more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "John S. Quarterman" <jsq () quarterman org>
Date: September 22, 2005 10:39:39 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: "John S. Quarterman" <jsq () quarterman org>
Cc: Ip Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway!


For IP.


> By the way, are the back roads as jammed as the major highways? The
> map shows a spiderweb of farm roads between western Houston and  
> Austin.
>
> Mary

Since I live on the east side of Austin, I went out and looked.
There are two main roads coming into Austin from Houston:
290 on the north side through Manor, and 71 on the south side
through Del Valle past the airport:
 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Manor, 
+Texas&ll=30.267963,-97.585030&spn=0.160284,0.281799&hl=en

On 290, there's a steady stream of traffic coming in from the east,
with perhaps more than usual numbers of cartop carriers, trailers,
rental trucks, horse trailers, etc.  It is moving right along.
The Manor Independent School District marquee is showing contact
information for hurricane evacuation shelters; it also says
school is closed Friday.  Gas is going for $2.65/gal. in Manor.

On 973 between Manor and del Valle, there's no traffic coming in on the
few local roads from the east.  There's a bit of traffic coming north
up 973 from 71 and turning west towards Austin on 969, which is the only
significant east-west road between 290 and 71.  969 goes near the
exposition center (home of the Austin Ice Bats hockey team and the  
rodeo),
which is a hurricane evacuation center, and continues on as
Martin Luther King Blvd. into Austin at the University of Texas.
There's really not much traffic on 969, though.

On 71, there's a steady stream of traffic coming in from the east, with
cartop carriers, trailers, etc., like on 290.  On 71 traffic is going
a bit slower than on 290, but that's not unusual passing the airport.
Gas is $2.70/gal. in Del Valle at the airport exit.

Just past the airport, signs direct traffic north on 183 for hurricane
evacuation centers.  (This is prudent, since it avoids incoming traffic
having to negotiate the famously messy intersection of 71 and Interstate
35, where construction has been ongoing for several years now.) Traffic
is moving slowly where 183 crosses the river northbound, since that's
one lane, but that's not unusual, and it's not as slow as it often is
during rush hour.  Past there, traffic is going at the usual Texas 70
mph clip.  Similar signs along 183 give frequencies for a couple of AM
radio stations with hurricane information.

I heard only one car horn in the entire circuit; it was a sports
car with an impatient driver.  Otherwise, traffic was calm and
moving steadily.

The local newspaper is doing a pretty good job of posting up to date
information:
 http://www.statesman.com/hp/content/homepage/index.html

Anyway, it looks like once you get this far from Houston,
there's no big reason to try for back roads, since the main
roads (290 and 71) are handling the traffic pretty well.
This was about 8:30 to 9PM CDT today.

Don't forget that there are many towns between Houston and Austin
where some people probably stopped, and a slight diversion to the
north will get you to College Station, home of Texas A&M, so doubtless
not all the traffic heading west from Houston gets all the way to
Austin or San Antonio.

-jsq


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