“It’s just more and more lanes’: the Texan revolt against giant new highways”

[archives]

“Texas, with its wide-laned roads and supersized highways, seems like an unlikely place for a rebellion against the supremacy of American car culture”

“But last week a band of residents from across Texas descended upon the state’s department of transportation (DoT) to voice fury over new highway expansions that are set to displace thousands of people and raze hundreds of businesses, schools and churches. Meanwhile, the state is actively crushing local plans to encourage more cycling and walking as an alternative to driving”

“It’s just plain Jane boring lanes, more and more lanes, said Fabian Ramirez, a structural engineer. There’s no train, there’s no bus, there’s no anything that supports mass transportation. It doesn’t exist. They [Texas DoT] love concrete. I mean, geez. I love building stuff, but I also have a moral compass.”

“Ron Nirenberg, San Antonio’s mayor, accused the state of “1950s thinking” and a “religious fascination” with highway expansions”

“Some states have started to recognize studies that show if you sow more asphalt you simply reap more traffic. This is what economists call “induced demand”, that building more roads only leads to more cars. This concept has shown that the amount of added road capacity in US cities has caused a lockstep increase in the number of miles driven. Essentially, wider highways may provide some temporary respite to congestion, but this just encourages more people to drive in the “improved” conditions, leading to more traffic and eliminating any initial benefit.

“Texas is pushing ahead with an unprecedented blitz of new road space for cars. The frenzy of road building is championed by Greg Abbott”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...way-expansions-project-displacements-protests

Never been to Texas, and probably never will, but I have been often to Florida, and it is pretty similar, every time I’ve passed thru Orlando or Tampa, they are putting in another lane, and don’t ever get caught at a red light in Florida, you grow old waiting

Amazing how in the 21st Century some are still locked in the 1950’s, then again, it is Texas, them good ole boys aren’t go to give up their F250 Duallies to ride on a train

 

[Geeko Sportivo]

“Texas, with its wide-laned roads and supersized highways, seems like an unlikely place for a rebellion against the supremacy of American car culture”

“But last week a band of residents from across Texas descended upon the state’s department of transportation (DoT) to voice fury over new highway expansions that are set to displace thousands of people and raze hundreds of businesses, schools and churches. Meanwhile, the state is actively crushing local plans to encourage more cycling and walking as an alternative to driving”

“It’s just plain Jane boring lanes, more and more lanes, said Fabian Ramirez, a structural engineer. There’s no train, there’s no bus, there’s no anything that supports mass transportation. It doesn’t exist. They [Texas DoT] love concrete. I mean, geez. I love building stuff, but I also have a moral compass.”

“Ron Nirenberg, San Antonio’s mayor, accused the state of “1950s thinking” and a “religious fascination” with highway expansions”

“Some states have started to recognize studies that show if you sow more asphalt you simply reap more traffic. This is what economists call “induced demand”, that building more roads only leads to more cars. This concept has shown that the amount of added road capacity in US cities has caused a lockstep increase in the number of miles driven. Essentially, wider highways may provide some temporary respite to congestion, but this just encourages more people to drive in the “improved” conditions, leading to more traffic and eliminating any initial benefit.

“Texas is pushing ahead with an unprecedented blitz of new road space for cars. The frenzy of road building is championed by Greg Abbott”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...way-expansions-project-displacements-protests

Never been to Texas, and probably never will, but I have been often to Florida, and it is pretty similar, every time I’ve passed thru Orlando or Tampa, they are putting in another lane, and don’t ever get caught at a red light in Florida, you grow old waiting

Amazing how in the 21st Century some are still locked in the 1950’s, then again, it is Texas, them good ole boys aren’t go to give up their F250 Duallies to ride on a train

Every time Texas receives Federal Money Grated for Highways- THE FUCKING TRUMPTARDED REPUBLICAN TEXAS GOVERNORs just builds more EXPRESS Toll LANES to propel the WHite Flighters from their McMansion suburban neighborhoods past the already 6 lanes of everybody else.

These are the only Highway improvements we have seen in DFW in the last 20 years. JUST MORE TOLL EXPRESS LANES for the RICH racists who choose to live in the Counties north because they refuse to live in a town with minorities- so 100's of thousands of WHite People that drive 50 miles one way to work everyday in the express lanes in their huge pickem'up trucks that only get 6 miles to the gallon. It is a huge waste of federal money, a waste of gasoline, and contributes to miles and miles of unnecessary traffic in DFW every day.

Someone should say something about this!

Even our highway system is all about the WHITE FLIGHTERS!

