat 40644]

And not one dead jaywalker in sight.

[Deej 76374]

Where are the electric scooter lanes?

[Judge Roybeanbag 11771]

They need to double-deck those overpasses so one lane of east/west traffic doesn’t need to stop.  

[Pasken 1309]

On 5/11/2019 at 9:20 AM, SwanderedTalent said:

I love this, as I love most of what happens in Cedar Park. Who doesn't want to live in a mixed-use center right on top of a huge freeway, 20 miles from the actual city center? So charming.

183 in Cedar park is just a 4 lane roadway with traffic lights like S. Lamar or Burnet. I assume the people who already live in Cedar Park would want to live there but I agree that I wouldn't want to be that far away from Austin.

 

On 5/11/2019 at 6:20 PM, Judge Roybeanbag said:

They need to double-deck those overpasses so one lane of east/west traffic doesn’t need to stop.  

 

Like MLK, Cesar, 6th, 7th etc? There just isn't the money or space for that.

 

 

On 5/11/2019 at 9:04 AM, Texas Jeff said:

I think they also plan to nuke the IH-35 upper deck.  UT, toss in some bucks to cap your section and create a contiguous campus!

if they do all of that work, many of the capitol view corridors along the east side of downtown will protect a view from a location that no longer exists.  I say get rid of most of the CVCs, especially those that provide a view from a place that is gone.  Keep the really iconic ones.  The east side of downtown could use the height.

 

 

Yep, they want to tunnel where the decks are now and demolish the upper deck. This section would look really nice.

[The People’s Elbow 707]

I know traffic sucks and I’m not anti-build by any stretch of the imagination, but Austin is better than this California-looking concrete monstrosity. I wish there was more urgency to cap from campus all the way through to the river, keep the frontage roads on the surface and infill the remaining space with walkable and bike-able green space in hopes of gluing some of the urban core back together. Remind me again why it doesn’t appear feasible or viable? Water table? Prohibitive costs? 

On 5/7/2019 at 1:28 PM, Pasken said:

 

TxDOT motion rendering of proposed expansion to Interstate 35 in downtown Austin if they can ever get the money to pay for it.

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by The People’s Elbow

[Pasken 1309]

8 hours ago, The People’s Elbow said:

I know traffic sucks and I’m not anti-build by any stretch of the imagination, but Austin is better than this California-looking concrete monstrosity. I wish there was more urgency to cap from campus all the way through to the river, keep the frontage roads on the surface and infill the remaining space with walkable and bike-able green space in hopes of gluing some of the urban core back together. Remind me again why it doesn’t appear feasible or viable? Water table? Prohibitive costs? 

 

TxDot is going to bury the highway from Airport Blvd to MLK and the city can pay to cap from 12th to 11th and from 6th to Cesar. Even with that, I don't know how they are going to pay for it especially without making the center lanes tolled. To answer you question as to why they don't tunnel from Airport Blvd to the river: money. 

[Armybrat 40644]

It would take Boston Big Dig money to do that.

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

It would take Boston Big Dig money to do that.

I don’t think it would cost that much as large parts of that project were under water. But it would not be cheap and there is no way this state supports aesthetics over function

[Updawg 2253]

I bet ch2mill could do it cheap

[Pasken 1309]

The St. Johns bridge over 35 is going to close completely for a few months for reconstruction. This is a part of the 35 work from 290 to Rundberg. Work for this closure includes:

• Demolition and reconstruction of the St. Johns Avenue bridge.
• Addition of new frontage road U-turns in each direction at St. Johns Avenue.
• Addition of new intersection bypass lanes in each direction under St. Johns Avenue.

 

Also, the Red Line downtown station is going to temporarily close starting June 3rd for a few months. Service will terminate at Plaza Saltillo and a shuttle will take riders downtown. 

 

[MAUFRAIS 6571]

Also the doler zephyr is closed.

[Godzillatron 292]

I know traffic sucks and I’m not anti-build by any stretch of the imagination, but Austin is better than this California-looking concrete monstrosity. I wish there was more urgency to cap from campus all the way through to the river, keep the frontage roads on the surface and infill the remaining space with walkable and bike-able green space in hopes of gluing some of the urban core back together. Remind me again why it doesn’t appear feasible or viable? Water table? Prohibitive costs? 
 

This will be designed to be capped downtown, but TXDOT cannot pay for the cap. If the city of Austin and others want a cap local or private dollars have to pay.

[Longhorn Al 440]

I'm waiting patiently on the Stassney bridge to get knocked down.  Seems they're getting closer and closer.  Target project completion is this coming Winter.

[Pasken 1309]

2 hours ago, Longhorn Al said:

I'm waiting patiently on the Stassney bridge to get knocked down.  Seems they're getting closer and closer.  Target project completion is this coming Winter.

That should be this month but I imagine the rain has messed with the schedule. It's nice they are finishing up William Cannon, Stassney and Oltof. They were suppose to have started on Riverside as well but that project got canceled and unfortunately roped in with the Capital Express boondoggle. 

