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Why Nobody Uses Texas's Fastest Freeway
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- Опубликовано: 4 авг 2024
- ✵Why Nobody Uses Texas's Fastest Freeway
✵ In America, the mission with everything road related is to alleviate congestion and create connections between the destinations americans want to travel to. It was easy at first, creating an extensive system of highways around the map between everything important, but as cities have grown and the population has centralized, things have become alot more difficult. In cities, especially located in the sun belt, traffic has gotten bad, meaning they need to continue to upgrade their roads or create more to alleviate that, thats always the mission. This has created alot of fascinating projects around the country and in these struggling places. One of these projects is State Route 130 in Texas, which is an extreme when it comes to these new freeways. It isn’t any normal freeway, and even boasts the highest speed limit in the entire country, at 85 miles per hour.
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Calling it a state highway is a joke when it’s owned by a private European company who wants to sue us, the citizens, for low revenue. This with a state budget surplus. Texans, we’re being played
Wait, they're trying to sue the people because they don't want to use the tollway? You gotta be kidding.
@@dave_dynasty well TXDOT I think. Which is our money anyway. So basically. It was a shady project from jump
It's owned by TxDOT...it is operated by the SH-130 Concession Company (which is the foreign entity). Take the tolls off, and it would still be owned by TxDOT.
@@ki5aok The tolls aren’t. I know what you’re saying. That’s how layered it is. Dont trust your elected officials. We have 25B in surplus, we don’t need toll roads
Which is why I PRE-PAY my account. $100 on the account, 5 separate cars.
As a truck driver, I can see why it built--to be a bypass of the greater Austin area for Laredo truck traffic. Thing is, large trucking companies will avoid tolls if they can and will dock driver's pay if they use a toll road without authorization. Owner operators and small independents will avoid it for the same reason and just take the hit of bumper to bumper traffic on I-35 or try to go thru at night.
That's not true never had a company say anything about using a toll to avoid traffic especially if it's to make on time delivery
This goes to show how well American highway system is when drivers have a freedom of a high quality free interstate. In Sydney Australia every motorway is tolled. Therefore, toll operators make so much money bc if you don’t want toll then drive on slow survive streets.
@@truckercowboyed2638 When I was driving one company had a policy of no tolls roads period. They didn't have ezpass, nor any of the others for like Oklahoma. However, you could run them, they just would not reimburse you for the costs.
@@cityplanner3063this is how a lot of roads on the east coast are. Texas is special in that they build highways like it’s Candy
Depends on the company, I work for a large company and they pay the tolls. That said depending on the time of day I might take 35 straight through just not spend the companies money unnecessarily but if it's around rush hour I am definitely taking that toll road.
Easy answer: there’s no need for it. No one uses it as an alternative between San Antonio and Austin because it adds 30ish miles to the trip and costs a ton of money. You save no time at all either.
And the free access roads have 65mph speed limits.
@@Default78334 didn’t know they built feeders on it. The grand parkway has its spots without it and got tricked into a toll the other day smh lol
It works if you're going north past Austin from San Antonio.
The trick is to take 35 to San Marcos, and then take highway 21 to 130. There's definitely no point in going all the way out to Seguin and then taking the highway because that adds too much time.
@@chefssaltybawlz The feeders predate the toll road. US-183 runs alongside SH130 from Buda to Lockhart. There's no feeder south of that, but no one actually wants to go to Seguin anyway.
@@s.n.9485I wouldn’t do that. There’s barely ever severe traffic until south Austin, I’d just take 130 from 35 if I was ever headed that route anyway.
I drive semi, live in TX, and have used this toll road on occasion. As an Owner/Operator who looks at all expenses involved, I recently had cause to contact the TX Toll Authority to ask what the toll charge would be for semis traveling the entire length of 130. I was told, $57.06 with a toll tag and $74.16 for pay-by-mail. What I discovered in driving north to south was that the tie-in at the southern end was too congested and time-consuming, and negated any time saved I felt I accumulated. Bottom line, I have to factor in the cost/benefit ratio along with customer pick-up or delivery requirements and overall profit margin. I drive at night, too, so that tips the scales toward not using 130. Would I consider it if conditions were just right? Absolutely. But keep in mind semis are not designed to go 85 mph, so most don’t if the drivers care about their equipment. And with the explosive cost of transportation logistics, any cost savings anywhere is mighty appealing. Just my two cents’ worth.
