"The Texas Department of Transportation’s new executive director, Joe Weber, says it’s going to take more than new roads to keep Texans traveling smoothly if population growth estimates prove true."
The way Joe Weber sees it, the state transportation agency needs to increase financing for commuter and freight projects if it is to build the infrastructure that Texans are going to want and need in the decades ahead.
“That’s going to be hard to do,” Weber said. “That’s a cultural change.”
This is the first time in more than 40 years that I have heard TXDOT's executive director acknowledge that more highways are not the only answer to the state's transportation needs.
Needless to say he has his work cut out for him. Changing how Texans think about transportation will be challenging. Encouragingly, Weber sees potentially different solutions to meet the challenges, from better roads to improved rail to smart cars.
TXDOT has shifted away from an exclusive emphasis on highways. It has been funding a portion of the Heartland Flyer's loses since it began running. Also, unknown to many Texans, TXDOT owns the South Orient Rail Line that runs from Presidio, on the Mexican border, to San Angelo Junction. Only the portion from Alpine Junction to San Angelo junction is operational due to the international bridge at Presidio being out of service.
Passing through Fort Stockton last month, I noticed hundreds of cars spotted in the yard. Apparently the railroad is hauling a lot of sand to use in fracking, which is the major driver in the resurgence of the west Texas oil fields. Fort Stockton is near the southern edge of the Permian Basin oil fields.
I remember seeing or hearing a while back that young people coming out of school today are not as interested in owning cars as past generations. Many of them are satisfied with bicycles or public transportation. Could it be that our country is maturing?
Is TXDOT maturing? Several decades ago Louisiana changed the name of it's Highway Dept. to Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development (LADOTD), but its main function remains the funneling of as much money as possible to the highway construction companies.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
All right SAM how do we convince the POLS in Atlanta and Georgia the same thing ?
Atlanta's Metropolitan area has the same population density as Houston , Dallas, & Ft. Worth but roads and freeways do not have the capacity. Even Austin and San Antonia come close to Atlanta.
blue streak 1 All right SAM how do we convince the POLS in Atlanta and Georgia the same thing ? Atlanta's Metropolitan area has the same population density as Houston , Dallas, & Ft. Worth but roads and freeways do not have the capacity. Even Austin and San Antonia come close to Atlanta.
My employer made me, as well as another senior manager and an executive, available to work on getting the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) referendum passed.
We took a pragmatic approach. Given the car culture extant in Texas, the first proposed initiative was to build HOV lanes, followed quickly by express bus service from the participating suburban communities. This helped get motorists and suburbanites on board. We also played to people's selfish side. We kept telling people that better public transport would get heaps of cars off the road. And I suspect that most people thought, yep, get my neighbor onto a bus or train, and I can zip down Central Expressway in the family buggy.
The initial plans for the light rail initiative were unrealistic. Once it was recognized - by that time I was back at my accounting manager job, the powers that be scaled back the plans for the light rail system, thereby making them more realistic and, therefore, more salable. Pragmatism won the day!
For all the political bluster that one frequently hears out of Austin, the leadership community in the Lone Star state is pragmatic. Keep change proposals within reasonable bounds - a subjective definition to be sure, and many Texans will take ownership of it. Push grandiose schemes, especially those with dodgy funding proposals, and they are likely to land in the bad idea graveyard.
My concern over the proposed Texas High Speed Rail Project is that it appears to be as much about grandstanding as a realistic solution to a transportation problem. A better solution, I think, would be a gradual improvement in passenger rail along I-35 and I-45, which in time could reach average speeds of 100 mph.
Paul of Covington I remember seeing or hearing a while back that young people coming out of school today are not as interested in owning cars as past generations. Many of them are satisfied with bicycles or public transportation. Could it be that our country is maturing? Is TXDOT maturing? Several decades ago Louisiana changed the name of it's Highway Dept. to Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development (LADOTD), but its main function remains the funneling of as much money as possible to the highway construction companies.
More people in Texas are locating in the state's largest cities. Many of them are renting apartments in or near the central business district. This is especially true in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston.
Few if any of those who can afford a car have given them up. And this includes every young person that I know, although obviously I don't know that many. However, more people in the central city are opting for alternatives, i.e. walking, bicycling, transit, as long as they are reasonable. But they have not ditched the family buggy; it just spends a little more time in the garage.
Personal vehicles are likely to remain the choice of most Texans, as well as Americans, indeed anyone living in the OECD countries, for as far into the future as can be seen. Their convenience, comfort, flexibility, privacy, etc. outweigh the alternatives. However, with increased congestion in major urban areas - Texas has three of the 10 largest cities in the United States, more people are likely to shun their personal vehicle for public transport, walking, etc., at least for commuting and special events.
Paul of Covington I remember seeing or hearing a while back that young people coming out of school today are not as interested in owning cars as past generations. Many of them are satisfied with bicycles or public transportation. Could it be that our country is maturing?
Likely so. And here's more evidence. There's a start up auto insurance outfit designed to appeal to young urban professionals who prefer to live in cities over suburbia, still own a car, but use other means for the daily commute to work. They charge by the mile. Now their market research may have been all wet, but it probably had some factual basis. Time will tell, but this does seem to be a growing trend.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
The rate of car usage or the ability to shift to less usage seems to depend on the design of the arterial streets.
I lived in Dallas from 2000-2005, about 3/8 mile from a LRT stop, but to get there on foot I would have to cross a suburban arterial, 7 wide lanes at a light then walk along a narrow sidewalk. I used it for trips heading downtown only, but it was not inviting at all. Few of the Dallas stops are designed for walking, maybe downtown and Cityplace. Even the bus routes suffered the same problems of being along roads that had no sidewalk space one had the bus benches so close to the road that your knees were at the curb line, what do you expect the result will be? Amtrak had no suburban stops for convenient access to the one a day train. If you design the streets of a place for only cars it is pretty hard for anything else to work. Sibling in DC uses car once a week.
I rode the #36 and #184 buses to and from work in Dallas for more than 35 years. I lived two blocks off of Preston, Road. It was an easy walk to the bus stop. Easy walk to the bus stop is key. I used the bus because it was convenient, and it allowed me to read the paper whilst going to work. In fact, I road the #36 bus, which was the local, as opposed to the #184, which was an express, because I had more time to read.
After the coming of DART some of the bus stops, i.e. Forest Lane, Royal Lane, Northwest Highway, etc. were equipped with shelters, which included comfortable benches and some protection from the weather. Standing along Preston Road in the dead of winter, with the wind seemingly blowing down from Colorado and the wind chill near zero, does not appeal to many people.
Of the more than 300 supervisors and managers who worked downtown, for the company that I worked for, just seven used public transport. A higher percentage of the worker bees used it, in part because the company subsidized their bus pass, but a no time did more than 30 per cent of the employees who worked downtown use public transport.
With the exception of the downtown light rail stations and City Place, everyone of the light rail stops has ample parking. And the lots are usually full or nearly full by the time the morning rush hour is over.
Convenience, dependability, safety, and economics are important variables in drawing people to public transport. But as long as people have to sit next to someone who has not had a shower in a week, shouting into a cell phone, and uttering a creative array of four letter words, most middle class people in Dallas are not going to use public transport. And the numbers, as well as personal observations, suggest that they don't, irrespective of the data put out by DART and its supporters.
Most light rail cars are large enough so nobody is forced to sit next to a problem passenger. One usually can move to another seat or if necessary stand.
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