 

[cawacko]

“Texas, with its wide-laned roads and supersized highways, seems like an unlikely place for a rebellion against the supremacy of American car culture”

“But last week a band of residents from across Texas descended upon the state’s department of transportation (DoT) to voice fury over new highway expansions that are set to displace thousands of people and raze hundreds of businesses, schools and churches. Meanwhile, the state is actively crushing local plans to encourage more cycling and walking as an alternative to driving”

“It’s just plain Jane boring lanes, more and more lanes, said Fabian Ramirez, a structural engineer. There’s no train, there’s no bus, there’s no anything that supports mass transportation. It doesn’t exist. They [Texas DoT] love concrete. I mean, geez. I love building stuff, but I also have a moral compass.”

“Ron Nirenberg, San Antonio’s mayor, accused the state of “1950s thinking” and a “religious fascination” with highway expansions”

“Some states have started to recognize studies that show if you sow more asphalt you simply reap more traffic. This is what economists call “induced demand”, that building more roads only leads to more cars. This concept has shown that the amount of added road capacity in US cities has caused a lockstep increase in the number of miles driven. Essentially, wider highways may provide some temporary respite to congestion, but this just encourages more people to drive in the “improved” conditions, leading to more traffic and eliminating any initial benefit.

“Texas is pushing ahead with an unprecedented blitz of new road space for cars. The frenzy of road building is championed by Greg Abbott”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...way-expansions-project-displacements-protests

Never been to Texas, and probably never will, but I have been often to Florida, and it is pretty similar, every time I’ve passed thru Orlando or Tampa, they are putting in another lane, and don’t ever get caught at a red light in Florida, you grow old waiting

Amazing how in the 21st Century some are still locked in the 1950’s, then again, it is Texas, them good ole boys aren’t go to give up their F250 Duallies to ride on a train

Dude, the Guardian? You spend all this time calling out people on the right for the sources they use and your source for Texas is some left wing British tabloid?

There's no actual American source you can find that discusses transportation issues in Texas?

 

[evince]

Every time Texas receives Federal Money Grated for Highways- THE FUCKING TRUMPTARDED REPUBLICAN TEXAS GOVERNORs just builds more EXPRESS Toll LANES to propel the WHite Flighters from their McMansion suburban neighborhoods past the already 6 lanes of everybody else.

These are the only Highway improvements we have seen in DFW in the last 20 years. JUST MORE TOLL EXPRESS LANES for the RICH racists who choose to live in the Counties north because they refuse to live in a town with minorities.

Someone should say something about this!

Even our highway system is all about the WHITE FLIGHTERS!

Remember when Bush sold toll lanes to China?

 

[evince]

Dude, the Guardian? You spend all this time calling out people on the right for the sources they use and your source for Texas is some left wing British tabloid?

There's no actual American source you can find that discusses transportation issues in Texas?

Bullshit


They are a respected news outlet


The right wing crap posted here by the BROKE mob have been caught repeatedly for trying to pass off lies for news


Your Broke mob just hates science, history and math and tries to replace it with alternative facts

 

[cawacko]

Every time Texas receives Federal Money Grated for Highways- THE FUCKING TRUMPTARDED REPUBLICAN TEXAS GOVERNORs just builds more EXPRESS Toll LANES to propel the WHite Flighters from their McMansion suburban neighborhoods past the already 6 lanes of everybody else.

These are the only Highway improvements we have seen in DFW in the last 20 years. JUST MORE TOLL EXPRESS LANES for the RICH racists who choose to live in the Counties north because they refuse to live in a town with minorities.

Someone should say something about this!

Even our highway system is all about the WHITE FLIGHTERS!

Having in-laws that live in the Metroplex I've spent some time there. Texas, and DFW specifically, has experienced massive population growth. Where exactly are all those people going to live? Unless you want to make Dallas and Ft Worth look like Manhattan and just go straight vertical, you have plenty of land in Texas to build.

Do you suggest they do what Austin has done and have an anti-development attitude? That hasn't stopped people from coming but it's made housing expensive as fvck.

I check out housing prices in Dallas for sh*ts and giggles when we visit. It's not cheap. A bunch of people from California and New York moving there driving up prices. So people have to move further out to afford it. But that's racist to you?

 

[Geeko Sportivo]

Having in-laws that live in the Metroplex I've spent some time there. Texas, and DFW specifically, has experienced massive population growth. Where exactly are all those people going to live? Unless you want to make Dallas and Ft Worth look like Manhattan and just go straight vertical, you have plenty of land in Texas to build.

Do you suggest they do what Austin has done and have an anti-development attitude? That hasn't stopped people from coming but it's made housing expensive as fvck.

