Interesting People mailing list archives
more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway!
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 17:43:30 -0400
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? Themap 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 theexposition 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 ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway! David Farber (Sep 22)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway! David Farber (Sep 23)