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The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
111–120 of 139 posts
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#112As someone who recently moved to the Texas triangle, I’m baffled by the lack of good transportation options between the three cities. It’s a 3-4 hour drive and while there is a train, freight gets priority. So the train takes anywhere from 3-7 hours. You can fly but with security any sort of delay and it would faster to drive.
other than maybe parts of the Northeast Corridor, do any of the othe "megaregions" solve that problem?
Basically every city near Chicago has a decent train line to get there.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is context dependent. In Texas traffic outside of the cities isn't that bad and so slow speed trains are much slower than driving. Inside the city of course traffic is a factor, but even then I'd expect in the normal case you get beyond traffic in a short time and then driving is much faster. And of course driving is door to door so you don't have to figure out time to/from the stations, waiting on trains and re…
If a train is fast, it's going through uninhabited areas (no stops). The moment you start having relatively frequent stops is when the average speed goes down. That's not to say we shouldn't have the trains, it's part of the entire transportation package. The key is you build the transportation framework first, and let the city grow up around it.
The train is the most convenient method of mid distance inter-city travel in the UK because it’s so fast. Nobody’s driving the 4 hours between London and Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds for a business meeting when the train takes 2 hours.
Inter city trains in the UK aren’t running on dedicated high speed lines - they’re Victorian routes, pass through plenty of stops on the way and are generally 2 or 4 tracks.
They do have priority over freight though - which along with incremental upgrades over decades means the trains can run at 125mph for parts of their routes.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Unions hold countries hostage by closing down rail or airports. Still, a solution that doesn't cost 1 billion dollars per person is always found. Sure. It's often found in the form of a court decision. > Imagine you offer them 2-10x market value. With a confidentiality clause. And the threat of confiscation or project abandonment. I believe an amiable solution would be found in most cases. Sure - in most cases. And…
> And for the ones that won't? Then you confiscate, sure. And show publicly that you offered 10x and were refused. But not confiscation by default, in all cases. I guess my argument is that if you really want something, you better pay up. Like for anything else, from cars and boats to 10x developers. What if the government could come to you whenever they want and say: I forcefully require your work and talent and I w…
> But not confiscation by default, in all cases.
They don't (at least, I don't think they do).
I don't know if I said something that you interpreted as "confiscate first", but that was not what I meant.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#115Caveat emptor. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/02/university-texas-aus... https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/09/texas-legislature-ab... Said it for years, thinking you're safe because you live in a comparatively liberal community or subculture within a state dominated by right wing zealots is foolish in the extreme. They "came" for "immigrants," trans kids, gay marriage, women's rights, etc., and they're going…
Half of the people of Texas would say "Bless your heart, stay where you're happy" and the other half would say "Come on! We need more like you"
One half should really reconsider who they vote for, then.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, China has 45,000 kilometers of HSR and the US has zero. So I'm not saying that taking people's houses to build public infrastructure is always the right thing to do, but there's a case to be made for a more balanced view than just "never". (Also China is a huge, spread out place just like the US, so miss me with those arguments about that being the reason passenger rail doesn't work here.)
But you're totally ignoring the Texas ethos. I'm going to do whatever I want on my land, and I don't want your train that does absolutely nothing for me to cut through my property is a very common point of view. As a land owner, you never get back once it's been given away. They only continue to want to take more. You do it once, you just show you're willing. This is something that takes the land away forever, not le…
> Generational land ownership is a helluva drug
Feudal lords like lording it.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
A plan to connect Houston to Dallas with a bullet train has been grinding its way along for years now[0]. Since Texas is loath to use eminent domain, the planning phase has been stalled for a loooong time. [0]: https://www.texascentral.com/project/ Edit: Whoops, wrong project. Still, the plans are there, we just need willing politicians.
Rephrased, Texans think the rights of private land owners matter more than the latest politician’s talking points. The people downvoting this have clearly never had government agents steal anything from them. Or believe that when they do, it’s always “for the greater good”.
Unsupported statements that are myopic deserve a downvote. You assume to know what others believe, and would assume to know their past as well.
Overall, it doesn't really strike me that Texas is actually any different from any other state West of the Mississippi. Do you have the data to show otherwise? As-is, in Texas: "Private property can include land and certain improvements that are on that property. Private property may only be taken by a governmental entity or private entity that is authorized by law to do so. Your property may be taken only for a public purpose." [1]
I'm curious if anyone knows of certain restrictions that exist in Texas that do not exist in other states. I would tend to assume that Texas is actually just exactly like the rest of the country when it comes to eminent domain laws.
As for reasons to up-vote or downvote.. There's an interesting history for the national highway system, eminent domain was used very heavily to build highways through the centers of virtually all major cities west of the Mississippi. For sure, it was not the rich parts of the cities that were plowed. So, even a stereo-typical twitter "left'ish" might disagree with you that they must believe eminent domain to be a good thing and always for the greater good. To this extent, I feel your comment is more talking points than actual dialog.
What's more, nobody should ever assume to know what someone else believes, or to assume to know their history. One problem with the human mind, it has trouble grasping that there are 9 billion individuals on this planet who are all different from one another, each and every single one of them.
[1] https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/agency/landowner...
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So the government is in a position of "we'll give you X for this, but if you don't agree we'll just take it from you", which is a... non-Texan position for government to be in, to say the least. Texas government doesn't seem to have that reservation when it comes to highway expansions within cities, that's for sure.
Good point. But highway expansions have localized benefits in ways trains don't. Everyone "knows" that another lane would fix everything on their daily commute, so amassing the political capital to make it happen isn't too hard. But a train to connect distant region X to distant region Y, by taking land from folks who hardly ever make that trip anyways? Harder sell.
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Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rephrased, Texans think the rights of private land owners matter more than the latest politician’s talking points. The people downvoting this have clearly never had government agents steal anything from them. Or believe that when they do, it’s always “for the greater good”.
How do you the weigh the transportation rights of many against the property rights of one?
What’s this “transportation right” you speak of? The right to roam isn’t guaranteed by the constitution, but protection against unlawful seizure of private property is. We should be careful to not conflate the rights actually guaranteed to us by the law of the land with things that various individuals feel are “nice to have”. And certainly not deprioritize the former in favor of the latter.
Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
LA/OxnardVentura/SanDiego is an easy train. As is Portland/Seattle.
Does the Portland/Seattle train get priority over freight?
Probably not, but then why should it? Freight is a massive industry for port cities, not to mention the huge amount of downstream folks across the country that depend on them. A few folks being a bit later on their already-long journey is hardly too steep a price to pay for the continued efficiency of the rail network.