I check out housing prices in Dallas for sh*ts and giggles when we visit. It's not cheap. A bunch of people from California and New York moving there driving up prices. So people have to move further out to afford it. But that's racist to you?

I grew up here graduating HS in 1969. I live in a suburb of Dallas 15 miles from downtown Dallas. Most people living in my town, commuted back an forth from living here and commuting to Downtown to work.

But today, millions of people working in Dallas or Fort Worth commute in from all the counties surrounding Dallas or Fort Worth- some as far away as 2 or 3 counties away.

But then the gasoline went up- AND NOW THESES PEOPLE ARE BITCHING THE LOUDEST!

Fuck them- work in the county you live and pay taxes in and stop polluting the air here, stalling up all the freeways making everyone who lives here late for work, AND WASTING GASOLINE THAT IS IN SHORT SUPPLY NOW- THEY SAY!

Hell, the people who actually live in Dallas County or Tarrant County could find good jobs here without having to drive to the suburbs just to get jobs- because the Whiteflighters are sitting on them like old HENS- and won't give them up and refuse to work in the counties where they live.

Denton and Collin Counties do not even have to pay a Hospital tax because they do not have County Hospitals- So they enjoy taxes that are thousands of dollars less in real estate taxes- BUT YET THEY SEND ALL OF THEIR poor PEOPLE DOWN TO PARKLAND HOSPITAL or John Peter Smith hospital of FT. Worth WHEN THEY NEED A HOSPITAL!

It is not fair to the people of Dallas or Fort Worth- WHO ACTUALLY PAY TAXES HERE!

 

[T. A. Gardner]

So, what are these chowderheads suggesting instead?

 

[cawacko]

I grew up here graduating HS in 1969. I live in a suburb of Dallas 15 miles from downtown Dallas. Most people living in my town, commuted back an forth from living here and commuting to Downtown to work.

But today, millions of people working in Dallas or Fort Worth commute in from all the counties surrounding Dallas or Fort Worth- some as far away as t counties away.

But then the gasoline went up- AND NOW THESES PEOPLE ARE BITCHING THE LOUDEST!

Fuck them- work in the county you live and pay taxes in and stop polluting the air here, stalling up all the freeways making everyone who lives here late for work, AND WASTING GASOLINE THAT IS IN SHORT SUPPLY NOW- THEY SAY!

But that doesn't address where you think all these folks should live when there's massive population growth. Should no new development have been allowed after 1970 and either you can afford to live there based on existing housing stock or move somewhere else? Or where should the new development gone?

Massive suburban growth isn't unique to DFW. It's happened all over the country. We have a growing population. These people have to live somewhere.

 

[Geeko Sportivo]

Remember when Bush sold toll lanes to China?

Actually it is a Spanish Company that gets all of the Texas TOLL money! We do not even own our own highways anymore!

 

[Geeko Sportivo]

But that doesn't address where you think all these folks should live when there's massive population growth. Should no new development have been allowed after 1970 and either you can afford to live there based on existing housing stock or move somewhere else? Or where should the new development gone?

Massive suburban growth isn't unique to DFW. It's happened all over the country. We have a growing population. These people have to live somewhere.

If you read my comments- I said people should live in the counties where they work and pay taxes in! Perhaps I should have said"Generally" or "Primarily"

I know this can't work for everyone all the time- BUT, IT SHOULD BE AN EXCEPTION- NOT THE RULE AS IT CLEARLY SEEMS NOW!

 

[evince]

https://slate.com/business/2006/03/why-sell-toll-roads-to-foreign-companies.html



Lost Highway
The foolish plan to sell American toll roads to foreign companies.

BY DANIEL GROSS
MARCH

 

[SmarterthanYou]

I said people should live in the counties where they work and pay taxes in! Perhaps I should have said"Generally" or "Primarily"

I know this can't work for everyone all the time- BUT, IT SHOULD BE AN EXCEPTION- NOT THE RULE AS IT CLEARLY SEEMS NOW!

In areas like DFW, that is nearly impossible to achieve...........that yellow line is the overlay of the state of Connecticutt

 

[SmarterthanYou]

The highway system here in TX was created by and expanded by idiots..........my area of the metroplex went through a lane expansion that cost over 170 million dollars that did absolutely nothing to relieve congestion because a majority of Texans are morons who don't know the meanings of the words defensive driving, merge, nor do they know how to plan their driving routes

 

[Geeko Sportivo]

In areas like DFW, that is nearly impossible to achieve...........that yellow line is the overlay of the state of Connecticutt

Yes, that is about 12 of Texas largest counties along with the smallest county in the state of Texas.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

In areas like DFW, that is nearly impossible to achieve...........that yellow line is the overlay of the state of Connecticutt

Phoenix and Maricopa County are the same way. Maricopa county by itself is nearly as big as Massachusetts. The only advantage is that so far the county and Phoenix metro area have been able to keep up with the population increased needs for a transportation system. The difference is that those cities, unlike DFW, Austin, or San Antonio grew to their current size only recently meaning there was plenty of space and land to build transportation infrastructure rather then try to shoehorn it into an existing city footprint.

