5 ms·

And traffic out the wazoo, and few good alternatives to driving.

sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
The traffic in Texas is significantly better than SF and LA. My parents live in a suburb that is 25 miles from the Houston and it takes 45 minutes to get to downtown during commute hours. My girlfriend has an equivalent commute in the Bay which takes around 75-90 minutes during commute hours. The public transit is terrible in Texas so I expect it will be worse than the Bay in a decade or two if they refuse to build up transit, but for now it's a lot better. Texas has a lot more space so they've addressed traffic issues by building much wider highways and also multiple rings of highways. Obviously that's an unsustainable solution in the long term but for the time being, my Texas friends have way better commutes than what I see my co-workers deal with in the bay. We shouldn't really be criticizing other states when California is definitely not the model for transit and traffic either. LA is a nightmare and SF is getting close to one as more and more tech companies move away from transit centers and force employees to drive.
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  Texas is significantly worse than SF for anyone who doesn't have a car. There aren't good alternatives to driving to get around there. The traffic principally affects you if you drive, hence why Texas is often worse even now than SF.
  - sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
    In Texas, you are forced to drive because there isn't public transit. In California, you are forced to drive because you have to live far away from transit centers in order to find affordable housing. Regardless if you look at commuter data, it's pretty obvious that the Bay Area & LA commuters are significantly higher than Texas metros. We have higher median, average, and extremes in commute times: https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/22/bay-area-traffic-delays-rank-second-longest-in-nation/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/22/bay-area-traffic-dela... https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/traffic-trains-or-teleconference-the-changing-american-commute/ https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/traffic-trains-or-...
- scurvy 7y ago
  Dallas is terribad. At least it was in 1999 when I lived there. I can't believe that there are fewer people on the road and less traffic now than then. Fun trivia tip: the opening scene of "Office Space" with the old person and walker going faster than traffic was filmed in Las Colinas (where I worked at the time).
  - kodablah 7y ago
    It has gotten better in 20 years (that's way too long to retain judgement on transportation). Not a ton better, but since most of these companies aren't moving to Dallas proper, it's moot anyways.
    - scurvy 7y ago
      How did they remove the cars from the road? I'd imagine traffic at the mixmaster and various loops are still terrible. I had a reverse commute (Lower McKinney to Las Colinas), and I'd see gridlock the entire way there (other direction).
fzeroracer 7y ago
It's going to be funny in 5-10 years when the major Texas cities become the next SF because none of them are planning for any sort of large population growth. Austin already suffers from horrific traffic and poor infrastructure. City planning here is a joke.
- kyleblarson 7y ago
  Even that seems better than dealing with SF's bullshit for the next 5-10 years.
- xenospn 7y ago
  Austin really is a small town, tho. You can see all of downtown from your hotel room, and the rest is just suburbs.
  - JBReefer 7y ago
    Austin is significantly larger than SF lol
- rory096 7y ago
  Austin has been attempting to create a plan for an extensive zoning rewrite for the last several years. It recently restarted after the previous attempt was abandoned in August 2018 (after spending $8.5 million on consultants) because "it became a political lightning rod for preservationists and neighborhood groups who warned the effort would upend longtime neighborhoods." https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-codenext-is-here-austin-releases-first.html https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-...
  - bretthoerner 7y ago
    Correct, but this time we brought in a new City Manager to handle the code. He just came from Minneapolis, see what they've done: https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family-zoning-housing-racism.html https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family... We also voted in a city council that is majority pro-density/urbanist, and the new code timeline claims it should be voted in early next year: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code-draft-map https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code... We still have very loud neighborhood NIMBY groups. But the votes are what matters. I'm hopeful. As for the grandparent, this doesn't mean suburban traffic will improve. I doubt it ever will, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand -- I recommend relocating to walkable/bikeable/busable parts of town, which are expanding (albeit slowly, because of pushback from drivers).
Aloha 7y ago
DFW Traffic isn't that bad - noticeably better than Seattle - where I last lived before moving here.
- galangalalgol 7y ago
  Seattle has become an extreme. DC at its worst i only slightly worse than the constant hell that is Seattle. And friday night near pikes? Yikes.

