Mopac express lane

[TheDan]

Seeing as the lane was intended for public transit buses, registered vanpools and emergency vehicles, I would assume chances of not being stuck behind one or the other are probably nil.

Right. It was retarded from inception

 

[Se7en62]

Right. It was retarded from inception

Bingo.

An "Express Lane" for BUSES.

Which is why Austin needs to rid itself of it's current City Counsel. I can't believe Zimmerman lost his seat on it, because he was the ONLY voice of reason on it.

 

[Brojon]

Seeing as the lane was intended for public transit buses, registered vanpools and emergency vehicles, I would assume chances of not being stuck behind one or the other are probably nil.

And there's the rub. It was sold as a traffic congestion measure. After approval then they start morphing into their real intent which is a social experiment to more or less force people to ride public transportation. They stated for the record that the toll can increase up to something like $3 per segment which is just absurd - and they admitted it was to *discourage* people from using it to the detriment of mass transit.
Problem is they can't even get that right - I looked into buses to go to work downtown - it would cost me way more than I pay for gas and the schedules are all borked for the times I go.
I'm really tired of the hippy socialist regime in Austin - typical Democrats with their grand sounding ill-conceived socialist experiments.
Also in that toll report - you see the one where they are starting a 100% taxpayer funded project that will be a toll road even though it's fully 100% taxpayer funded? To top it off they gave the foreign toll administration agency $500,000 - for what exactly? Why is this even a toll road? Apparently they've given up any pretense of tolls being a way to fund roads and are just making new cash cows at our expense.

 

[AustinN4]

Also in that toll report - you see the one where they are starting a 100% taxpayer funded project that will be a toll road even though it's fully 100% taxpayer funded? To top it off they gave the foreign toll administration agency $500,000 - for what exactly? Why is this even a toll road?

Sounds like a good class-action lawsuit to me.

 

[lightflyer1]

Tried it out today... Promptly got stuck behind a van going 65mph. Cars in the normal lanes were passing us. Why the hell is this thing only one lane? WTF is express about it?

Well the speed limit is 65 mph. It isn't pay your toll and its the Autobahn with unlimited speeds. If cars in the normal lanes were going faster than you, you made a poor choice to get in a one lane restricted access roadway. Those that obey the speed limit aren't doing anything wrong.

 

[Charlie]

God Bless Kerr County!

 

[TreyG-20]

Tried it out today... Promptly got stuck behind a van going 65mph. Cars in the normal lanes were passing us. Why the hell is this thing only one lane? WTF is express about it?

Hahaha! Same thing happen to me this afternoon. Rooms to go van doing 64 in the "express lane" with the other lanes traveling around 75. Other times I have been on mopar since that lane opened I have seen groups of cars stuck behind slow moving vehicles. They should ticket anyone under 70 in that lane.

 

[BRD@66]

God Bless Kerr County!

The only traffic problem I've had there, is getting from Goat Creek Cut-off to Del Norte restaurant for breakfast on a Saturday morning.

 

[TheDan]

Well the speed limit is 65 mph. It isn't pay your toll and its the Autobahn with unlimited speeds. If cars in the normal lanes were going faster than you, you made a poor choice to get in a one lane restricted access roadway. Those that obey the speed limit aren't doing anything wrong.

I don't fault them for going 65mph. Everyone should drive the speed they feel comfortable going. The problem is with the design of it being a single lane. It's a bad design for emergencies as well.

 

[zincwarrior]

I've given up completely on Mopac. Hell, I gave up on Austin traffic before I even moved here. Heard too many horror stories.

Houstonians think people who complain about Austin traffic are funny...

 

[Vaquero]

I drove 310 miles today.
Most of it on 114.
Traffic was nil.
Scenery was awesome.

Mopac sucks.

 

[Darkpriest667]

I've driven in every major city in the US except NYC... Austin is by far the worst... It's a city of 1 million people with the road infrastructure for a city of 250k... MOPAC is a nightmare... Austin is the only place I've ever been where I was in a traffic jam at 1am for no reason.

 

[pronstar]

Austin is the only place I've ever been where I was in a traffic jam at 1am for no reason.

Regular occurrence in LA/Southern CA

The worst was when caltrans ran road-cleaning sweeper trains during rush hour. Happened at least twice a month on my hour-long commute.

But I do agree Austin is bad.

 

[TheDan]

I average about 14mph to and from work

 

[Armybrat]

If going to visit family in South Austin from Brushy Creek by Round Rock, we usually take 45 to 130 down to 71 then over to Ben White.

 

[AustinN4]

I average about 14mph to and from work

That is because you are slow.

 

[TheDan]

 

[jmohme]

I call it "No Go No Mo pac"
I really try my best not to drive in Austin at all.

 

[lightflyer1]

I just try and drive at off hours when possible and avoid the toll roads.

 

[TheDan]

I really don't know why I keep trying it out... Was going pretty good for a bit, but then we got stuck behind this road crew going 17mph