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Can any of you speak to the experience of crossing downtown during commute hours? The endpoints of my route would be a location at FM2244 and Mopac on one side, and some as-yet-undetermined place in East Austin.
LONG EXPLANATORY CONTENT:
I'm looking at moving (again) and east Austin, north of the river, is one of my possible destinations. I would be buying and thus putting down some deep roots (10-ish years, maybe more), so expected growth or decline in connectivity would also be on my radar. My destination is at Mopac and FM2244.
My experience is with frequent times on Brodie, Lamar, and Barton Springs. Lamar is the only negotiable part of my cycling route when I'm biking to work, the others are ironclad requirements.
I have actually biked north on Lavaca during the 8am commute. That morning I was heading to the courthouse and discovered as I was leaving that Rio Grande is RIGHT THERE! That made me immensely happy and made my trip back to work much more pleasant. The trip up Lavaca was not harrowing by my standards, but it also was not very pleasant. If I were to move to east Austin I would expect to cross I-35 at 12th, MLK depending, or some other well lighted well controlled cross-street. I think I would want to head as directly as possible for the LAB entrance at Nueces and 3rd.
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It is very easy to get around east austin and through downtown by bike.
Crossing I35 at peak times:
E 4th St is the safest and easiest place to cross I35 during peak times, on the veloway below I35.
Next easiest crossings are at 6th and 12th, for different reasons. 12th has bike lanes but less friendly auto traffic. 6th has slower car traffic, but no bike lanes. Just share/take the lane as necessary to get under I35.
4th St is easiest.
What I often do:
Going South: Chicon climbs/drops the most. Take Pleasant Valley or Chicon to 5th St to Comal or take Comal the whole way to 4th St. West on 4th St to Rio Grande to 3rd to LA Veloway to Pfluger Bridge to Barton Springs bike lanes or the hike and bike trail. West to mopac.
You can also ride San Marcos or Waller all the way south to 4th St, then head west.
You can also take the veloway to Austin HS to the mopac bridge then go south to 2244.
The east side is gravy. Lots of bike facilities and slower traffic. Best commuting there is, IMO.
Downtown is nice, too.
Especially Rio Grande/Nueces to go N/S-best
Trinity/San Jacinto to go N/S-less auto traffic than some streets, bike lanes, hills
and
4th St (soon to be 3rd as well) to go E/W
12th St is also acceptable to get E/W but I find auto traffic less friendly on the east side. Downtown, no problem and you can use the capital grounds as well.
Last edited by AusTexMurf (2013-03-26 21:35:21)
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I have experienced East Austin bike lanes, both as a driver and as a cyclist. May they spread to the rest of the city!
4th surprises me. I've only crossed I-35 during lower-traffic periods, and I always thought that without a light to control traffic on the access road that I would generally get completely blocked during rush hour. I don't mind going without bike lanes and know pretty well how to handle myself in traffic, so your description of 6th sounds pretty attractive. But I can always try 4th.
We'll see what I find. Just now talking to an agent, and my desires for a house are going to be difficult, at best. But I'm sure trying. I really dislike living as far out as I do. Great as a driver, awful as a cyclist.
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You can take short cuts through the Barton Springs pool area/Zilker, it is much more pleasant than the bike lanes on Barton Springs Rd. Then take the town lake trails to the Pfluger bridge to DT. OR, use the bikeway to LAB under Mopac (it is longer though). From DT, it really depends where on the eastside you live. 12th street across DT is quite hilly. I would avoid using Chicon since it's hilly and has more traffic. Comal north of 11th is the best gradient, but has more traffic than Leona (if you are going up to the Manor rd area) LOTS of cyclists use Comal. I would personally take 4th/Bikeway under 35. Usually you can find a gap to cross, but you have to be a little aggressive. Then take Waller to 6th, then left on Attayac, cross 7th to Lydia, to 11th. You can take some neighborhood turns to Comal, or Rosewood. Thats for going north.
I live in the Cherrywood area and my route from DT is through the Capitol, then Trinity into UT, then e 20.5th to left on Robert Redman, right on Cylde Littlefield, to Manor rd. Most car traffic in UT is pretty slow. It is the shortest distance from DT.
Best routes N-S north of 4th st are San Jacinto and Trinity due to the bike lane. No other route gets you around stacked up traffic during rush hour. Nueces gets backed up a lot too, plus so many stops. Rio Grande is off my radar until they pave it.
Guadalupe is the fastest during non rush hour, going South.
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