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A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

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Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#51

Post by kodablah »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #43
kodablah wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are so many reasons why people choose their home, job, and transportation [...] best way to change [...] make reasoned recommendations for change What if the citizenry is happy and doesn't want change? This option never seems to appear in suburban sprawl discussions because so many of the discussors think clearly it's not wanted. I think, especially compared to others, the county's situation is ideal for most…

Because after the initial debt laden spending spree results in happiness, once the bills for upkeep and debt service come due at the same time, the cuts in quality of life will then result in unhappiness. And now you have a bunch of wasted resources with not enough people to support them, and it causes more pollution. But it’s not reasonable to expect people to not be short sighted. If people really want the future t…

This has not been my experience, as I've seen many-decade old suburbs continue to thrive thanks to not being so short-sighted to promote extreme density. The ability to continually rebuild/improve with continual turnover is a great benefit compared to often decaying urban sectors missing replenishment.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#52

Post by JamesBarney »

xvedejas wrote: post #16
komali2 wrote: post #13

>Collin County has traffic problems. Collin County's traffic problems are a function of its land-use pattern—which spreads development extremely thin on the landscape, and segregates uses, ensuring that people have to make lengthy motor vehicle trips to accomplish pretty much every one of their day to day needs. The offered solution: >For automobile flooding (congestion), the only way to deal with it and still have a…

As someone who grew up in Collin county and now lives in SF, isn't zoning the reason there aren't more corner stores in either? I know Houston doesn't have a "proper" zoning system, but according to a developer friend of mine, their development regulations are actually much more strict than most places, with huge setback requirements for instance.

I can confirm we have huge setback and parking requirements. Which is great if you think parking lots are beautiful.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#53

Post by Pulcinella »

claydavisss wrote: post #35

Texas is big, red, suburban, and growing. Texas is a success despite basically doing the opposite of what New Urbanists say at every turn. This must really burn up writers at StrongTowns. The big problem for New Urbanists is the fact that dense cities seem to end up with more and more expensive problems than the burbs. Looking forward to a wave of Medium posts and Atlantic articles in 2021 professing a newfound love…

Texas is growing in general. People, especially younger people, are moving to Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin proper, not just the ‘burbs. There have been problems with this though. Apartments are going up like crazy in these cities, but they are mostly single and two bed room (roommate style), at least slightly upscale, apartments. A lot of us millionaire are finding we have to move to the suburbs, not because we want to, but because it’s the only place where there is housing that exists at all for families.

Also Dallas has the DART rail and it’s great. I do wish there were a lot more stops, but it’s well loved by millennials.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#54

Post by bobthepanda »

closeparen wrote: post #20
ip26 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there isn't usually a direct counterargument to be found. One of ST's core points is, hey, you're deluding yourself because you're not accounting for eventual repair costs of all the infrastructure you've already got. There is either no reply- because, heads in the sand- or the reply is that all the new people who will move there and the growth of the tax base will make it affordable. Which, while not exactly…

I'll try: Strong Towns' predictions of future maintenance-debt doom are already true today of the urbanist, transit-centric alternative. If any group of Americans had sufficient motivation and resources to maintain a good public transit system, it would be New Yorkers, and they empirically don't. The MTA is deteriorating rapidly despite the best efforts of one of the richest cities in the world. That's textbook "unsu…

New York's MTA, and the general budgetary situation, is mostly mismanaged, not impossible to keep up. And New York certainly doesn't get its fair share of the tax money raised within its city limits; not from the state and not from the federal government.

Consider that Nassau County, home of the first suburbs and one of the wealthiest counties in America by median income, has been under state fiscal control since 2000 because it simply cannot balance a budget. New York City infrastructure looks downright peachy compared to Nassau's troubles.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#55

Post by Pulcinella »

wemdyjreichert wrote: post #44

As someone who lives in Texas: I will never bike, but probably not for the reason you're thinking of. Rather, I won't because of heat. Days can hit 100 in high summer and 90% humidity. Many people supporting the "everyone should just bike" idea live in SF or New England. This means they don't realize quite how hot it is for much of the year. And though they may say it gets cold there, you can always add another coat.…

Yeah I also live in Texas and can confirm this. Unless your work has a shower and everything, your coworkers will hate being around you if you bike to work. And even then it’s a miserable experience.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#56

