That is what happens when TxDOT prioritizes highway expansions more than actual mass transit.

@McFwoupson

Жыл бұрын

Just one more lane. One more lane on the katy freeway and all our problems are solved.

@yaric2274

Жыл бұрын

@@stop_cutting_baby_penis alan fisher fan?

@Jeff-uj8xi

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like something Republicans would do.

@allen_p

Жыл бұрын

At the very beginning of the video it states increases in construction cost and purchasing land.

@vimmentors6747

Жыл бұрын

You mean tax money gets spent on projects people want, instead of shiny baubles for the political class?

oh when they want to build a highway getting the land to do so is easy but public transit is so hard…

@Mike-jv8bv

Жыл бұрын

it's actually hard to do both now a days.

@Matty002

3 ай бұрын

​@@Mike-jv8bvonly more reason to have done it before

@Mike-jv8bv

3 ай бұрын

@@Matty002 that's why you have companies liike the boring company trying to figure out cheaper ways to make tunnels. because underground is technically untapped land, which actually works out best in the end because you don't disturb the land above.

Correction on Denver, they have 6 light rail lines and 4 heavy regional rail lines. 120+ miles of electrified rail built out in ~25 years at around $50 million per mile. The downside to using existing right of ways is that it doesn’t always go where the people are, but at the same time it’s cheaper, so there’s an ability to build more + build out new dense mixed use developments to transform new stations into places people wanna live, work, and play. I hope Austin is able to build a lot of rail over the coming decades, y’all are gonna need it!

@maYTeus

Жыл бұрын

dude you're correcting actual journalism. good on ya

@vimmentors6747

11 ай бұрын

Denver population is growing while transit ridership has been falling for a decade. What does everyone else know that you can't see.

This is all nonsense. This work should be prioritised immediately and building should begin. Every single city in the world that invests in a large network experiences success. Look at all the small or medium town cities in Europe. There's no time to drag feet. The more it drags the more idiots will invest in highway expansions cos "one more lane will fix it!"

@MrEeeaddict

Жыл бұрын

you seriously think there are no failed systems? Texas is fucking hot. People don't want to stand outside in 50C for a bus that's coming in 20 mins

@mkkm945

Жыл бұрын

@@MrEeeaddict Use your brain a *bit* more. Real transit does not have 20 minute headways. Most NYC subway lines run every 3-10 minutes. Zurich which has *half* the population of Austin TX has 7-10 minute tram & bus headways. A single line with 20+ minute headways is not transit. It's greenwashing.

@kjhuang

Жыл бұрын

@@mkkm945 Yeah Austin is not NYC or Zurich, and neither is most of the US. The headways are not gonna be 3-10 minutes.

@mkkm945

Жыл бұрын

@@kjhuang Is there a good reason for not having good transit headways? Don't get me wrong, there ARE reasons, but none of them are good.

@kjhuang

Жыл бұрын

@@mkkm945 For most of the US, public transportation is not popular and not seen as a public good to invest in. Those may not be good reasons, but they are reasons that are in effect. A reason doesn't have to be "good" in order to be real.

As a construction professional involved in many large international projects around the world, projects in the USA take far to long to plan, execute and complete.

@darkinetix

Жыл бұрын

You’d think we never constructed anything before. it’s really insane.

@portcybertryx222

Жыл бұрын

Yup that’s true but the infra constructed often seems to last longer which can be a good or a bad thing but one would think in a land of free market capitalism there wouldn’t be sooo many regulations

@robinperronjones5024

Жыл бұрын

@@portcybertryx222 in the USA and Europe there are unnecessary regulation that stifle construction contracts, HSE issues are overkill and the USA has old construction methods and technology in comparison to international arena, I really do not understand that fast tracking and acceleration of actual construction methods are not introduced, I’m not sure what effect the unions have but it might be counter productive

@portcybertryx222

Жыл бұрын

@@robinperronjones5024 In the US if you find the right construction contractors you can fast track the project quite quickly. The problem here as you explained is that the startup costs are so high due to too much paperwork. Most large scale infra like that of trains goes through half a decade of environmental review and till then the costs have already ballooned. It all makes no sense. But in terms of construction methods I think the US still has the best, most optimised PMC systems and also some of the better techniques in sustainable construction. I worked for a consultancy firm in Georgia the speed at which they build skyscrapers and high rises is something I’ve only seen in China and Malaysia. So yeah the US can compete but it’s at a very high cost.