You think 130 is congested at the I-10 connection? Or are you talking somewhere else?
@@tonycrabtree3416 In my limited experience, it’s the I-10 section back over toward SA that always seems to be a complete cluster.
@@jesseostone386 I-10 is being widened there, but that’s not 130. That is I-10. That’s what had me confused.
@@tonycrabtree3416 Sorry, didn’t mean to do that. Unless I’m ending up in Seguin, I’m still going to have to cut back over toward SA to continue on to, say, Laredo or elsewhere. To me, it’s all part of the same bypass. Good to know that part of I-10 is being widened, and perhaps the construction zone is what made it so congested. I don’t get down that way all that often so I haven’t kept tabs on the happenings there. Thanks for the info! 😀
There's no way I'd take 130 as an 18-wheel driver except between 7-9 am and 4-6 pm when 35 is a parking lot for most of the Austin/San Antonio metro. At night 35 is probably faster when you factor in how far out of the way 130 takes you. Add on the toll cost and it's a no-brainer. I'm just glad my company pays my tolls because I drive every Austin toll road on most days.
The cost is absolutely crazy! I live in Round Rock and used it very few times. When I realized that it doesn't save any more than maybe 15 mins of travel, you still end up driving about 30 more miles. So not worth it. From Seguin to Round Rock, I paid around 30 dollars. ONE WAY! Thats 60 dollars round trip. NO WAY I ever do that drive again.
Does for me. Usually when I go by there it’s during Austin rush hour and I usually save anywhere from 30-45mins. Probably more considering I’ll go 90-95 on that stretch of toll way.
@@jhugo1986 it can be at most horrid traffic hours. Event still, its not worth 30-40 dollars to save 30 mins. But maybe that's not an issue for you or business drivers.
Lived in Round Rock for 5 years before relocating to Houston in 2022 and only used SH130 maybe three times TOPS. The first time I used it was because I was dropping off a relative to AUS and we were running late. Got them there on time but I almost had a heart attack at how much the tolls were adding up. I-35 traffic is insane especially as it bottlenecks over the Colorado River downtown but I'd take that over SH130's equally insane toll fees any day of the week.
Place names in Texas are not always pronounced intuitively. Seguin is suh-geen and Manor is may-ner.
Ol boy always butchers Texas towns lol
You can't always tell who doesn't live here by how they pronounce roads or towns. Last week someone was talking to me about a wreck on Highway 1. I was like, "Do you mean MOPAC??" They had no idea what I meant.
Or the time someone said "Puh-flugerville." 😆
I'd like to hear him to give Boerne or Mexia a shot
@@jonell82I grew up in Boerne and my grandparents lived in Mexia. Guess that’s why I can pronounce pretty much and place name.
😂 I didn’t even realize he was referring to Seguin until I went into the comments. It’s one thing for a word to intuitively appear different, it’s another thing to get ‘Sangoon’ from ‘Seguin’.
They did an experiment on the news years back where both cars started in downtown Austin and met in downtown San Antonio. The $16-$18 bucks in tolls saved the 130 driver a minute and a half. Bumper to bumper sucks. You know what else does? Being left 38 miles EAST of San Antonio and being billed for it.
Lmao, I already speed on regular highways and cops don’t care, why would I pay just to go the same speed?
I cruise at 100+ mph on Indiana I65 all the time while speed limit is 70 mph.
@@aimxdy8680 Yeah good luck with that in Texas. I got lucky with a warning for 82 in a 75 recently but the trooper saw I was passing a slow truck. Dont try ya luck here
@@kaymillerfromTX I got radar detectors and Laser Jammers and waze, I have drive across the country before so I know what it’s like, Texas is much less strict than Ohio or california.
@@aimxdy8680Do you I guess. I used to think that way and it was dumb. I can go 80 without problem here, I’m not risking Texas state troopers and a ticket lol. I’ve driven from Houston to NYC plenty of times too. It isn’t worth it.
@@aimxdy8680 Ohio is not that strict, especially compared to California
I use the his highway all the time going from Dallas to San Antonio. It can take 2 hours to get through Austin and there are always accidents in Austin. It cost about $26 to use this toll road and it is always worth the cost. This road easier cuts off at least 1 hour of the drive from San Antonio to Dallas. I love the he higher speed limit and the lack of traffic c and the route is a beautiful drive, especially on the spring when the wildflowers are in bloom.
