February 19, 2003
The geniuses at TXDOT/link
183 Ramp Now Closed
Ok, guys. You just built the flyover from 35N to 183N a couple of years ago. You built one from 183S to 35S at the same time. First you did a half-assed job, only doing two of the possible four connections of two of the busiest highways in town. You only put one lane on each of the ramps, instantly creating another bottleneck.
You also apparently failed to remember that I-35 is one of the busiest interstates in the country. Didn't you notice that you had an on-ramp onto I-35 that that forced you immediately onto the flyover? Was it not obvious that a lot of people would be trying to get to the ramp in a very short distance?
Now everyone trying to go south on 183 will be forced to exit at St. John's, which is already dangerous enough because of the cross-traffic from people trying to get onto 35N from the frontage road or exit the interstate and go to Pappadeaux and Pappasito's.
Great planning, guys.
TxDOT says that light will be rephased to add more green time
There now. Don't you feel redressed?
No.
No no no!
The traffic light is the least of their problems. All they've done is forced half the cars to fight across a different, equally busy stream of traffic.
There's probably a half-dozen other places around town where they do this, too.
For starters:
183N exit to 360
I-35S lower deck to downtown exits
Oh, and I wish I'd included this quote in my original rant.
"We've got, like, five different movements at that location," said John Hurt, Austin spokesman for the state Transportation Department. "There is just an awful lot going on there."
No shit, Hurtlock. Like, you didn't notice that when you designed the highways, like?
Thanks. How'd you find it?
Posted by: tkaspar at February 20, 2003 10:35 AMWell, if it helps any, it's getting press coverage
Posted by: The Man at March 3, 2003 10:03 PM