One Step Closer to a Texas Autobahn

The toll road game isn't cool. Just a matter of time until TX turns into NY/NJ where there is a toll every 5 feet.

 

if you're not driving 85 on the DNT you are going to get run over.

 

I drove back from Austin to Dallas last night, left Austin at 5:30- pulled in Colleyville around 8:15.
The construction on 35 is horrendous. I they started working on it the year I left Baylor-1991. Ridiculous.
The worse part in the large truck that stay in the left lane as a moving road block. They can't go 70mph and it takes them 5 miles to pass a slower moving vehicle. DPS needs to enforce the now trucks in the left lane in the two lane areas between Waco and Hillsboro.

 

I hear ya brother. A guy I worked with in '98 (who is about 10yrs older than I am at almost 48) told me one day he could remember riding in the bed of his grandfathers pickup on the way to Galveston and I45 was STILL under construction back then. The traffic on I35 is horrendous and it need's updating.

Concerning the large trucks I completely agree. They should by law be relegated to the far right lane unless passing a slower vehicle. Some say/think truckers know the laws better than anyone else yet they are the biggest offenders strictly based on their size. The left hand lane is for passing only and is not a "set it and forget it" lane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_lane

 

Nearly every route in the DFW area has both a toll and a non-toll alternative, so you have the ability to make a choice. The toll roads have higher speed limits, less congestion, fewer trucks, and driver's that are typically more aware of their surroundings. I am happy to pay that toll. If you don't like it, you have plenty of free alternatives to pick from. This is not NY/NJ where you have to pay to drive on a 55 mph highway that is congested with traffic.

IMO, TX has the best highway system I have every seen. You can get to anywhere in the metroplex without being bothered with surface roads and the toll roads are move quickly. Plano to Motorsport Ranch in 1 hour 15 minutes, door to door.

 

Having driven the Autobahn not too long ago, it's not the road, it's the drivers. American drivers are simply dreadful. They tend to be a bit better on toll roads, but I still see many, many left lane banditos and have had heated conversations with folks who fervently believe, and even endorse, cruising in the left lane as long as you are at the speed limit.

And I'll be damned if I don't believe many drivers actually make a point of using drive time to return calls, check email and send texts. I swear they do.

 

Do people really believe that?!? Left lane is for passing or cruising well over the speed limit. If someone is behind you in the left lane, GET OVER!
Some of the drivers are just terrible.

 

I bet if you did a poll of the general driving public that many, if not most, believe that the left lane is fine if you are doing the limit and you do not need to move over if the car behind you is going over the limit. Another large chunk would probably say the left lane is just a lane and they can drive there if they want.

 

Thats not being refuted, only the ignorance of those drivers.

 

There are few good things to say about Illinois, but there is a law here that you cannot impede faster moving traffic in the left lane even if you are going at or above the limit

Sent from my Galaxy Note using Tapatalk 2

 

That's only because you'd block the view of the "Bear with a Camera"

 

Still waiting for the day I see that law enforced.