- Memorial Hermann To Build 40-Acre Medical Campus in Pearland [Prime Property]
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- North Forest ISD Annexation into HISD Moving Forward, Effective July 1 [Houston Business Journal]
- Fewer People Want To Drive 85 MPH Than We Thought: Texas 130 Tollway Attracts Half the Predicted Traffic [Off the Kuff]
- Rice Design Alliance Home Tours Showcasing 10 Rice University Architects [Houston Business Journal]
Photo of US-59 at I-10: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Here’s the deal with SH 130.
I drove it within about a month of it having opened in order to go from north Austin to San Antonio. I had to stray pretty far from my usual route in order to do so, and so the practicality and novelty of speeding along at 90mph (because who was going to drive any posted speed limit in Texas?) was offset completely by the inefficiency of the route.
There is nothing to speak of along the route. Its great if you live in Lockhart or Gonzales, have a serious barbecue fixation, or are wanting to make some hog sausage, but other than that it really just does not go where people are going.
There is of course the caveat that bypassing rush hour traffic is awesome. But on the other hand, it wasn’t that bad south of SH 45 to begin with. And that’s the relevant section.
There are other problems: 1) Hogs. There were several splatter marks on the road. It was obvious that hogs were a problem. 2) Tolls. Its not even that tricky to get from Austin to Lockhart or Seguin in the first place. 3) Fuel consumption can become pretty ridiculous at those speeds, adding to the costs. 4) Poor people. They drive crappy cars that really should not be attempting to sustain such a high speed, however they area apparently are not aware of that fact. Breakdowns seemed unusually common.
As a toll road, I could’ve told them that this didn’t make any sense. Toll roads are great within congested cities, but not in between them and in direct competition with a more direct parallel freeway on which everybody is already driving faster than the posted limits.
OTOH, this highlights what is great about toll road financing. Stupid roads get built with the most eager Wall Street money rather than stupid roads getting built with taxpayer money…or just not built at all.