Delayed in Austin

Everyone who has been to Austin, and tried to get from North Austin to South Austin or the other way round during rush hour has experienced the trouble of traffic. In 2009, Austin was ranked the third worst city concerning traffic in the U.S.. Back then, even New York drivers were better off than the ones in Austin. In the same statistic, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston follow close behind. Even Corpus Christi and El Paso made it into the top 14 list. Obviously Austin isn't the only city in Texas with a traffic problem. It seems to span across the state.

Austin is smaller than the two cities that have worse traffic (Los Angeles and Washington). But here we get to one of the problems Austin has: it has grown a lot in the past one and a half decades. And it is expanding even more. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. It is expanding faster than the network of travel is expanding. But is the question how we got to the traffic problem, or how we get out of it? It is definitely more helpful for people to find a way out of it.

All these troubles considered, a solution has to be found.

I-35 was extended to four lanes in downtown and north of it. However, traffic is still bad. A possibility could be to extend I-35 below the ground. But this isn't a solution that would help traffic any time soon, since that project would take years and worsen the traffic during the time of construction.

Expanding the train system could be considered as well. The plans for it would have to be made very carefully though. The train system in Austin wouldn't work as the one in New York or major European cities such as London and Paris, since the area that needs to be covered, is way bigger but needs more stops. The system of busses would have to be adjusted to train or subway stops, so that the two systems could work together well. To realize plans like this, the area would have to be found to add tracks to the city. People would have to give up their land to let the city use it, which most people of course wouldn't like to do.

Another possibility to consider would be a car-free zone downtown. People who work downtown would either commute there with trains, and only drive their cars to the train stations, or park close to downtown. If they parked close to downtown, parking possibilities would have to be built for them.

Everyone who commutes over the river, knows that crossing it is one of the worst parts of the traffic hazard. Getting over the few bridges can take a tremendous amount of time during rush hour. The only solution to that would be less cars or more bridges.

All these are only ideas that should have been considered when the city started growing rapidly. But nobody seemed to have made a real plan. Any solution will need construction, and construction needs time, whether bridges, highways or railway systems are extended. So when are the plans for this finally ready to be made real? One thing is clear: the traffic situation in Austin won't change any time soon. They waited way to long for a change to happen.