Blog #5 4/12/12

OK. So, a week ago, hell it might have been yesterday, I don't know anymore, I thought to myself: "you know, today might be a good day to roll down South for a little fried chicken at 'Lucy's'." Yep, I thought that. Fried chicken is pretty much always on my mind. I'm pretty certain that's what Willie meant when he sang those words. But anyway, surely there wouldn't be any traffic. It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a Sunday? Nah. I head down to Interstate 35, make my way onto the South-bound ramp, and WHAT?!!!! It was bumper to bumper at almost a near stop. CRAP! Why? What in hell is going on here? It's Sunday! Where are these people going? Is there a ballgame? No. Is today a holiday? No. Is there a wreck? construction? a homeless man streaking across the interstate? No, probably, and unfortunately no.
So, why? I'll tell you why. There's a million damn people in this city. Actually there's 1,818,740 people in this city, nearly two million! Oh and guess what? Austin's traffic is the third-worst in the U.S. That would mean Austin's traffic is worse than not only Dallas and Houston, but also New York and Chicago. We are number three to only our nation's capitol and Los Angeles. Damn, that's just not cool.

Along with the population booming, there's also the issue with poorly designed freeways throughout the Austin area. Without traffic lights and stop signs, I-35 is the only freeway that runs uninterrupted. Other expressways, 290 East and West and 183 North and South, are multi-lane roads that shrink down to single lanes. Then we have our two fruit-"loops", Loop 360 and Loop 1 which don't really loop around a dang thing. They just run north and south. Brilliant. Oh Mopac (Loop 1), I can never figure you out. Then, there's the construction. My goodness, I know these people are just doing their job but dammit, I don't even know what these people are working on anymore. It's a shame 'cause they don't deserve the hateful thoughts I feel when I see them. We won't go there.
According to my Texas State Senator, Kirk Watson, the major problem is funding. He also expects traffic gridlock to worsen 'cause money will go to pay for debt service on road bonds ($800 million a year) than to pay for building new roads ($600 million a year). That's just lovely. Maybe when I'm 80 it'll only take me 45 minutes to get to the Frank Erwin Center rather than an hour. Then again, I don't plan on driving anywhere at that age.

How about my Texas State Representatives? What's their two cents in this? Well, Representative Donna Howard is doing what she can with congestion on Loop 360 and Representative Elliot Naishtat says the Legislature appropriated $17.1 billion for transportation planning and design. Wait, I thought Captain Kirk Watson just said funding was a problem. Who the hell knows anymore?
Basically, it's never gonna go away. The population is growing and growing. They may decide one day to put that funding toward more space on I-35, Mopac, and 360. The problem with that is that it's gonna cause more construction and, yep, you got it, MORE CONGESTION. I don't know. Maybe we should leave it alone and just suffer through it. There are other important issues this city could deal with like crime? Oh yeah, we don't even break the top 200 cities in America. How about poverty? Uh yeah, we don't break the top 100 cities. Unemployment? The unemployment rate in Austin is 6.3(the U.S. average is 9.10%).
Austin has been rated number two among the best places to live by Money Magazine. It's been rated one of the "greenest" cities, "fittest" cities, which is the population I need to become a part of and basically been called "one of the best places to live." It's also known as "one of the best places for singles," "one of the best places for young professionals" and  "one of the cleanest cities" in the country. Well, that's just fine and dandy. Bring it on people. Come on down. Just make sure you have a good temperament for sitting in your car on a Sunday trying to get yourself some fried chicken. Man, is there a Popeye's around here?

"Best Places to Live in Austin, Texas." Best Places to Live. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. <http://www.bestplaces.net/city/texas/austin>.

Austin Texas Real Estate - Homes." Compare Austin to Where I Am Currently Living? Web. 12 Apr. 2012. <http://www.austintexashomes.com/how_does_austin_compare.htm>.