Dear Dallas

[Plutonic Panda]

Chicago is a Tier I city.

Yeah I thought about that, I just don't know. I've heard Houston is going to surpass Chicago in terms of population in the near future, I think it was in the decade or so. If that is the case, then Houston would become a tier 1 city as well as Chicago. For me, I just think of the only tier 1 cities in the US as NYC and Los Angeles.

[Plutonic Panda]

It's all good. I'm the same way with Atlanta. I love Atlanta, it's an amazing city in my eyes. The only city that I like as much or better than Atlanta is Oklahoma City. OKC is home.

Yeah, ATL is a great city. A lot of my family lived there for awhile and I've been a few times. Really cool place.

[Teo9969]

Yeah I thought about that, I just don't know. I've heard Houston is going to surpass Chicago in terms of population in the near future, I think it was in the decade or so. If that is the case, then Houston would become a tier 1 city as well as Chicago. For me, I just think of the only tier 1 cities in the US as NYC and Los Angeles.

What's the criteria for your rankings? Just population of the city proper? Chicago is bigger than Paris in that case...

[Plutonic Panda]

What's the criteria for your rankings? Just population of the city proper? Chicago is bigger than Paris in that case...

Well, I try and take into account of the metro. For me, a tier 1 city should have at least 15 million people in the metropolitan area. I never really take into account just the city, because if that were the case, Dallas and OKC aren't much different in terms of population, seeing as Dallas has 1.2 million people and OKC has 600,000.

If OKC were to hit a serious population boom, we could easily have 1.2 million people living here in ten years, as long as the boom lasted. Yes Dallas could grow, but Dallas is pretty much tapped out at this point, the majority of the growth will happen in the suburbs, not in the Dallas city proper. With all of the land inside the OKC city limits, I think we could easily catch up to Dallas, in terms of population city wise. As far as the metro area, I don't think OKC will get to 7 million people anytime soon. I don't think it is unrealistic to say if a major population boom, similar to Austin's, that we could see a possibility of a combined metro population of 4 million in a decade or two.

[Teo9969]

Well, I try and take into account of the metro. For me, a tier 1 city should have at least 15 million people in the metropolitan area. I never really take into account just the city, because if that were the case, Dallas and OKC aren't much different in terms of population, seeing as Dallas has 1.2 million people and OKC has 600,000.

If OKC were to hit a serious population boom, we could easily have 1.2 million people living here in ten years, as long as the boom lasted. Yes Dallas could grow, but Dallas is pretty much tapped out at this point, the majority of the growth will happen in the suburbs, not in the Dallas city proper. With all of the land inside the OKC city limits, I think we could easily catch up to Dallas, in terms of population city wise. As far as the metro area, I don't think OKC will get to 7 million people anytime soon. I don't think it is unrealistic to say if a major population boom, similar to Austin's, that we could see a possibility of a combined metro population of 4 million in a decade or two.

LA has a 13 million MSA, Paris 12 million, London just barely 15, Berlin 5, Rome 4, Madrid 6.5, Dublin 1.75

Chicago 9.5, DFW 6.75, Houston 6

[Plutonic Panda]

LA has a 13 million MSA, Paris 12 million, London just barely 15, Berlin 5, Rome 4, Madrid 6.5, Dublin 1.75

Chicago 9.5, DFW 6.75, Houston 6

LA is something like 17 million people living it's metro area.

Wether or not Paris has 15 million people, there is still more than traveling in the metro area at any given time. It is world destination and as such, I include it as a tier one city.

Now, having said, places like Las Vegas and Washington D.C. have their own category with me, they are a special case.

[Mississippi Blues]

LA is something like 17 million people living it's metro area.

LA is 18 million CSA, it's metro is 13 million.

[G.Walker]

Downtown Dallas in store for new iconic skyscraper?

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/c...rand-plans.ece

[Plutonic Panda]

I love the new LBJ highway. Here are a few highlights that I think could eventually work here:

'Dallas-area drivers about to face new concept: fluctuating toll prices

By BRANDON FORMBY Transportation Writer bformby@dallasnews.com
Published: 13 November 2013 11:35 PM
Updated: 14 November 2013 07:47 AM


The opening of a portion of LBJ Freeway’s tolled lanes next month will usher in a new way area drivers pay to get around North Texas.

The concept is meant to manage congestion by relying on dynamic pricing — toll rates that fluctuate every few minutes based on traffic conditions.

LBJ will be the first highway in Texas to use dynamic pricing on what’s being branded as TEXPress lanes. They run parallel to LBJ’s reconstructed main lanes, which will remain free. TEXPress lanes, eventually, will be the first dynamic-priced lanes in America to offer a guarantee (of sorts) that motorists can drive at least 50 mph — even during rush hour.