I live in San Antonio and drive to Austin regularly. I have never used this freeway. I always found it funny that the moment they raised the speed limit to 85, they lowered the speed limit on i35 from 75 to 70. Even the times I have gone to Lockhart and needed to go to Austin, I just use the free access roads instead of paying $$ to be on the mainlane of the freeway. It still gets you there a good amount of time and no need to pay.
And you know most of us don't follow the speed limit anyways 😅
@@dark12ain On the beltway around Houston cops won't pull you over as long as you're going slower than 80 with a 65 mph speed limit. They're always in the same places so it's easy to relax your driving there. I only go 10 over because I don't want to push it.
@@ssjwes no shit? I'm kinda the same way I do 10 over but sometimes I get a lil lead footed and flore it 😅
If someone knows the backroads they'll never have to take tollways or 35/Mopac. As someone who drives all over the Austin metro daily and occasionally to SA and Houston, I have all the alt routes clocked to help avoid tolls and bad traffic in general, which in Austin is almost impossible. Gotta get off highways and most major surface roads and weave through the neighborhoods or rural roads. Most people aren't willing to get off the beaten path or deviate from that their navigation is telling them.
@@JakeKoenig I tend to as well but sometimes the main road will be faster just due to how stupid some of the road network is. There’s places where the freeway is the only thing connecting one place to another and forced to take it.
These companies completetly ignore the fact that we have a massive "freedom of movement" mindset as citizens in the US, so much so that most people plan travel routes based on avoiding tolls.
That's not the reason. It's a little out of the way and doesn't make much sense to use it if, for example, I'm just going from San Antonio to New Braunfels or around that area. I will take it if I'm going further north than Austin, because I would do anything and pay anything to avoid that wretched city and the traffic on 35 there.
@@Pteromandias did not insinuate that was THE reason or the only reason. However the out of area travelers will not have any familiarity with it's strengths or weaknesses as a local bypass.
I live in the area. I rarely if ever take that route. The few times I've used it was to get to the race track that's out there next to the toll road, and because I picked the wrong time to go down interstate 35. In both cases I traded money for time, but it turned out to be a wash because driving at 90mph burned more gas.
Been avoiding tolls for decades the whole pay to play, subscription way of life is not sustainable
@@mesanders1113 I guess that's a goal in life. Not mine, but ok. It's the world where everything is "free" and over-consumed that isn't sustainable actually. Look at how much effort your governments go through to hide the true costs of your free shit. It's so bad the nation is $150 trillion in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy. But at least your stuff is free.
I grew up and Round Rock and my family has a lake house in Seguin (Pronounced Suh-geen btw). Toll 130 saves us a ton of time, especially since you can go as fast as you want. You can make the drive about an hour if you want, and is totally stress free. Worth the cost in our situation.
And Manor is pronounced "May - noor."
Sure, if you live in Seguin the tollway ends at the perfect spot. But 95% of people are traveling along 35, and 130 is supposed to be a 35 bypass, so it ends in a really inconvenient spot for almost everyone.
Perhaps suh-GEEN
Yeah I live in Seguin, and my husband works in austin, he uses it because it’s empty lol, if there was more traffic we’d just use 35 because then the price wouldn’t be worth it. It runs him about $15 a day when he takes it.
If you are going straight through and not needing to stop in the Austin area it is a pretty good alternate route especially during the day. That extra 15-20 miles can save you 90 minutes by avoiding all the traffic in Austin and the mid cities. At 130 miles though there really needs to be at least one large truck stop or a rest area.
no, there needs to be Buc-ees
No Buc-ee's does not allowe trucks and four wheelers already have plenty of places they can stop especially further north. Plus most of those four wheelers are not traveling the entire 130 mile stretch where a lot of the trucks are but the only place they can really stop is in Mustang Ridge and that place is small and overcrowded.
Buc-ees is in Luling, just take the 183 exit instead of staying on 130 towards Seguin.
@@ericvantassell6809 #fuckbucees
@zaphod2505 there's a Pilot Travel Center on the northbound side of 130 at Hwy 21. Stop there on a regular.
