Very cool insight - Thanks! Maybe this may just happen!..... I'm assuming there's no Del Valle style community within *miles* of the proposed location? - People that move in *knowing* they're on a race track/airport approach are bad enough, but *existing* people can be a real *****..... Cheers, Ian
The area that we are all hoping for, 183 and 71, is vast and very unpopulated compared to the actual city of Austin yet only about a 30min drive. I was just there last week, Leander to be specific, and the area is just waiting for something big to happen.
Right, a Freight Hub if you will, Distribution Center...probably letting the existing Passenger Flights continue, out of the one in Del Valle... I see acres and acres of FedEx and UPS trucks, parked on the tarmac! This proposed site is out in the country..those fat boys can come in and out on full throttle out there. It's farmland.... .Colorado River bottom.......I don't think there's a speckled newt or anything out there that would throw the brakes on it environmentally. They do have that cute little water lizard, down the way in San Marcos tho...... My only concern is the world will learn about all the natural beauty of my backyard, and make it harder to hit a target of opportunity at the Spoke!! LOL! But I'll share!!!
Especially as it's Texas I can't recall now, but was it the speckled newt that almost cost Sears Point to close up shop? Or did you just pull that name out of the air? Cheers, Ian PS - I'd love to see you show up at the express permit window with plans for an airport!
I'm not kidding about it, there's some sort of water newt in Barton Springs....when Freeport Macmoran bulldozed the hills west of Mopac for a Mall and residential devopment, the clarity of Barton Springs deteriorated somewhat, and that guy was almost lynched by a public mob!!!! Also google Lance Armstrong's legal woes, when his happy bulldozing for a pond ^%$^%&ed up some downstream neighbors, the abatement and settlement ran into MILLIONS of $$$$$$.. Then down in San Marcos (30 miles south of Austin) there's another aquatic creature of some sort, that keeps the river and source springs safe from environmental development pressures.... San Marcos really is the Garden Spot of the Universe, with or without the added attraction of the University Coeds!!!! I spent a few years there constructing a new Dorm and running 15KV circuits over hill and dale.....you could buy a pitcher of beer for a quarter, on Thursday nights.
720 Barton Springs.....that was the developmental name on the building, then later it was sold to the City of Austin.
Tavo should have called me...... I'd take time away from NASA, and Shell Labs, if I could offer a hand. I'm sure I'm the only person in the world to cash a Newman/Haas payroll check for consulting, with an AJ Foyt Racing bumper sticker on my Trans Am! I'm heading out today to the Shop, to get some fresh hats, for the weekend!
If this really happens I'll need a MONTH off, from work!! LOL! There's really not much doubt in my mind they could fast track this thing to be ready for 2012.... We build things, here.........
*Those* could tie us in knots for *decades* round here!..... But, you went on: Good luck! [Hopefully, the spotted newt & water supply survives ] Cheers, Ian
They picked the right place, along the river there they will be fine, barring the odd Indian Burial mound, or something.. We were digging in Galveston once and unearthed a skull, most likely a 1900 Storm victim. The guys put it on the wall with a hard hat on it and continued working, a doctor at UTMB went by and was NOT amused.. The Medical Examiner picked it up within a few hours....
He's not joking around. We have a mighty tasty salamander around here that gets people in an up-roar all the time. We also have the Edwards aquifer, so there is always concern about run-off. But, I think Tex is right.. the proposed area should be safe from that kind of stuff.
I'm reluctant to commit much hope to the idea, but an actual racetrack (ovals don't count) so close to home would be incredible. Won't bother putting much time into finding a suitable vehicle for such a place until things are more concrete
Not being in the limits of the City of Austin should help speed approvals, and have a lot less personalities involved. In the late 80's, we were starting a 2 mile 24" sewer line, and made the local news when we knocked down a tree that was right on the centerline of the approved plan location. Glad to get out of the "Keep Austin Weird" mentality and back to Dallas.
Very true. For those that don't already know... Austin is the most liberal, tree hugger, greenie weenie city in the Great State of Texas.
