Austin road construction

[mynametaken]

This is going to be the official gripe thread for the horrible Austin road contruction. I guess we can include the awful traffic signal issue, too. My issues:

#1. The I35 at 290/Ben White interchange has been under construction for as long as I can remember yet it doesn't look anywhere close to being done. This thread is being started because a friend in Dallas just told me he took first completed High 5 interchange in Dallas today. Austin should be humiliated that the High Five is almost done. What a disgrace.

#2. S. 1st street. Is it ever going to be done? In around 2000 they finally finished construction on it that had been going on for years. Not a year later they tear it up again. It is still a mess north of Oltorf.

#3. Research at 620. The traffic there is horrible. You'd think they would work a little harder to get the overpass completed. NO, I think they're actually moving slower. I don't see that being finished for years.

More later...

 

[grinder]

 

[MilkmanDan]

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[Dead Horse]

Just wait, they are about to rip up Lamar from Town Lake to like 35th street or something crazy like that. Could you imagine the intersection at 6th and Lamar after they rip it up???

When that Whole Foods is done it will be mayhem as well....

 

[mynametaken]

I looked at that website about the I35 at Ben White interchange. They only have a few interchanges planned for this phase. Other interchanges (mainly the Northbound I35 connectors to Ben White Westbound and Eastbound, and E and W Ben White to SB I35) are not planned in this phase. So basically the logjam will go on for even longer after this phase ends, whenever that will be. Genius. Why didn't they follow the Dallas High Five plan and get everything done at once?

 

[hellbunny]

Hahahahaha High 5 almost done. Good one.

 

[mynametaken]

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[Durkee]

My office is at Anderson Mill and 183. I can tell you all about Austin construction!

 

[MilkmanDan]

Why does I-35N only connect directly to 183N and 183S to I-35S? Why did they only put one lane on the northbound flyover, given that it backs up any time a slow vehicle drives on it? Why didn't they realize that the onramp/offramp/forced exit in that area would be a complete clusterfuck?

 

[EE Horn]

I was considering buying a new home in Cedar Park since they're fairly cheap. Then I made the mistake of driving up 183N during rush hour. After Duval, the road is an absolute logjam, and stays that way all the way up to 1431.

 

[CleverNickname]

What is the ETA for the stretch of 183 from Spicewood Springs too 620? Is is true they are planning on waiting until they can do the entire section at once, or will they finish from Spicewood to Anderson Mill first? And I hope any cop that gives tickets as the southbound frontage road swings into the main 183 drag by the goodwill (where it jumps from 45 to 65 mph, but not for a quarter mile down the elevated highway) got a lump of coal for christmas.

 

[Durkee]

They aren't going to open up the road until it is done all the way to 620, which is stupid, IMO.

As far as buying a house in CP/Leander, there are some good deals there now, partially because of the construction and partially because there are so many homes on the market, so if you can suffer through the traffic until it is done, it will save you a ton of money in the long run!

I have no idea what the ETA on completion to 620 is. They have already missed the last estimate I had heard by almost a year--BIIIIG SURPRISE!

 

[hookem115]

Good News. The High Five construction is five months ahead of schedule or 48 percent complete after 23 months of construction or 38 percent of the contract time.

 

[111]

Whenever you feel like complaining about construction, go sit in Houston for hours upon end...it should make you feel better.

 

[minivette_horn]

TxDOT is hoping for an opening of US 183 by the end of January. This, in real world terms, means probably by summer (May).

 

[The Three I's]

Be sure to thank Rick Perry and the GOP when the new sections of 183 are made toll roads with no voter approval.

 

[VacantlyOccupied]

minivette, according to this morning's paper they hope to open some lanes of 183 to traffic in March, and hope to have the project finished in May.

 

[minivette_horn]

VO, I have inside information.

 

[astock]

I'm just happy to see some prep work on a Mopac flyover at Bill Cannon.

 

[Gardner Barnes]

From that site Milkmandan linked is this picture of 290 @ I35 in the 1950s looking west from the I35 overpass

I live about 1 mile from this intersection and I am amazed at the growth over the past 50 years.