Oh god that pronunciation of Seguin and Manor 😂
The highway is cool and does serve a niche, but as a former Austin resident, I think the local propositions to reroute I35 to SH130 is the right move. I35 as it exists today really needs to be a business route for local traffic only. SH130 turning into the main thru-I135 would be great to deal with the trans-American highway traffic. Texas needs to stop letting these companies operate toll roads that never get given back to us and screws our whole system.
His mispronunciations wounded my soul.
@@colormedubious4747 But he did get Pflugerville right lol
@@danastaph7708 That's Easy Mode! 🤣
I use the Northern portion every now and then, mainly to get to the airport. It actually does get traffic jams at times. But the southern part is empty as it is because it's expensive and doesn't really go anywhere. Even fewer trucks use it, as taking it the whole length can set you back over a hundred dollars. Also the soil is soft so the road has cracks and undulates quite a bit.
There was unpredicted cargo truck traffic going all the way thru Texas and it was causing traffic problems? Gang, I'm no expert, but this feels like a job for trains
Apples 🍏 and oranges 🍊.
Trains are best used for transporting *raw materials* such as 2X4s, cinderblocks, pipes, and girders. 🚉
Trucks, on the other hand, are far superior for transporting *finished goods* such as furniture, appliances, electronics, and clothes. 🚚
America has *both* the world's largest network of freeways, *and* the world's largest network of railroads.
🇺🇸
I completely agree. My opinion is that all long haul freight should be on trains, not trucks. This for two reasons. The first is safety. No matter how good a truck driver is, some jerk car driver can involve him in an accident. Once that happens, the chances of fatalities is much higher than if the truck was not involved. The second is fuel economy. I have read that trains get the equivalent of around 400 MPG compared to trucks.
@@grantorino2325 trucks aren't inherently better at hauling finished goods, we need to put finished goods on trucks because our undersized rail network doesn't connect ports to warehouses to retail outlets. They mostly connect mines to ports or power plants. If we expanded the rail network for finished goods, the rail network would quickly out compete trucks for most applications
@@RoundHouseDictator
"Undersized"?
America *already* has not only more miles of railway than any other country on Earth, but she also has more railroads than either all of East Asia, or all of Europe put together!
OK, a white lie.....
Europe technically has *slightly* more total railroads (even though she has almost twice as many people as the USA), but America has considerably more *standard gauge* tracks than the old continent.
After factoring in "breaks of gauge," Europe's train network is excellent for passengers, but pretty crappy for freight!
@@grantorino2325 for as much as we have it's less than we had and significantly less than we need. The Walmart hadn't moved in decades, neither had it's warehouses, nor the ports the feed them, their heavy cargo containers should be moved over rails
As a german, i find it funny to hear you saying that 85 mph (around 136,8 km/h) would be crazy fast.
This speed is typically how fast most Texans drive on the interstates and uncongested freeways regardless of speed limits.
It’s funny also because that’s the highest posted speed limit but people constantly drive 85mph or higher on freeways when clear enough anyway. Only difference is one is legal and one is not so much but we do it anyway
I live north of Austin and drive to San Antonio fairly regularly. I have taken 130 exactly once, an occasion when I saw that 35 was a mess in Austin, San Antonio, and San Marcos all at the same time. I was shocked by how much the tolls ended up being.
It's just too far out of the way to use regularly, and costs WAY too much. If tolls were reduced by 75% I might think about using it occasionally, but 35 has to be very screwed up to make it worthwhile to go that far out of the way.
I use 130 a couple of times a year. Major issue for me is the cost. It is way out of hand compared to other toll roads. I can't imagine having to travel it every day.
How much is it?
Since everyone talks about the toll prices, I had to go to the Drive Tour video I created on this facility to get the prices. These are 2023 pricing.
Going from north to south...there are a total of four toll plazas on the main lanes.
