frontage roads

The difference between an intersection controlled by flashing lights and one controlled by a stop sign can play a big role in accident prevention, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

The presence of flashing lights increases the probability of an accident by more than threefold, and intersections on frontage roads are among the most crash-prone for motorists.

CAMPO met last night to approve a list of transportation projects.  Among the projects it approved is a bicycle bridge on MoPac (a limited access highway) acrosss Barton Creek.

Ben Wear took a potshot at this project on Monday: 

The people who make transportation policy for Central Texas will decide tonight how to divvy up $132 million from the Legislature and Uncle Sam.

The Austin City Council took an important step to extend the much-loved Hike and Bike Trail surrounding Lady Bird Lake.

By authorizing $14.4 million for the trail improvements in the 2010-2011 budget, the City is set to complete the downtown Hike & Bike Trail by building a boardwalk to cover a 1.1 mile trail gap east of Congress Avenue on the south side of the lake.

My most recent Austin Sierran arrived (guess what? M1EK is a life member!) and as I usually do, I read the minutes from the monthly meeting.

In it, I learned that the board apparently opposes plans to build a bike/pedestrian bridge across Barton Creek (to fill a huge gap in the bicycle commuting infrastructure in that part of town - where the frontage roads end on either side of the creek).

There's a lot of buzz over Walk Score, the site that rates neighborhood walkability.  Using a Google-sitic algorithm, it first tallies the restaurants, coffee shops and other destinations near a given address and then gives them a numerical weight based on their distance from the address.  Neighborhoods with interior retail tend to score high; neighborhoods without interior retail tend to score low. 

Both images from google transit; click through for full details. This is basically the "how do I get from the drop-off for the express buses at the park-and-ride on the west side of the road to the entrance to all the office parks on the east side of the road".

First, the transit directions, which look pretty good at first:

Another casualty of Responsible Growth For Northcross' year-long tantrum has been the truth.

Yes, you heard me. People all over the city now believe varying combinations of the following absolutely incorrect, but truthy, narratives.