Dear Dallas

[In_Tulsa]

That's because Dallas has one of the most sophisticated infrastructure highway systems in the US.

[Plutonic Panda]

Is that bad? They are also heavily expanding their light-rail too.

[bluedogok]

My quick anecdotal evidence is that it took me 20 to 25 minutes to go this far:

https://maps.google.com/maps?client=...ie=UTF-8&hl=en

Like I said earlier in the thread...75 at midnight is like OKC rush hour.

It's a lot better than when I lived there, that was before 75 was widened, it still had the short ramps and metering lights. I never took it unless I was leaving the office in the middle of the night.

[Snowman]

So apparently a new section of what could end up another loop around Dallas-Fort Worth has been completed.

Outer Loop Road might be first step in Collin?s future growth | Dallasnews.com - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

[G.Walker]

New State Farm complex in Richardson will allow company to grow to 8,000 Dallas-area workers | Biz Beat Blog

[UrbanNebraska]

Wow that is humungous.

[modernism]

I was recently in Uptown Dallas, and let me tell you, it has came a long way. Yes, most of Dallas is a sprawling mess, but Uptown Dallas has set the standard for true urbanism. Most high-rises are 20-25 stories, pushed to the street, ground floor retail, with street level interactions, and developments close to a light rail station.

[warreng88]

So, the wife and I went down to Dallas this weekend to do a little birthday shopping (we don't have a Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Neiman Marcus, Crate and Barrel or Container Store here). We stayed in Richardson at the Hyatt House right off of I-75. We drove around to a lot of areas on Dallas and noticed several things: 1) 635 from 35 to 75 is a cluster, you know what... In the eight mile stretch from 75 to 35 on 635, there was not one area where there were normal roads. The entire section was under construction and I can only imagine how wide it will be. I would guess seven lanes on either side, but I might be wrong. 2) The 635/I-35 interchange has got to be one of the biggest road construction projects I have ever seen and I can't imagine what people who drive it every day have to go through or what the drive time is like. 3) How does Dallas spend billions of dollars constantly expanding their highway system (and I have never been down there and not seen something under construction) and still have a functional mass transit system? Is it their size? Do they get a ton of funding from the state?

[Just the facts]

3) How does Dallas spend billions of dollars constantly expanding their highway system (and I have never been down there and not seen something under construction) and still have a functional mass transit system? Is it their size? Do they get a ton of funding from the state?

They borrowed it and now their debt payments are higher than what they spend on roads. Texas DOT has a $31 billion debt burden and last month they had to transfer $4 billion from the states rainy day fund just to maintain what they already built. The future is not looking too bright for Texas roads.

[Plutonic Panda]

They borrowed it and now their debt payments are higher than what they spend on roads. Texas DOT has a $31 billion debt burden and last month they had to transfer $4 billion from the states rainy day fund just to maintain what they already built. The future is not looking too bright for Texas roads.

The future looks very bright for Texas roads and Texas in general.

[Just the facts]

The future looks very bright for Texas roads and Texas in general.

If their money is going to debt payments and they can't afford to build more or maintain what they already built how do you figure the future looks bright? How much more empirical evidence do we need that the growth model doesn't work? Google 'Texas DOT debt' and you will find every tax group, every newspaper, and nearly every state official sounding the alarm. When you have democrats AND republicans in the state legislature saying they can't afford it anymore there is a real good chance they really can't afford it anymore.

[Plutonic Panda]

If their money is going to debt payments and they can't afford to build more or maintain what they already built how do you figure the future looks bright? How much more empirical evidence do we need that the growth model doesn't work? Google 'Texas DOT debt' and you will find every tax group, every newspaper, and nearly every state official sounding the alarm. When you have democrats AND republicans in the state legislature saying they can't afford it anymore there is a real good chance they really can't afford it anymore.