Keep stalling and the price keeps rising.

Get it done Austin. Even Houston got to expanding the train lines and it’s been great for helping 1 million celebrate World Series downtown. Rodeo season too. Car dependency sucks.

Thank you so much for doing a piece on this! Public transit is a underappreciated but vital part of a community's identity

This is a really great piece of journalism! Well produced and informative. Well done :)

The US has an aversion to elevated rail in urban cores because of the existing examples here (New York City's outer boroughs, Chicago's downtown), and that has affected "aesthetics" and practicality. There are cities around the world that have built them to minimize visual "pollution" and cut down cost. Austin is already nearing 1 million people if not there already (with the metro area nearing 2 million) and really needs that rail transit spine that the light rail would augment in addition to the Red Line. One thing is clear: building at-grade rail will affect service especially in downtown areas: that's why Dallas is now building an underground corridor because its surface capacity is starting to strain. I say this as someone who lives in a city with a heavy-rail metro and is only just now connecting its international airport (Dulles) in mid-November after 20+ years of back and forth and construction. The faster those shovels are in the ground, the better for Austin's livability. And, if you really want surface rail, consider a streetcar line **in addition** to light rail, similar to Charlotte, Cincinnati, or Kansas City (all pretty successful projects).

@cyclingtexas1670

Жыл бұрын

They want surface level cause it’s cheaper. But that’s what it is, cheaper. It’s the crappier option that will lead to slower, lower quality service.

@peabody1976

Жыл бұрын

@@cyclingtexas1670 You truly get what you pay for. And I say this even knowing how difficult parts of Texas are to dig (those costs are dropping as tunneling techniques get better/faster, hence cheaper). But you are right: it's cheaper that will lead to lesser service.

@nishiljaiswal2216

Жыл бұрын

At grade light rail or tram can be sufficient if implemented well with the ROW and managing the car traffic around it or removing it and making streets entirely pedestrianized, trams seem to work well in europe

Austin really needs to densify its core with more housing and less parking lots, otherwise public transit becomes useless (ppl don’t wanna walk 30 minutes to the next stop and will drive). Abolish single family house zoning and parking requirements near downtown! Grow up and become an actual city for God’s sake.

Should be a light metro

@COASTER1921

Жыл бұрын

I don't get why cities bother to fully grade separate light rail when they're already doing the work for light Metro. Actual light rail is kind what they have in Phoenix and Houston. But the majority of Dallas's DART is grade separated outside of downtown, and they needed to build very unusual custom light rail rolling stock to accommodate their low-ish floor platforms. Choosing light metro or high floor LRVs from the beginning would have simplified things a lot for them. And then there are systems like in Ottawa where it's fully grade separated but they're running low capacity trams on the line anyway.

@kirkrotger9208

Жыл бұрын

It's really pathetic that Texas has some of the biggest cities in the country, yet won't build a functional urban rail system.

@COASTER1921

Жыл бұрын

@@kirkrotger9208 The core problem is that these big Texas cities have lower density than even small-medium East coast cities established before cars. So even in Dallas where we have a lot of rail for a US city (and are building more), it has low ridership per mile due to the general lack of density throughout the city. We still have parking minimums here, even downtown, which essentially requires building suburban car-based sprawl. This is the biggest problem to tackle for Texas cities in my opinion, as rail isn't useful without dense walkable/bikeable areas to connect.

@kirkrotger9208

Жыл бұрын

@@COASTER1921 It's not like Houston, Dallas, and Austin weren't established before cars. They were demolished for the car. All those worthless parking lots should be zoned for mixed-use redevelopment and a robust bus network should be put into practice as a stop-gap while everything is built out.

