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The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

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Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#31

Post by mikepurvis »

basil-rash wrote: post #12
albrewer wrote: post #10

Earlier 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”.

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.)

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#32

Post by sarchertech »

tensor wrote: post #18
bombcar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The San Diego - LA basin is moderately well covered, but the train is still slower than driving - most of the time. Unless you have exceptionally fast and direct rail, the train is almost always slower than driving, even in Europe, when counted door to door.

This is definitely not true. Europes high speed trains are far far faster than driving. For example, Rome to Milan via italo is 3h - 3h 40min while driving is 6h. Even the "normal high speed" train is only ~5h. Similarly Marseille to Paris is only 3.5h by train while driving is almost 8h. It entirely depends on your source and destination. Between major economic hubs train is usually faster than driving, and as you c…

The OP said “unless you have exceptionally fast rail” and was talking door to door. When you add in getting to the station, waiting on a train to arrive, and getting from the station to your destination, the average speed of the train does need to be a good deal faster.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#33

Post by bradstewart »

leetharris wrote: post #21
matthewfcarlson wrote: post #5

As 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.

Check out Vonlane. They are deluxe buses that cover the Texas triangle. We use them for work to move our guys between Houston / Austin regularly and people seem to love it. It's pretty cheap, comfortable, and has wifi.

Came here to say this. Great service.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#34

Post by NewJazz »

basil-rash wrote: post #8
laweijfmvo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

other than maybe parts of the Northeast Corridor, do any of the othe "megaregions" solve that problem?

LA/OxnardVentura/SanDiego is an easy train. As is Portland/Seattle.

Train tracks to SD get washed away every year it seems.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#35

Post by dylan604 »

majormajor wrote: post #20
albrewer wrote: post #10

Earlier 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.

> Since Texas is loath to use eminent domain, the planning phase has been stalled for a loooong time. Is this a state policy? It isn't necessarily a city one, see https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article2... and related which I've seen pop up in the news at time for decades. "The City Council has authorized the use of eminent domain 29 times in the past two years, the most the city has used the lan…

Yes, it's a state thing. Getting city people aligned is much easier because the area is much smaller in total area, as well as the parcels of land are smaller. Once you get into the open land outside of the city, the parcels of land become larger with smaller number of owners that are very loath to allow the state to "come and take it". You might get one person to agree, but then the surrounding owners say no, and the route has to change yet again.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#36

Post by NewJazz »

tantalor wrote: post #13
flerchin wrote: post #3

Megaregions as a concept seems to make sense. Even as a resident of the aforementioned triangle, I'm not sure that we have much evidence for Texas exceptionalism here.

The article tries & fails to convey this megaregion is "distinctive". Main pieces of evidence it offers are, 1. Distinctive set of demographic and economic realities This is not a very compelling argument. Different places have different people. We should not be surprised by this observation. 2. Integrated economic system within a single state Same article also cites other one-state megaregions like Florida, Southern…

Don't forget the triangle shape! Unleash the power of the pyramid!

Much better than boring old oval megaregions.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#37

Post by jolt42 »

ilaksh wrote: post #25

Not sure if this is relevant or not, but the SpaceX "Starbase" is in deep south Texas, and so is the cross border region. I suspect that a comprehensive analysis would probably include the interface between the "Triangle" and the border region.

That's as far away as "Nawlins" from the triangle, so I don't see why it's relevant.

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#38

Post by balderdash »

albrewer wrote: post #10
matthewfcarlson wrote: post #5

As 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.

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.

Texas is very willing to use eminent domain, but perhaps not for rail projects or there are different statues for such a project. The use of eminent domain is pretty common for pipeline projects

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#39

Post by NewJazz »

ryandrake wrote: post #30
keiferski wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I question the usefulness of the concept if stretched too thin. It has Chicago and Pittsburgh in the same megaregion and yet I don’t think those two places interact much at all. I can buy SoCal, the Bay Area, and Boston-DC as megaregions though.

I have a minor nitpick with the shapes. There is a lot of wide-open nothingness under these "mega" region shapes. Washington DC to Boston should be more of a long rectangle, as the rest of upstate PA and NY are basically empty woods. Most of the region south of Orlando are mangroves and swamp. The NorCal one should be a line from SF to San Jose. Although Sacramento is growing, it's quite distinct from the bay area, a…

Shhh don't think this hard about it, the concept will fall apart and we won't be able to salivate over our lovely triangle!

Re: The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others (2021)

#40

Post by comicjk »

spxneo wrote: post #27

Megaregions is nothing new but lately seem to be a testing the waters for an independent Texas state. I feel like articles like this is mentally preparing the American public for a potential secession states forming post-election.

Texas is not going to secede. In the 2020 election, the vote was 52:46 between Trump and Biden, meaning almost half the state supported the overall national winner. Compare this to the actual secession crisis election in 1860, where the vote was 75:24 against the pro-Union candidate, with Lincoln not even on the ballot in the state.
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