Toll Plaza #1 (northern section): Cars: 1.74, Semis (5 axles): 4.35, Per axle: 0.87
Toll Plaza #2 (northern section): Cars: 4.10, Semis (5 axles): 10.25, Per axle: 2.05
Toll Plaza #3 (southern section): Cars: 2.56, Semis (5 axles) 10.19. Per axle: Cars: 1.28, Trucks: 2.04
Toll Plaza #4 (southern section): Cars: 5.58, Semis (5 axles) 22.27. Per axle: Cars: 2.79, Trucks: 4.45
Total cost: Cars: 13.98, Semis (5 axles): 47.06
There's some disproportional stuff going on with the Southern section. This is the section that is not operated by TxDOT, hence why you NEVER have a private entity operate a state-funded toll road
Yes private ownership of public goods is always stupid, source texas power companies
It’s remarkable to me that Americans will turn down public transit, specifically rail, because it’s "too expensive" and you “have to pay to use it”. Then, in the same breath they will jump on board with an equivalently expensive highway project that requires you to personally pay for a vehicle, insurance, gas, and maintenance, AND STILL pay tolls to use it.
In this case, the highway doesn’t even directly connect anything, smdh.
@@illhaveawtrplz I don't think it has much to do with costs as it does with personal freedom. With public transportation, you have to abide by a schedule. If you wanted to go somewhere in the city, you need to follow the public bus or rail schedule. This may be inconvenient if, say, an emergency happens across town and you need to get there fast. If you have a vehicle, you simply get in and drive.
Then there's trips outside the city (say, to another city). You can plan the trip, making sure that you buy your Amtrak ticket, get to the station, only to find out that the train is delayed or the trip is cancelled. If you have your own vehicle, you can simply go at any time.
I think people use costs as a default excuse. Road projects can be as expensive, if not more, than a public transportation project (especially if you have to build a tunnel, a bridge covering a wide body of water, or a multi-stack interchange). Also, the fact that tax money built a light rail line, then the taxpayer must pay to use it? Why that sounds exactly like a toll road, and we all know how popular toll roads are.
Try it in a rental car....it will be over $75.00. TxTag has no system to accommodate out of state tourists. No wonder the Texas toll roads went bankrupt.
@@chuy7744 If you're doing rental car, then your best bet is the EZ Tag Express app on the phone. You're still going to pay the cash rate, but you can avoid any surcharges or fees that the rental car company may impose. Just remember to put the license plate of the rental car into the app (I wonder how many people forget to do this).
The single largest problem with Texas 130 is where it connects with I-10, some 30 miles east of San Antonio.
When I have anything that takes me south of Georgetown, I always check road conditions. Any major slowdown on 35, and the choice is 130. Most of the time I will still take the 45 and hit the 35 south of Austin, that way I can stop at Cabela’s, Buc-Ed’s. You know, important things.
If it wasn't for Cabela's I'd probably never go south of Ben White. There's literally nothing else down there I care about. Maybe I'll hit the outlets once a year but that's it.
Yes, I was just going to say....a toll road that was too far out of the way. SKIP IT. We continued to go straight through Austin on our yearly trip from Columbia, Missouri to Mcallen, Texas and back....and away from the more crowded areas, people drive 80-90 mph in Texas to begin with.
I'm from Austin.
130 should be free and 35 should be tolled and the elevated part in central Austin torn down.
No road should be tolled. We already pay enough in taxes, plus fuel taxes.
I’ve driven that toll road several times, it’s a beautiful, relaxing drive. Traffic was moderate, there seem to be more vehicles every time I use it.
Problem is it’s east of Seguin and there’s a lot of construction between San Antonio and Seguin on I-10. Once that’s done 130 should be a more alternative to I-35
The other day I had to get off i10 at Seguin, go up to New Braunfels and get on 35 south there just to get to San Antonio. It's madness there right now.
@@nomadericcame from Laredo to get to Dallas a few days ago: it was absolutely stressful staying on I35 the whole time.
I'm gonna take 130 from now on (for free as my company pays for the tolls)
@Reaping_Matster it definitely helps you bypass austin traffic. You'll still have to go through san Antonio, unless you go around through floresville into Seguin. But it completely gets you through the austin area quickly. Most people on there are going 90 plus.
@nomaderic yeah I know I still got to go through SA, but I do skip the majority of the backup it seems. I only got to go through the backup for I-37 usually instead of the whole city.
Man Texas is cool and all but it's the only state so far where I get stressed like crazy... hate to see what CA would be like, 55mph the whole damn time doesn't sound fun at all but so far TX has been shitty for me
@Reaping_Matster Texas is getting more and more packed everyday. Everywhere you go now there is traffic, even the small towns have traffic now, it's insane. I just moved back from out west and I was shocked at how bad it's gotten. Out west I'd be the only car on the road sometimes for miles. That'll never happen here in texas.
