Austin's traffic third-worst in U.S., report says (Houston, Dallas: live, cost of)

[pvaustin]

Austin also makes top-ten on some dubious things.
Check this report out on Statesman:

Austin's traffic third-worst in U.S., report says

[passionatearts]

I find it ridiculous that Austin supposedly has the 3rd worst traffic in the country. Anyone who's been to Chicago, Phoenix, Houston, New York, Boston, and other large cities like that knows that there's worse traffic out there than Austin's.

That said, Austin's traffic is really bad for a city its size. I think traffic would substantially improve if more 18 wheelers would use Texas 130 instead of I-35. Unfortunately, they have no incentive to do so when the cost of tolls on Texas 130 is higher than the cost of the trucks idling in traffic on I-35.

[CarnivalGal]

I agree with passionatearts. I have been to and lived in cities with traffic that is MUCH worse than Austin's.

[orbius]

All cities have traffic and highways to avoid at rush hour but rarely does the entire North/South road system come to a screeching traffic jam from about 4pm to 8pm like it does in Austin. I cant imagine what people who stay in North Austin and then have to catch a plane in South Austin during rush hour must think about the traffic. Certainly isnt a good advertisement for the way the city is managed.
I mean where I am I cant even go to the freaking grocery store that is 15 minutes away for a large chunk of the afternoon/early evening or it'll take an hour sitting in traffic. And that is nowhere near a major artery of the city.
That is extremely rare anywhere but Austin.

[h886]

Getting to the airport from North Austin is pretty easy if you can get to 45/130. It's smooth sailing from there. The toll roads are practically empty, which is pretty sad. I wish they would require trucks to use them or else charge for using I-35 through town so it would be a deterrent. But yes, getting through and around the city is awful and if you need to go anywhere in it, you're up a creek.

[llkltk]

Seriously! Go to the D.C. area and then tell me that Austin has the third worst traffic. It's really not that bad compared to other cities.

[Trae713]

The reason why Austin traffic is so bad is because its like no one knows where they are going. The freeway/tollway layouts are poorly planned. Houston was brought up earlier, but at least in Houston, you know which freeways will be backed up at what times and what direction. Plus, Houston has a grid street layout, that funnels traffic off of the freeways. The Austin area doesn't really have that. San Antonio traffic, for example, flows much better than Austin traffic, because San Antonio has a great freeway system.

Originally Posted by llkltk

Seriously! Go to the D.C. area and then tell me that Austin has the third worst traffic. It's really not that bad compared to other cities.

DC is also a lot larger than Austin. Not a good comparison. A better comparison would be to compare Austin to cities its size.

[orbius]

DC also has real public transport to the suburbs that people actually use subways, trains, buses. Carpooling is huge there and some roads are carpool only.

Austin doesnt even have HOV or bus lanes. Its past time for the City of Austin to get it together in regards to transportation in the City. Its reaching the point of ridiculousness. I know Mr. Leffingwell is trying but its too little too late IMO. The previous Mayor really put poor Lee in a hole with his inaction.

[sxrckr]

Not surprising. Sigh.

Only a matter of time before it became the worst in the state, with how things have been going. Yes, in my experience it is worse than Houston/Dallas now, especially considering its size.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by h886

Getting to the airport from North Austin is pretty easy if you can get to 45/130. It's smooth sailing from there. The toll roads are practically empty, which is pretty sad. I wish they would require trucks to use them or else charge for using I-35 through town so it would be a deterrent. But yes, getting through and around the city is awful and if you need to go anywhere in it, you're up a creek.

What I believe they need to do is to rename 130 as I-35 and I-35 as 130. That would bring real traffic relief to Austin. They could keep the tolling as is and I think just that cheap solution would get traffic flowing around the city. Most people just follow I-35, just reroute where I-35 is and voila, you have the solution...

I don't know if that can be done, but there are tolled interstate so I think it could be done...