[Pasken 1309]

Both of Cap Metro's new transit corridor lines are in engineering. The key is that they will have their own lanes but might not be light rail. 

Click to Enlarge:

 

Blue Line Info (click to enlarge):

 

Orange Line Info(click to enlarge)::

[Guest Lobo]

Wait, are they telling us that they can carry just as many people using half-full busses as mostly-empty trains at 10% of the expense, during an age of decreased blended ridership across all platforms?  Whuh?  

[Orange&White 5516]

32 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Wait, are they telling us that they can carry just as many people using half-full busses as mostly-empty trains at 10% of the expense, during an age of decreased blended ridership across all platforms?  Whuh?  

I was about to say the exact same thing! It appears that after 30 years, CapMetro may have finally figured it out!! I feel like this is a monumental day in Austin transportation history.

And the best part is, if the routes fail due to lack of ridership, they can convert those lanes back to vehicle lanes and move the buses to another location because they are not stuck with fixed tracks.

But then again, I will believe they have figured it out when they put that on the ballot instead of trains.

 

[Guest Lobo]

Wait until CapMetro and its do-gooder "let's spend other people's money until we're blue in the face" voter base learn that just like tracks, bus lanes can be turned around for contra-flow at almost any time of day!  

These are the salad days!  It's almost as if pavement works like steel.  

[Pasken 1309]

I35 in North Austin is going to be a nightmare this weekend.

 

[Guest Lobo]

"Sir, not sure if we should shut off that much of IH-35 this weekend.  It's the first weekend after school is out.  There's hundreds of graduations in North Austin with tens of thousands of visitors from out of town.  It could be chaos.  We could just wait until next weekend in early-to-mid-June."  

Hold my beer.  

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

55 minutes ago, Lobo said:

"Sir, not sure if we should shut off that much of IH-35 this weekend.  It's the first weekend after school is out.  There's hundreds of graduations in North Austin with tens of thousands of visitors from out of town.  It could be chaos.  We could just wait until next weekend in early-to-mid-June."  

Hold my beer. 

Isn't rot rally coming soon. 

[Guest Lobo]

1 minute ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Isn't rot rally coming soon. 

ROT Rally is 13-16th.  I would have done this IH-35 shitshow the weekend of 7-9th.  Never a good time for shit like this in Austin, but I really think last weekend of school year is shittastic.  Then again, City of Austin gutted Lavaca and Guadalupe at MLK the weekend of UT graduation when they could have easily waited one more week.  

Also, in another life somebody tell me why there is so much leadership crossover/incest between Capital Metro, the CAMPO, the CTRMA, the MoPac Technical Working Group, TXDoT for Central Texas/Austin, and the City of Austin's myriad commissions and groups dedicated to transportation/mobility and the lack thereof.  

[Pasken 1309]

21 hours ago, Lobo said:

ROT Rally is 13-16th.  I would have done this IH-35 shitshow the weekend of 7-9th.  Never a good time for shit like this in Austin, but I really think last weekend of school year is shittastic.  Then again, City of Austin gutted Lavaca and Guadalupe at MLK the weekend of UT graduation when they could have easily waited one more week.  

 

Not sure if you were looking for an answer but mine would be:

1) In general, there will always be something going on in a town like Austin that is going to make construction inconvenient

2) More importantly, if you delay a week you risk getting rained out on your rescheduled weekend and then you have to delay again which means all the other work that is waiting to be done has to be delayed as well. They are not only demoing half the bridge but also putting in steel support for the new 35S to 183S flyover bridge so you would be delaying multiple parts of the project.

3) They are trying to get the bridge back to operation by the time Webb middle and primary school in back in session in the fall and every week counts.

21 hours ago, Lobo said:

 Also, in another life somebody tell me why there is so much leadership crossover/incest between Capital Metro, the CAMPO, the CTRMA, the MoPac Technical Working Group, TXDoT for Central Texas/Austin, and the City of Austin's myriad commissions and groups dedicated to transportation/mobility and the lack thereof.  

In order to have increase coordination and correlation with regional partners. Although, I'm not sure what crossover there is with CTRMA but I don't doubt it.  I've only been following Austin transit for about 16 years but I have to say that this is in the best position that is has ever been in. The region is getting lot of development money and there is a lot of good work being done. I think people are going to be really happy with the corridor project once construction starts and I would be happy to share the plans near whatever part of town you are in.  Cap Metro is doing a good job building a consensus to make sure we get a transit bond passed in 2020 and it isn't married to expensive light rail. 

[Pasken 1309]

On 5/21/2019 at 10:56 AM, Lobo said:

Wait, are they telling us that they can carry just as many people using half-full busses as mostly-empty trains at 10% of the expense, during an age of decreased blended ridership across all platforms?  Whuh?  

 

On 5/21/2019 at 10:56 AM, Lobo said:

Wait, are they telling us that they can carry just as many people using half-full busses as mostly-empty trains at 10% of the expense, during an age of decreased blended ridership across all platforms?  Whuh?  

 

I don't think I understand what your vision is for transportation in the area.