@alexcarlone7967

Жыл бұрын

@@COASTER1921 they can build denser near stations

I’m from Phoenix here. Our one long light rail line is splitting to become two lines, and we have a streetcar line so technically 3 lines.

@TheTikeySauce

Жыл бұрын

I'm surprised Seattle wasn't mentioned, but Line 1 of our light rail system will reach a massive track length of 51 miles after all of the expansions before getting split once work on Line 3 begins in the 2030s.

@CityLifeinAmerica

Жыл бұрын

@@TheTikeySauce yeah. The Phoenix one is going to reach 50 miles around 2030 as well. Things are looking pretty good for these former rail deserts.

@NicholasAnderson2

Жыл бұрын

I think they should add air conditioned bus shelters in Phoenix. The temperatures out there are insane and if they had say some air conditioned bus shelters and water fountains might save a few lives.

@CityLifeinAmerica

Жыл бұрын

@@NicholasAnderson2 The light rail stations have drinking fountains that are refrigerated. The new app heavily emphasizes real time tracking so that way you can wait in a building or something and step out only when the bus or train is close.

@kaymillerfromTX

Жыл бұрын

Who can wait on it when it’s 115 out 🥵

It’s always about the cost never about the major benefits of an efficient transit system. Why do we always worry about cost when this will make life 1 million times better. It’s just a USA thing to spend millions on 10 lane highways hut overlook public transportation.

Make Austin Walkable Again! Hell, make America walkable again!

That is a great job on this informative & interesting investigative news story.

Honestly it should be mandatory for airports to have public transit connections to all the big city downtowns

“More is lost through indecision than wrong decision.” - Tony Soprano

I like that you mentioned Denver!

I would go with the airport to downtown alignment first then head north to UT campus. From there, you would get the ridership & revenue to expand abroad.

@jmlinden7

Жыл бұрын

UT gets you more ridership than the airport

How does a $5B project double in cost over a period of only 2 years?

I want dates by March. 2 years of dragging feet is ridiculous

I don't understand why they're going with diesel trains when they could've gone electric. Electric trains are just better overall. They're quicker to accelerate and decelerate, they don't burn fossil fuels, they require less maintenance and they reduce cost in the long run.

@OliversElevators

Жыл бұрын

The trains that will run on the Orange and Blue light rail lines will be fully electric, much like the trains in Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, Seattle, Portland, etc.

@stillnotspicy

Жыл бұрын

@@OliversElevators true, but theres no reason the red line route can't be converted to run overhead caternary from downtown to howard become full electric.

@OliversElevators

Жыл бұрын

@@stillnotspicy unfortunately it’s not so simple. Converting the Red Line to run on overhead catenary power would, of course, require the installation of catenary wires along the entire 32-mile line, which is not cheap to do and would take quite a while. Additionally, the current diesel trains would have to be converted to run on electricity, which would cost even more and would likely put the entire line out of service for several months, if not more, while the trains are being retrofitted. Electrifying the Red Line is really not worth it in the scheme of things, mainly because of the type of rail line it is (commuter) and the service it provides (semi-frequent, peak-based service). The current trains already accelerate and decelerate at an impressive rate for a diesel train, and they’re quite fuel-efficient. It would make total sense to electrify the upcoming Orange and Blue lines, as those will be proper light rail lines with much more frequent and consistent service, but for the Red Line it’s simply not feasible.

@nishiljaiswal2216

Жыл бұрын

The redline is used by freight as well

@Joesolo13

Жыл бұрын

@@nishiljaiswal2216 the Northeast Corridor is fully electrified and freight trains run underneath the wires sometimes. If the free companies were smart they'd get dual mode locomotives and pay to use the overhead power while in the city. Save fuel and less emissions in a relatively densely populated area

I am really disappointed that nobody asked either of the obvious questions: 1) what has happened to the tax revenue the city has collected so far? 2) Is there evidence that there is demand for the lines that exceeds the disruption to surface transit? Journalists would ask.

