I did get Columbia drug cartel mansion vibes with the gate and all.
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Is that first picture a water tower, lighthouse or shot tower?
It just the pedestal they built to hold the Vulcan Statue nice and high. The concrete to the left holds the elevator I believe. Its on a ridge overlooking Bāham & separating the city from its much richer suburbs. For a long time, Vulcan held a lantern that glowed green normally, and red when their was a traffic fatality.
I appreciate this assessment. I have been to Austin a few times and will be back there for Thanksgiving with my significant otherās family. I continue to be skeptical of Austin. It is noticeably less diverse (high white population) than many other cities Iāve visited as well.
I think it is good that Raleigh and the rest of the Triangle is considering transit now. This can better direct growth which Austin and other Texas cities are way behind on considering their size.
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@cxbrame Too many white people? Do you realize how racist you sound?
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Bit of a stretch no? Letās not take it down that path.
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The one thing that they love to do in Texas is build mega highways that plow through their corridors like a bulldozer through daisy fields. I saw it happen in Houston 25 years ago, and itās happening now in Austin. These highways and the land that they swallow up (especially at their flyover interchanges) is just astonishing.
They sure do go nuts with the highways. Although speaking of Austin, itās still crazy they donāt have a direct Interstate connection with Houston yet.
Meanwhile NC has I-587 planned from Zebulon to Greenville. lol!
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go to Texas and take a look. Their freeways are on another level. They are not only huge in the urban areas, but they have feeder roads with several additional lanes that run parallel to them to make the overall corridor enormous. Their intersections are often extremely tall with wide flyovers as well that allow movement from one freeway to another at high speeds.
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You are right, just came back from Texas. They elevate everything and add service roads. It takes up a massive amount of space and destroys whatever aesthetics a freeway can provide.
Iāve never been to Texas, but I just returned from Florida and saw there a similar number of massive highways, complete with access roads and tolled express lanes of highways elevated overhead of the main highway (which in some cases is already a toll road). I-275, as it slices through West Tampa, leaves a wide grassy median, presumably for future freeway expansion. Itās madness. 
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In 1870 its population was 4,428. in 1900 it was 22,258. It was not a manufacturing power house after the civil war so didnāt have the freedmans influx seeking jobs that northern cities did. By 1900 it was still just a small State Capital not unlike Raleigh (Raleigh was bigger in 1870).
650 acres right there
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We build monstrosities like this without batting an eye to ācomplete 540ā. But try to build BRT or commuter rail or even bike lanes and getting funding is like pulling teeth.
Priorities way out of whack.
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I mean the priorities are based on what people use, 540 is much more heavily used then a rail line would be. I donāt think itās worth the cost but equating the two is absurd.
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But those things are more used because thats where all the investment has gone for the past 60 years.
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Of course. People will never use rail if you donāt build it.
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How do we know that to be a true statement when we donāt even have the option?
In the end, there needs to be two commitments:
- Build the rail service
- Develop the nodes around the stops so that itās the preferred method of travel for those nearby.
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