At least four other planned highway expansions in the Dallas-Fort Worth area — including Interstate 35E and State Highway 183 — will feature toll lanes with dynamic pricing alongside updated free main lanes.

Without the tolled managed lanes to generate money, officials say, highway construction that’s needed to keep pace with population growth would stall.

“This is the type of transportation project that’s going to drive the economy of 10 million people,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Morris and a bevy of state and regional officials discussed the concepts at a media event Wednesday in an office building that overlooks a portion of LBJ that will open Dec. 14.
The long-congested highway is undergoing a $2.6 billion redevelopment. Developer LBJ Infrastructure Group, which will operate the highway for 52 years, financed the bulk of construction costs. Money collected from tolls will be used to pay back that investment.

The first phase to open will be a 3.2-mile stretch from Preston Road to Greenville Avenue. The recently reconstructed DFW Connector north of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is expected to use TEXPress lanes starting next year.

-----

After the first four weeks, the minimum and maximum toll rates could change. After motorists have had six months to get used to dynamic pricing, it’s likely there will be no caps on how much the rates could be. That means traffic — and what the project developer thinks people are willing to pay — will determine the cost.

The toll rates will be posted on electronic signs. If the rates change while driving that segment, motorists will be charged the rate posted when they entered.

Carpoolers and motorcyclists with TollTags will receive a 50 percent discount during rush hour on the base TEXPress lanes. But they must use a smartphone app that hasn’t been released yet to register as a high-occupancy vehicle every time they want the discount.

These motorists’ TollTags will notify police officers that they are registered as an HOV vehicle. Officers will ticket HOV-registered drivers who don’t actually have more than one person in the car, similar to the way they already ticket single-occupancy drivers on free HOV lanes throughout the region.

Motorists without TollTags or who drive large trucks will pay higher prices, officials said.

LBJ Freeway is undergoing a $2.6 billion reconstruction that includes tolled lanes, rebuilt main lanes that will remain free and redone access roads. The project will roll out in three major phases:

*Dec. 14: From Preston Road to Greenville Avenue

*Mid-2014: LBJ interchange with Interstate 35E

*December 2015: Josey Lane to Preston Road

TEXPress lanes in North Texas

Texans are about to be introduced to fluctuating toll prices. The concept is meant to manage traffic flow and, like previous tollways, help finance needed construction projects. The following five highway projects will have tolled TEXPress lanes in addition to reconstructed main lanes that will remain free:

*LBJ Freeway

*DFW Connector

*Interstate 35E

*Interstate 35W

*State Highways 121 and 183

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/trans...oll-prices.ece

This is an amazing piece of infrastructure and I hope ODOT will one day build a model off of it, to scale with out needs. The concept is awesome and Texas continues to impress with their highway system! While TxDot continues to push forward and plan for the future with a possible HSR, amazing interchanges, highways geared towards building a better city by allowing people whom choose to live with cars and the pride of car ownership, continuing to improve mass transit despite the stereotypes, and rolling out innovative concepts, ODOT is busy taking 30 years to complete a 6 lane highway, building crappy cloverleaf interchanges, opposing rail and not giving it the chance it deserves, keeping the small time--short term thinking mentality.

[progressiveboy]

Saw this article in the DMN. Great publicity and accolades for the DFW area.




D-FW leads in U.S. metro job growth rate | Dallas Morning News

[OKCisOK4me]

Dear Dallas, enjoy your ice.

[ljbab728]

Dear Dallas, enjoy your ice.

Uh no, unfortunately all of the ice in Dallas affects us in a major way for those who are flying.

[OKCisOK4me]

Uh no, unfortunately all of the ice in Dallas affects us in a major way for those who are flying.

Best of luck trying to get in or out of Dallas.

[G.Walker]

New housing neighborhood in the works for Dallas? medical district | Dallas Morning News

[josh]

Yeah I thought about that, I just don't know. I've heard Houston is going to surpass Chicago in terms of population in the near future, I think it was in the decade or so. If that is the case, then Houston would become a tier 1 city as well as Chicago. For me, I just think of the only tier 1 cities in the US as NYC and Los Angeles.

Chicago is definitely T1, there's no question about that.

And I believe the talk of Houston soon surpassing Chicago in population has to do with city population, not metro population. Chicago metro population is nearly 10 million. Houston at about 6.5 million.

[Plutonic Panda]

Chicago is definitely T1, there's no question about that.

And I believe the talk of Houston surpassing Chicago in population has to do with city population, not metro population. Chicago metro population is nearly 10 million. Houston at about 6.5 million.

Yeah, Houston metro population is actually not very big, something like 4 or 5 million. I think Chicago's is something like 7 million, isn't it?