 

[Lionfish]

“Texas, with its wide-laned roads and supersized highways, seems like an unlikely place for a rebellion against the supremacy of American car culture”

“But last week a band of residents from across Texas descended upon the state’s department of transportation (DoT) to voice fury over new highway expansions that are set to displace thousands of people and raze hundreds of businesses, schools and churches. Meanwhile, the state is actively crushing local plans to encourage more cycling and walking as an alternative to driving”

“It’s just plain Jane boring lanes, more and more lanes, said Fabian Ramirez, a structural engineer. There’s no train, there’s no bus, there’s no anything that supports mass transportation. It doesn’t exist. They [Texas DoT] love concrete. I mean, geez. I love building stuff, but I also have a moral compass.”

“Ron Nirenberg, San Antonio’s mayor, accused the state of “1950s thinking” and a “religious fascination” with highway expansions”

“Some states have started to recognize studies that show if you sow more asphalt you simply reap more traffic. This is what economists call “induced demand”, that building more roads only leads to more cars. This concept has shown that the amount of added road capacity in US cities has caused a lockstep increase in the number of miles driven. Essentially, wider highways may provide some temporary respite to congestion, but this just encourages more people to drive in the “improved” conditions, leading to more traffic and eliminating any initial benefit.

“Texas is pushing ahead with an unprecedented blitz of new road space for cars. The frenzy of road building is championed by Greg Abbott”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...way-expansions-project-displacements-protests

Never been to Texas, and probably never will, but I have been often to Florida, and it is pretty similar, every time I’ve passed thru Orlando or Tampa, they are putting in another lane, and don’t ever get caught at a red light in Florida, you grow old waiting

Amazing how in the 21st Century some are still locked in the 1950’s, then again, it is Texas, them good ole boys aren’t go to give up their F250 Duallies to ride on a train

Poor anchovies. I 635, 121 & 75 out of Dallas North to McKenney tooka few years to get to super width. Bridges over cross roadswere completed in the last two years. Now northwbound bound traffic for the most part can cruise at a nice respectable 80mph once you clear any tollways. I hear no complaining, only people getting home a lot eariler.

 

[cawacko]

If you read my comments- I said people should live in the counties where they work and pay taxes in! Perhaps I should have said"Generally" or "Primarily"

I know this can't work for everyone all the time- BUT, IT SHOULD BE AN EXCEPTION- NOT THE RULE AS IT CLEARLY SEEMS NOW!

I don't know how you would ever enforce something like that, or why you want to. Take the Bay Area. Many young people work for tech firms in the Silicon Valley but live in SF because they are young, single and want to have fun and aren't looking to live in a single family house in the suburbs. But those are different counties. You are suggesting that isn't good.

If I'm not mistaken the largest job centers in Dallas are in Downtown and Uptown. And you're suggesting people who work there should live in Dallas County? But again, what if you can't afford it? And there are millions of people who have moved to DFW over the past several decades. Where in Dallas County are you going to build all the housing for them? And then you threw in the racist part.

As a real estate guy myself this stuff intrigues me and I enjoy discussing it, I just don't follow your logic here.

 

[archives]

Having in-laws that live in the Metroplex I've spent some time there. Texas, and DFW specifically, has experienced massive population growth. Where exactly are all those people going to live? Unless you want to make Dallas and Ft Worth look like Manhattan and just go straight vertical, you have plenty of land in Texas to build.

Do you suggest they do what Austin has done and have an anti-development attitude? That hasn't stopped people from coming but it's made housing expensive as fvck.

I check out housing prices in Dallas for sh*ts and giggles when we visit. It's not cheap. A bunch of people from California and New York moving there driving up prices. So people have to move further out to afford it. But that's racist to you?

But continuously adding new lanes doesn’t solve the problems created by population growth

 

[archives]

Dude, the Guardian? You spend all this time calling out people on the right for the sources they use and your source for Texas is some left wing British tabloid?

There's no actual American source you can find that discusses transportation issues in Texas?

Could be, but the problem exists, seen it in Florida