The traffic in Texas is significantly better than SF and LA. My parents live in a suburb that is 25 miles from the Houston and it takes 45 minutes to get to downtown during commute hours. My girlfriend has an equivalent commute in the Bay which takes around 75-90 minutes during commute hours. The public transit is terrible in Texas so I expect it will be worse than the Bay in a decade or two if they refuse to build up transit, but for now it's a lot better. Texas has a lot more space so they've addressed traffic issues by building much wider highways and also multiple rings of highways. Obviously that's an unsustainable solution in the long term but for the time being, my Texas friends have way better commutes than what I see my co-workers deal with in the bay. We shouldn't really be criticizing other states when California is definitely not the model for transit and traffic either. LA is a nightmare and SF is getting close to one as more and more tech companies move away from transit centers and force employees to drive.

CydeWeys 7y ago
Texas is significantly worse than SF for anyone who doesn't have a car. There aren't good alternatives to driving to get around there. The traffic principally affects you if you drive, hence why Texas is often worse even now than SF.
- sdnlafkjh34rw 7y ago
  In Texas, you are forced to drive because there isn't public transit. In California, you are forced to drive because you have to live far away from transit centers in order to find affordable housing. Regardless if you look at commuter data, it's pretty obvious that the Bay Area & LA commuters are significantly higher than Texas metros. We have higher median, average, and extremes in commute times: https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/22/bay-area-traffic-delays-rank-second-longest-in-nation/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/22/bay-area-traffic-dela... https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/traffic-trains-or-teleconference-the-changing-american-commute/ https://www.apartmentlist.com/rentonomics/traffic-trains-or-...
scurvy 7y ago
Dallas is terribad. At least it was in 1999 when I lived there. I can't believe that there are fewer people on the road and less traffic now than then. Fun trivia tip: the opening scene of "Office Space" with the old person and walker going faster than traffic was filmed in Las Colinas (where I worked at the time).
- kodablah 7y ago
  It has gotten better in 20 years (that's way too long to retain judgement on transportation). Not a ton better, but since most of these companies aren't moving to Dallas proper, it's moot anyways.
  - scurvy 7y ago
    How did they remove the cars from the road? I'd imagine traffic at the mixmaster and various loops are still terrible. I had a reverse commute (Lower McKinney to Las Colinas), and I'd see gridlock the entire way there (other direction).

fzeroracer 7y ago

It's going to be funny in 5-10 years when the major Texas cities become the next SF because none of them are planning for any sort of large population growth. Austin already suffers from horrific traffic and poor infrastructure. City planning here is a joke.

kyleblarson 7y ago
Even that seems better than dealing with SF's bullshit for the next 5-10 years.
xenospn 7y ago
Austin really is a small town, tho. You can see all of downtown from your hotel room, and the rest is just suburbs.
- JBReefer 7y ago
  Austin is significantly larger than SF lol
rory096 7y ago
Austin has been attempting to create a plan for an extensive zoning rewrite for the last several years. It recently restarted after the previous attempt was abandoned in August 2018 (after spending $8.5 million on consultants) because "it became a political lightning rod for preservationists and neighborhood groups who warned the effort would upend longtime neighborhoods." https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-codenext-is-here-austin-releases-first.html https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/10/04/the-next-...
- bretthoerner 7y ago
  Correct, but this time we brought in a new City Manager to handle the code. He just came from Minneapolis, see what they've done: https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family-zoning-housing-racism.html https://slate.com/business/2018/12/minneapolis-single-family... We also voted in a city council that is majority pro-density/urbanist, and the new code timeline claims it should be voted in early next year: https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code-draft-map https://www.austintexas.gov/department/land-development-code... We still have very loud neighborhood NIMBY groups. But the votes are what matters. I'm hopeful. As for the grandparent, this doesn't mean suburban traffic will improve. I doubt it ever will, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand -- I recommend relocating to walkable/bikeable/busable parts of town, which are expanding (albeit slowly, because of pushback from drivers).

Aloha 7y ago

DFW Traffic isn't that bad - noticeably better than Seattle - where I last lived before moving here.

galangalalgol 7y ago
Seattle has become an extreme. DC at its worst i only slightly worse than the constant hell that is Seattle. And friday night near pikes? Yikes.