Last Ford Model T cruise of 2009
Model Ts at Guadalupe River State Park
I was able, among other pressing projects, to squeeze in one last Model T drive yesterday, Saturday November 14. Accompanied by three other Ts, we drove from the Texas Transportation Museum on Wetmore Road twenty seven miles to the Guadalupe River State Park. Our small convoy represented the gamut of Ts well. There was an open tourer, a closed sedan, a light duty pick-up and the “Diva,” the museum’s heavy duty truck. I began calling it the Diva due to its unfortunate habit of running perfectly well at the museum and local roads but acting up horribly at any public event while, often, being the center of attention, for reasons that both bemuse and confuse me.
New TransGuide website coming down the pike
New TransGuide website
System repairs and upgrades also coming
In addition to the website improvement, TxDOT also has awarded contracts for long-overdue maintenance of TransGuide’s field equipment. I can’t tell you how many lane control signals and dynamic message signs are out of order, so news of these contracts is welcome. Once the initial repair backlog is cleared, which is expected by the end of the year, the contractors will focus on preventive maintenance, upgrades to older and obsolete equipment, and maintaining a 95% uptime for all equipment. TxDOT has budgeted $1.5 million annually for maintenance, although that amount will vary depending on needs and funding availability.
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Beating a dead horse (toll road genesis Part Deux)
In my last post, I discussed how toll roads came to be the funding option of choice in recent years for big road projects. The question I closed with was whether or not they’re the best solution, and if not, how to fund roadbuilding without them. As I alluded to, it’s really a chicken-and-egg scenario: do toll roads perpetuate the status quo, or does the status quo perpetuate toll roads?
My wife and I have had this conversation several times. She understands the problem, but is of the mind that tolls should be the option of absolute last resort—they need to fix the gas tax problems first. In essence, she thinks that the current toll paradigm is getting the cart before the horse.
The genesis of the toll road problem
One issue that many toll road opponents can’t seem to wrap their heads around is the underlying reason why toll roads are being pushed. It’s not some get-rich scheme by Rick Perry or TxDOT. The problem is the dearth of funding that has plagued transportation for more than a decade now. And it’s not just Texas—many other states, as well as the federal government, are having the same problem.
A Texas shibboleth
One of the first things that astute visitors and new arrivals to Texas notice is the ubiquity of frontage roads along our freeways. Indeed, Texas has more frontage roads than any other place on the face of the planet. The reason for this phenomenon is because, unlike most other states, Texas frequently upgrades existing roadways to freeways instead of building them on entirely new right-of-way, especially in urban areas. For instance, most of I-35 through Texas was built along what used to be US 81. Because adjacent property owners already had access to the existing highway, the state would either have had to purchase those access rights when the road was upgraded (freeways are controlled-access), which in many cases might actually have resulted in a full-blown taking of the property, or they would have had to devise a way to maintain access to those properties. Texas chose the latter.
Oil and gas prices Roads Travel: economy
by Patrick
Comments Off on Rising gas prices for a growing economy
Rising gas prices for a growing economy
Rising gas prices, along with a renewed American appetite to drive, offer yet more signs that the recession has lifted.
The U.S. economy, much of it fed by federal stimulus injections, grew 3-1/2 percent last quarter despite unemployment climbing to a two-and-a-half-decade high.Â
Growing also are gas prices, according to Energy Information Administration data. Regular unleaded swelled 26 cents a gallon since last month, and today settled at a yearly high of $2.69 a gallon.
San Antonio prices average $2.53, up nearly 20 cents from a month ago, AAA reports.
History Roads Travel: classic cars driving old cars restoration
by Hugh
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1929 REO at the Alamo
Some old car restorations take longer than others. In the case of the 1929 REO Flying Cloud coupe belonging to the Texas Transportation Museum, it took a number of volunteers over ten years. But today, just in time for its 80th anniversary, it made its public San Antonio debut at the San Antonio Founder’s Day event held at the Alamo today, Saturday October 24, 2009.
Loop 1604 “Super Street” to be studied
Diagram of a typical super street intersection (KY DOT)
Bexar County Commissioners have approved funding for a feasibility study for a “super street” on Loop 1604 from Braun Rd. to SH 151. This would be the same concept recently approved for US 281 north of Loop 1604.Â
History Roads: classic cars Roads
by Hugh
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San Antonio Car Clubs
Automobile fanaticism runs deep in San Antonio. There are at least thirty different car clubs in the city, from the Ford Model A to the Nissan Z and all points in between. There are enough car shows for at least one every weekend of the year. Some are specific to one manufacturer or even model type, others are general invite. In the cause of full disclosure I should admit I am heavily involved in organizing two of them, one in the spring and the other in the fall. Each focuses on entirely different parts of the spectrum, Ford Model Ts and military vehicles, and yet even here there is overlap, in the form of World War One ambulances.
 By and large it is a masculine preoccupation. There are most welcome exceptions, with skills to put the best to shame, but when all is said and done, it’s a guy thing. Male enthusiasms are invariably inexplicable, mainly because they are essentially illogical. Why do some get so involved in stamp collecting? What’s the big deal about football? Can’t it be said with some certainty who won the Civil War and what happened at the Alamo? And why are you still playing with trains at your age? What’s wrong with you? Nothing, actually. We each seem to have some activity that floats our boat, or perhaps more appropriately in this context, a key that starts our engines.
SPUI comes to Texas
Rendering of SPUI on US 75 at Parker Rd. in Plano
Work is underway on the North Central Expressway at Parker Rd. in the Dallas suburb of Plano on what, to my knowledge, will be Texas’ first Single Point Urban Interchange, or SPUI (pronounced “spoo-ee”). (If anyone knows of an existing one in Texas, please post it!) Popular in several other states, a SPUI is a type of intersection between a surface street and a freeway’s entrance and exit ramps.