The Houston reference was for city proper.

[Mississippi Blues]

Yeah, Houston metro population is actually not very big, something like 4 or 5 million. I think Chicago's is something like 7 million, isn't it?

Houston metro is in the range of 6.3 million & Chicago metro is about 9.5 million.

[G.Walker]

The Dallas metroplex will hit 7 Million by 2014.

[Plutonic Panda]

Houston metro is in the range of 6.3 million & Chicago metro is about 9.5 million.

So I was a couple million off

[Mississippi Blues]

So I was a couple million off

Nah, they just grew by a couple million in between our posts.

[zookeeper]

Nah, they just grew by a couple million in between our posts.

In all seriousness, I wish I owned a piece of that land along the 75 corridor between McKinney, through Sherman-Denison, right up to Durant. It's like an economic explosion went off a few decades ago around Plano and all the $hrapnel was thrown in that general direction. It's happening so fast now it makes the head spin.

[bchris02]

I think as OKC crosses the 1.5 million population mark and approaches the 2 million mark, reliance on and envy towards Dallas will diminish. At that point, OKC should offer enough amenities/services that people will not need to make regular trips to Dallas. Even today, the trip probably isn't near as popular as it was 15 years ago but there are still numerous reasons I can think of that somebody in OKC would need to go to Dallas.

-Upscale shopping
-Luxury cars
-Upscale or niche nightlife (EDM is huge)
-Six Flags Over Texas
-Arts/culture/museums
-Live music/concerts
-The airport

The above list gets smaller each passing decade and will continue to do so as OKC gets larger.

[Plutonic Panda]

Upscale shopping will quickly appear and become more prevalent and Dallas will likely loose that edge soon...

Bob Howard is looking to secure a Bentley-Maserati-Lotus franchise here in OKC and hopefully that comes to fruition. I would like one day build a Ferrari dealership here in OKC likely in Northwest OKC close to Edmond along Kilpatrick Turnpike and way down the road build a joint classic auto with a Rolls Royce dealership attached to it in Automobile Alley. I would like to make this a multi story dealership with used luxury cars and rare classic cars that would ship out to other states. I would have a clear glass showroom fronting Broadway with an elevator for cars and people to look at them..... maybe one day :roll eyes:

The nightlife will have quite a bit of catching up to do as a whole, but Dallas will quickly loose its edge on this too. You don't have to be a huge city to have good nightlife. That allies in the demographics and its edge.

Building a big theme park is another dream of mine here in OKC. Unless I ever achieve my dream or OKC takes off(and I mean big time), this is unlikely.

I really don't see how Dallas has that much of an advantage for the arts and museums. They have a better Science Museum, but there is really no museum there that is really worth driving down there for.

Bigger cities will likely get better concerts. I really don't know too much about this, though.

OKC will never have an airport like DFW. 20 story hotels, sky train, 10 lane highway w/ four stack interchange, multiple detached terminals, I highly doubt Will Rodgers will get anywhere close to being as big as DFW, unless the airline industry has something miraculous happen to it and OKC's economy booms bigger than Dubai's. Venture knows this better though; Venture, will Will Rodger ever get as big as DFW Airport? lol

[josh]

I think as OKC crosses the 1.5 million population mark and approaches the 2 million mark, reliance on and envy towards Dallas will diminish. At that point, OKC should offer enough amenities/services that people will not need to make regular trips to Dallas. Even today, the trip probably isn't near as popular as it was 15 years ago but there are still numerous reasons I can think of that somebody in OKC would need to go to Dallas.

-Upscale shopping
-Luxury cars
-Upscale or niche nightlife (EDM is huge)
-Six Flags Over Texas
-Arts/culture/museums
-Live music/concerts
-The airport

The above list gets smaller each passing decade and will continue to do so as OKC gets larger.

At 1.3 million and at its current and historical pace of growth, OKC won't hit the 2 million mark for another 30-35 years. By then, Dallas will be over 10 million easily and there will probably be a DFW-OKC-TULSA mega CSA. lol

[bchris02]

At 1.3 million and at its current and historical pace of growth, OKC won't hit the 2 million mark for another 30-35 years. By then, Dallas will be over 10 million easily and there will probably be a DFW-OKC-TULSA mega CSA. lol

A lot of people are hoping OKC sees a growth spurt that pushes it above the historical average for a while. Charlotte did it in a decade - in 2000 they were comparable with OKC but today they are above even Austin and San Antonio. Personally, I think there is a lot of wishful thinking and believe there are some negative forces pushing against the possibility of OKC becoming a boomtown. Nonetheless, I would LOVE to be proven wrong on that and hope the growth does accelerate.