We real need the light rails

Should be elevated between the downtown subway and at grade in the outskirts

Oh my god, don’t do surface rail. Why would you design a metro that can get stuck in traffic? Take a look at on-time percentages in San Francisco’s surface running light rail. They’re abysmal.

At least Austin has SOMETHING. I live in San Antonio and this city is absolutely hopeless.

@G.G_one

10 ай бұрын

You’re not lying…

As current bus operator. I heard from one of the customer he wants to abolish public transit.

Just go right down guad or Lamar it’s not that complicated. Look at Portland just build above ground.

@stillnotspicy

Жыл бұрын

i think that the section on guadalupe from triangle to a bit of south austin should just be elevated. no tunnels. its cost effective and provides shade for people below. it would give a very queens nyc vibe in the area. they should start construction on that segment now and then after it opens add more extensions.

Every international airport should have some form of rail to downtown.

Build ‘em up

As long as it's not built at surface-level, idc

@roalvarez

Жыл бұрын

Guess what's going to end up happening.

@cyclingtexas1670

Жыл бұрын

Should be in a tunnel downtown to the university and grade separated throughout the rest of the corridor. With all the money that the federal government throws at Ukraine they could’ve built this line 10x over. Frustrating. Each minute they wait the price goes up and the risk of them scrapping the project goes up.

Dallas and Denver are some of the worst performing rail systems in the country when you look at rail miles per population.

@schwenda3727

Жыл бұрын

And isn’t DART’s average frequency even lower than systems in significantly smaller places like St. Louis (Metrolink) or even KCs growing streetcar line(s)? The latter having 10 minute frequency at the right times?

@gametime-bw3zk

Жыл бұрын

i love using dallas' DART. saves me lots of parking $ at airports and gas costs getting to downtown D or FW. but i'm from northern city where no one wants to deal with city parking. prefer DART to nyc, chgo, sf and many other rail systems in u.s. cleaner, newer, less crowded, less hassles, easier access, free parking

DART canceled the Dtown Subway line

This reporter has such an early 00s look

The thing is that invest

"How to include more people" = How can we NGOs shake down the government for more grift.

My new idea san antonio will have this bring in thousands of jobs also my new idea Rochester ny to have this to nyc bring in thousands of jobs

Sounds like this is never going to get done, TBH.

At grade, light rail in Houston is horrible. Slow, it floods, and lots of collisions with cars. Learn something from Houston's mistakes.

@durece100

2 ай бұрын

This is an diseal Light rail instead of overhead catenary.

It's in the $$$$!

Has there ever been a light rail project that made the slightest dent in freeway traffic?

@EnjoyFirefighting

Жыл бұрын

ask yourself where the passengers from those trains would be if they weren't on the train ...

@rayanstar7

Жыл бұрын

Literally every thoughtfully designed ones

@rory-red

Жыл бұрын

cities had light rail back early 1900s when cars was 1st invented but Oil Corps lobbied to get rid of them all.

@m--a

Жыл бұрын

Yes, apparently cities with better transit have up to 7% less congestion.

hello Boring Company

As with ‘any’ construction in Austin, please allow 30 years for such stupid studies such misplacing an endangered butterfly 🦋 species, before even one line is constructed. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Rail to the airport Rail to the airport Rail to the airport

"Pick up steam?" really? this pun isn't even correct. These aren't steam powered trains.

dallas is better.

@gametime-bw3zk

Жыл бұрын

i enjoy using DART and TRE in Dallas. saves me a lot of $ and hassle. better than nyc, chgo, sf and boston rail systems. i'm so glad i took time to learn how to use DART and TRE

🕵🏼🕵🏼🕵🏼 they should investigate I think they’re just stealing money by using their people I was happening other cities as a private investigator. We had to investigate a water board and they were all stealing money from the city.

Those two years when you were denied work because of the pandemic, these people got paid also got their health care and nothing to show for it.