Post by bobthepanda »

closeparen wrote: post #25
ip26 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a good point, public transit is not immune to ignoring future costs. However- The real doom is when people abandon the town or city because property taxes have to be hiked dramatically to pay for the bill come due. This drives people to leave, which drives taxes higher, which drives people to leave... This kills the city. New York & the train system there has big problems. But because there are so many people…

New York isn't so much fixing it as adapting to a long-term future with fewer, slower, less predictable trains. Their only hope is a multi-decade-scale IT project (positive train control) which is to say, they have no hope. Adapting to worse mobility is also a thing you can do with roads. Drive slower over the potholes, close the lanes that are too far gone, revert to gravel if need be. I guess you could say that den…

> New York isn't so much fixing it as adapting to a long-term future with fewer, slower, less predictable trains. Their only hope is a multi-decade-scale IT project (positive train control) which is to say, they have no hope.

I think this is a gross exaggeration. New York's subway has pulled back from the precipice before; in the '70s the subway was literally falling to pieces on the ground, with routine derailments, trains running at 5MPH everywhere due to the state of the tracks, and record levels of crime. It got to the point where a triage plan suggested cutting out entire lines, including the L, which is now one of the most congested.

Today's issues can mostly be attributed to neoliberal City and State administrations (Giuliani, Pataki, Bloomberg, both Cuomos) that consistently cut MTA funding to tell a future national electorate that they balanced a budget. As a result the MTA took on debt, the interest of which is almost entirely responsible for all the fare hikes in recent memory.

Add in a near-crippling focus on safety in operations above all else, including speed, and it explains the current train unreliability.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#57

Post by Pulcinella »

kodablah wrote: post #51
lotsofpulp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because after the initial debt laden spending spree results in happiness, once the bills for upkeep and debt service come due at the same time, the cuts in quality of life will then result in unhappiness. And now you have a bunch of wasted resources with not enough people to support them, and it causes more pollution. But it’s not reasonable to expect people to not be short sighted. If people really want the future t…

This has not been my experience, as I've seen many-decade old suburbs continue to thrive thanks to not being so short-sighted to promote extreme density. The ability to continually rebuild/improve with continual turnover is a great benefit compared to often decaying urban sectors missing replenishment.

The Texas model has been to keep growing to the point where the old suburbs are now practically just part of their city.

Richardson (home of Texas Instruments) is literally* just another part of downtown Dallas now. In another decade, Oklahoma City will just be the newest suburb of Dallas.

*not literally. Though also not entirely a joke.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#58

Post by JJMcJ »

GavinMcG wrote: post #50
conductr wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The corner store solution is so bogus. Plano has tons of under utilized commercial space. Practically every intersection has 4 corners of partially vacant huge strip centers. People here choose to frequent the newer nicer always hip and usually chain oriented strip centers near the freeways (shops at legacy, legacy west) at the expense of supporting the interior commercial districts. So, I would say until traffic get…

"Corner store" doesn't mean a store at the corner of an intersection. It means the store you can walk to from your home, with many of the things you might need day to day. The term implies more density, rather than just being closer.

Like Manhattan were almost every block with apartments will have a small store.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#59

Post by shiftpgdn »

nikhizzle wrote: post #32
komali2 wrote: post #13

>Collin County has traffic problems. Collin County's traffic problems are a function of its land-use pattern—which spreads development extremely thin on the landscape, and segregates uses, ensuring that people have to make lengthy motor vehicle trips to accomplish pretty much every one of their day to day needs. The offered solution: >For automobile flooding (congestion), the only way to deal with it and still have a…

Out of curiosity, why do Texans dislike state income tax, but subject themselves to 2% property tax? This was one of my family's reasons to choose against moving there.

Property tax is variable from neighborhood to neighborhood. I pay 3.6%, some of my co-workers pay as high as 5.2% and some less than a fraction of a %.

Re: A Texas-Sized Pavement Problem

#60

Post by shiftpgdn »

wemdyjreichert wrote: post #44

As someone who lives in Texas: I will never bike, but probably not for the reason you're thinking of. Rather, I won't because of heat. Days can hit 100 in high summer and 90% humidity. Many people supporting the "everyone should just bike" idea live in SF or New England. This means they don't realize quite how hot it is for much of the year. And though they may say it gets cold there, you can always add another coat.…

This is what baby wipes are for.
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