Anybody here from Austin?

[homesick_american 1]

not to mention, as john stated earlier, the fire ants - which are taking over the state

Old news, Charles. I've been swarmed before. :blink:

[homesick_american 1]

Austin is a good size, but it has definitely outgrown its highway system and it's difficult to build more due to geographical and political constraints. Commuting in Austin can be a thick slice of pure unadulterated hell...I found it much tougher than commuting twice the distance in Dallas. Try getting west to east sometime and you'll see what I mean.

You know, I have heard that complaint from everyone I know who has moved away from Jersey down south. It seems like you can escape high taxes but you can never escape lots and lots of traffic. There are two, separate, both un-funded, plans to bring train service within half a mile of my Jersey townhouse. If either materializes, I may never leave.

I've never been to NJ so I don't know how bad it is, but Austin has atrocious traffic. So does Dallas, but there's almost always another way to get somewhere. The roads in Dallas for the most part are outstanding; well laid-out, long entrance ramps, good signage, and they usually have access roads running parallel to them. Plus, for a city its size it doesn't have near the density of traffic that you would expect so it takes less time than you'd think to get somewhere.

That's not to say I haven't been stuck in horrific traffic jams in Dallas. I definitely have; the last time we were there in 2005, we were stuck motionless for a full hour on the highway. People were so desperate to get out of the jam that they were driving up the rather steep embankments to get to the access road. :lol: Once, a friend and I were on our way to downtown Fort Worth; we took 183 from Irving and a trip that should have taken 35 minutes took 3 hours because of multiple accidents combined with Friday evening traffic. Bad luck, really. Austin was worse. When I lived there I was four miles from my office but it took me half an hour to drive there because of the traffic, and true to Austin form there was only one way to get to the place. Biking was out of the question; most people aren't keen on riding a bicycle on a highway, and bus service didn't exist out there. Horrifying traffic in Dallas was occasional, whereas in Austin it seemed to happen every day, everywhere I went.

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

not to mention, as john stated earlier, the fire ants - which are taking over the state

Old news, Charles. I've been swarmed before. :blink:

so you know how to disco dance then

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I've never been to NJ so I don't know how bad it is, but Austin has atrocious traffic. So does Dallas, but there's almost always another way to get somewhere. The roads in Dallas for the most part are outstanding; well laid-out, long entrance ramps, good signage, and they usually have access roads running parallel to them. Plus, for a city its size it doesn't have near the density of traffic that you would expect so it takes less time than you'd think to get somewhere.

A lot of it has to do with geographic dispersal of employment centers; or, when employment centers are concentrated in one area, with the introduction of enough mass transit to get to the area to make a difference. I feel the NY metro area has done a good job on both counts, but not good enough. Manhattan and the NJ "gold coast" (Hobo, JC, etc.) still has the single largest concentration of employment centers and access to mass transit into these areas is widespread. But there are also other regions that are turning into employment centers, which are not well served by mass transit, but don't need to be - they serve the purpose of diverting employment-related traffic away from Manhattan.

It's my sense that Dallas and Atlanta may be the southern cities that come closest to achieving both these goals. They both have well managed (relatively speaking) mass transit systems and plenty of employment outside of the old urban cores. I know Raleigh-Durham does not (it is not big enough yet) and from memory, I don't believe Austin does either (again, just a function of size).

Regarding the roads in Dallas being outstanding: I believe it. I've seen that in the Carolinas too, it seems very well planned for its current stage of growth. Wait till it grows more, then we'll see how well it keeps up.

[homesick_american 1]

not to mention, as john stated earlier, the fire ants - which are taking over the state

Old news, Charles. I've been swarmed before. :blink:

so you know how to disco dance then

Unfortunately.