@truedarklander

Жыл бұрын

who's "these" people

@frank8878

Жыл бұрын

@@truedarklander the ones telling you to shut-down.

@rituwebpro

9 ай бұрын

but in those 2 years. The retarded texas department of transportation is able to make an expressway on 183A. Its also able to make an expansion on I35

Anyone else think cars will drive themselves by the time this thing is done? And in the process all we've done is raise property tax & rent in the process?

@Joesolo13

Жыл бұрын

They might, but that won't fix the fact that there's more cars trying to go into a space than there is room for them. You're always going to get traffic even with autonomous cars, it just might be slightly more efficient

Was it Newsom who started something like this and never Completed the project! He kelp several million dollars!

@Token_Nerd

Жыл бұрын

No, if you're referring to CAHSR, Newsom never started it, his predecessor Jerry Brown did. Costs increased significantly on the project and Newsom approved decisions made by the CAHSR authority to stage the project differently. It's being built right now, but through central California before the line enters San Francisco and Los Angeles, where massive tunnels are going to be built.

@truedarklander

Жыл бұрын

@@Token_Nerd CAHSR is not similar at all to Connect. I believe they might be referring to the Arrow in some sense?

@MarloSoBalJr

Жыл бұрын

HSR and light rail are not the same sweetheart Plus, California HSR is hindered by geography and... politics.

@MagicalBread

Жыл бұрын

You’re factually incorrect. The California HSR project was started by his predecessor, and it’s not his fault that the project has stalled. It’s politics and severe feet dragging.

@truedarklander

Жыл бұрын

@@MagicalBread I believe he isn't referring to CAHSR but the Arrow or the CalTrain electrification

Wasteof time and money, you gotta have a car in the land of milk and honey😎

@lamegaming9835

Жыл бұрын

…which is why their building this you genius

@MarloSoBalJr

Жыл бұрын

Wouldn't it benefit you more as a car owner if it means less UT students and 9-5 commuters sharing the road with you, genius?

@Throughthelurkingglass

Жыл бұрын

@@MarloSoBalJr I try to stay off the roads during that time, rush hour in Austin is wild, but I'm usually headed to work at 6 something, and leaving 6 or 7. Who really wants to be at the mercy of a system, as soon as I got a car, I'll keep one till I die, true freedom. Lived in Midland 10 years, you're really screwed if you don't have a car out there The best thing that could happen is everyone has their own 🚗, but that's probably blasphemy at this point😠

@Throughthelurkingglass

Жыл бұрын

@@MarloSoBalJr and as far as the crossings go, I've been forced to stop for a non coming bus or stopping bus so many times, same thing in FW, I think they got a station close to some intersection that you gotta wait on it to stop, unload and load. But above that, everything car focused, half the restaurants drive thru only, one time I was walking g through a Walmart parking lot 10 min from the house, wanted Wendy's, they was closed, I walked home drove back and placed my order loud AF. So many ways this world punks you if you're not fully mobile. Handicaps, old folks, students obviously but ain't our metro top rate.

@Throughthelurkingglass

Жыл бұрын

@@MarloSoBalJr But I've never understood the fascination with the Park and Ride, and the parking lots are always full at them, can you help me out with that one?

No get rid of this it is so bad, and actually makes traffic worse ! Waste of taxpayers money

@cthre

Жыл бұрын

what am i reading

@meowforever330

Жыл бұрын

it will actually be more effective at reducing traffic than adding another lane at a highway... getting at least a few thousand people off their cars to ride the public transportation is wayyy better at solving traffic than investing at expanding a highway that will get clogged anyways no matter what lane expansion you do. USA Deserves to have a good Public Transportation.

@theexcaliburone5933

Жыл бұрын

Do learning broman

@Ry_TSG

Жыл бұрын

just build another traffic lane right?

@truthserum6808

Жыл бұрын

Austin actually needs both. A light rail system…with 2 tracks for its entire length AND I-35 needs to be expanded by 1-2 lanes and into an underground tunnel through downtown & remove that weird elevated “express” lane configuration 🚊+🛣️