There are lots if reasons it isn't used much. Too far out of the way. Too expensive. And citizens said they didnt want it. I rode with my son once from Austin to San Antonio. Saw very, very few other vehicles either direction. One.thing most people dont think about is that 85 mph uses a LOT more gas than 70 mph.
Very good point! I often under-speed for the fuel savings. For the "privilege" of driving on TX-130, you pay tons in tolls AND pay more for gas since you aren't driving your car at a more efficient speed.
The gas usage at different speeds depends on your transmission. You have to see what your RPM gauge is at and adjust your speed to run your engine at the lowest RPM possible while maintaining the greatest speed possible in the highest gear.
@@WaltWW Yeah, yeah. Cars are built to run most efficiently at 55-60 mph.
If you’ve ever been through Austin on I-35, you can appreciate 130.
Or just avoid Austin in general is better.
Amen...The traffic on I 35 thru Austin in a nightmare no matter what time of day. I first discovered SH 130 on my way back to San Antonio from Dallas. Approaching Austin, I saw the signs for the by-pass. It was 5pm and I knew it would take me at least 90 minutes of stressful driving to get thru Austin's traffic. I took the bypass- spent about 6 dollars in tolls and was back in SA stress free. Best 6 dollars I ever spent. Author forgot one of the best exit's to stop at- about 3 miles south of the Tesla Plant is COTA- Circuit of the America's- the home of the United States Grand Prix. I can get to it from my home in Converse, Texas in less than 90 minutes.
It isn’t a freeway, it’s a tollway. Seguin is pronounced Sa-geeen (like green without the r, hard g). It is highly traveled on the east side of Austin. I’d take it when I lived in San Antonio to avoid Austin/ San Marcos traffic depending on the time of day. I-35 still hasn’t been updated.
I live in New Hampshire and when I visit friends and family in Texas I find myself going from DFW to San Antonio. In the past I hated having to go through Austin - no matter how many lanes there were it was always gridlock. Now my brother adds me to his Texas version of EZ Pass and I love taking 130 to breeze by Austin. I set the cruise at 92 and stay in the right lane because everyone is zooming by me. I have noticed that the road is seriously under used and have thought that since toll roads are so rare in Texas the locals have a natural aversion to them and put up with I35 congestion. When I tell folks at home about this road I have to produce pictures to prove that I am not inventing the posted speed limit.
You make some valid points, but I've used this tollway many times and it has saved me a great amount of time and agony. The agony being driving through downtown Austin. Driving through the north part of San Antonio is no pleasure either so if I'm traveling from Dallas to downtown San Antonio, this is a great alternative. If the state could figure out how to get rid of the tolls, I am sure it would much more traffic. If you are looking for other crazy toll roads to do a video on, try the Chisholm Trail Parkway connecting Fort Worth to Cleburne. How that ever got funded is crazy.
I tried it once just ofr the thrill of legally driving 85 mph. There is no point to this highway. The south end is not near anything useful, the area around Austin isn't much closer to anything useful, and it costs a lot of money. I can maybe see a use case if you are headed south of San Antonio from somewhere north of Austin, and have a lot of money to burn. But this cannot really be a whole lot of people a day. Even if it was free, I would not consider it to be a good option when driving from San Antonio to Austin.
Cops don’t care if you "illegally drive" 85 mph. Here in Indiana and chicago I already cruise at 100+ on 70 zones, why pay more just to go the same speed? Speed limits are a suggestion.
@@aimxdy8680not having LOE is not the flex you think it is, Indiana. That’s why your state is… yeah
@@AliciaTheTroonSlayer neither is having cops enforce unreasonable speed limits meant for cars in the 1970s. I been in texas and nobody follows the speed limit, everyone on I35 is going 90+.
@@AliciaTheTroonSlayer My state is what? Lmao, I live in Carmel, IN one of the most prosperous towns in america. I dont live in a shit hole like Gary which is apart of chicago.
@@aimxdy8680 no they aren’t lmfao. Anyone with sense knows that’s a ticket waiting to happen.
fyi: Seguin pronounced sa-geen.
I wonder if the feds passed a law stating the people paying to use a toll road would get an exemption on the fuel tax for the miles driven on the toll roads would change the attitude for using this road? It is "double dipping" to pay a toll and gas tax on a privately owned road.