Texas has one of the best credit ratings in the U.S. Everything is so expensive anymore, how do you figure Utah spending billions on their light-rail in SLC and California spending nearly 100 billion on their HSR is different than what Texas is doing, well Texas actually pays back their loans, and fairly quickly on some of their projects. Texas is also growing EXTREMELY fast, so that accounts for some.

[HangryHippo]

Texas has one of the best credit ratings in the U.S. Everything is so expensive anymore, how do you figure Utah spending billions on their light-rail in SLC and California spending nearly 100 billion on their HSR is different than what Texas is doing, well Texas actually pays back their loans, and fairly quickly on some of their projects. Texas is also growing EXTREMELY fast, so that accounts for some.

It seems like you're assuming that the growth they're so reliant upon will continue indefinitely. It will not.

[Jersey Boss]

The future looks very bright for Texas roads and Texas in general.

I think I would rather have Oklahoma water, you can keep the roads, thank you very much.

[RodH]

If I remember correctly, 635 is being rebuilt by a private company and part of the new highway will be toll. Over a billion dollars of the money that SLC id spending on their transit systems is federal assistance.

[warreng88]

Texas is also growing EXTREMELY fast, so that accounts for some.

And with that growth comes more need for more money on improved infrastructure. Since Texas does it by debt and not cash like Oklahoma, wouldn't it mean they would continue to dig themselves deeper into debt as the need arises?

[CaptDave]

The future looks very bright for Texas roads and Texas in general.

Really? Might want to reconsider.... A different kind of Stone Age

I can see Oklahoma doing the same with some of the more remote roads. It actually makes sense to do so.

[ou48A]

It seems like you're assuming that the growth they're so reliant upon will continue indefinitely. It will not.

Even if the growth doesn’t continue their higher incomes and low state taxes put them in a pretty good potion to maintain what they have for a very long time. But because of their state tax structure the growth will very likely contiune for many decades to come.

But many people on this board utterly fail to grasp the amounts of new oil money that will be flowing into the state of Texas and to many local governments as well. Texas is talking about starting another state endowment form oil. Texas already has an endowment for parts of its higher eduction and it came from OIL.

[ou48A]

I think I would rather have Oklahoma water, you can keep the roads, thank you very much.

Texas has butt loads of water. Its just not in the right places or sometimes not high quality. It would be much cheaper for the Dallas area to buy our water than to build new pipelines to lakes on the eastern side of their state.... or to construct water treatment plants that could clean up very large amounts of lower quality raw water.

[ou48A]

And with that growth comes more need for more money on improved infrastructure. Since Texas does it by debt and not cash like Oklahoma, wouldn't it mean they would continue to dig themselves deeper into debt as the need arises?

Texas has the best debt in the USA.. and as a state their debt is in no trouble.

[Plutonic Panda]

I think I would rather have Oklahoma water, you can keep the roads, thank you very much.

What does Oklahoma water have to do with the roads in Texas?

[adaniel]

^
Texas does not have butt loads of water, not even close. They took us to the freakin Supreme Court for christ sakes, they are that desperate.

[Plutonic Panda]

And with that growth comes more need for more money on improved infrastructure. Since Texas does it by debt and not cash like Oklahoma, wouldn't it mean they would continue to dig themselves deeper into debt as the need arises?

I wouldn't say they would need to keep digging and digging until it collapses, but I think they can pay back some of the current debt along with interest and take out new debt responsibly. I believe it is possible.

[Plutonic Panda]

If I remember correctly, 635 is being rebuilt by a private company and part of the new highway will be toll. Over a billion dollars of the money that SLC id spending on their transit systems is federal assistance.

Yes, they are going to have elevated express toll lanes, 4 total, 2 each way.

[Plutonic Panda]

It seems like you're assuming that the growth they're so reliant upon will continue indefinitely. It will not.

Everything will grow and then recess and then grow and recess. It's a cycle that has happened forever and will continue to happen. Right now, Texas is growing at a rate most people can't(or choose) not to comprehend and they are taking advantage of that by improving their infrastructure.