Not to mention ev owners are now getting a $250 "gas tax avoidance" fee tacked on. It would be extremely nice to get that waived by having toll tags or some noninvasive proof of use.
lol tolls are privately owned. Not a government entity like your normal interstate highways.
@grandinosaur Most fuel taxes go to the States, not the Federal government. Even the IFTA fuel taxes that truckers pay are split and distributed amongst the states they operate in, not the Federal government.
In Chicago, all of our toll roads get heavy usage because they're built in a way that incentivizes paying for them. 294 to Midway or O'Hare beats sitting on 90 for 70 minutes in rush-hour.
I think you really missed the main point of why this freeway is terrible. It's a toll road. (It's also Way out of the way for it to save any real time). Texas doesn't have many tolls outside of Houston and Dallas. Having driven on it, it's a waste of time and money. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason for this to be a toll road. They are making Austin worse by making parts of US 183 and US 290 toll roads (inside Austin). The state government has really messed this up.
Michigan is better, there are no toll roads except the very inexpensive and beautiful Mackinac Bridge which is $4 and absolutely worth it. Democrat governor and wonderful roads and highways. Taxes are fair and cheap. I'd recommend moving to Michigan. Also we have actual trees and lakes and not pathetic brush country and dirty mud creeks. Cheaper property tax. Construction is quick and very well organized, and the zones are bearable unlike in Texas.
And you can still keep your guns and even keep and eat your own road kill, i.e. venison. You can't in Texas. Texas state government is terrible all the way around.
Texas, where every highway project starts with "Hold my beer..."
Another reason it didn't work to relieve traffic is because it is a toll road. The made that mistake in Tyler Tx. They built loop 49 to relieve traffic on loop 323. Loop 49 is a tool road which defeated the reason it was built.
Loop 49 is a two-lane toll road, which is the dumbest thing I have seen. It screams "We're too cheap to do it right." If you don't have the money to put up a proper divided highway, then why build the toll road at all?
You can do a toll road to relieve traffic. Hardy Toll Road in Houston does that for I-45 (of course, the end of it is only a couple of miles from I-45, not 52 miles from I-35 like SH-130 is.)
It's funny that they keep making this mistake, though. 99 around Houston is a toll road built to alleviate traffic on the toll roads that co-locate with the beltway and I-610 ... and while it is used, the vast majority of people and almost all commercial traffic still uses I-610 because it's the only free freeway around Houston.
@@EdowythIndowyl You will always have people that will use the free route no matter what, even if they have to sit in traffic for hours a week. And as for commercial traffic, I read one comment from a trucker that many companies make the truck driver pay for the tolls, so they will sit in traffic rather than drive a toll road, as they are getting the same pay for the load.
As for SH-99 Grand Parkway, I do use that quite regularly when I am either going to The Woodlands, Montgomery or Sugar Land, as it is a shorter route for me. I have also used Westpark Tollway when I know I-10 will be backed up because of an accident.
if anything they should put the toll on the congested road. people will naturally re route to free alternatives and alleviate the congestion without building anything.
The point, though, is that these roads don't have to be toll roads at all. 99 would be busy all the time (as would BW8), if it was not a toll road. I-610 then would be much less overloaded and traffic throughout Houston would be better at all hours of the day. The I-610 interchanges, in particular, cause a lot of the gridlock that happens around the area because they're trying to pack too many vehicles into the *only* freeway loop around town.@@ki5aok
As a trucker myself, I'd use 99 all the time, if we could get on it without it costing the company thousands of dollars a week... (it costs $36+ to go from I-45 on the north side to I-10 west, a trip I could make 3 times a day [for 6 charges, there and back], along with 60+ other drivers at the company). You could see why companies don't want truckers taking toll roads.
I've never used this road, but it sounds similar to the M6 Toll in England. The M6 Toll was supposed to take some of the traffic from the M6 but it's always quiet because it's obviously a toll road and doesnt really link to anywhere useful. Most people stick to the M6 or the parallel A roads instead.
Hutto, Pflugerville, and east Austin are growing insanely fast especially right by 130
Its out if the way and cost a lot of money to save just a few minutes. Its not worth it in the long run.
I’ve only ever used the road once. It was back on one of my trips form Chicago back to San Antonio and we decided to try something a little bit different on the way back. We were shocked by how highly the speed limit was as well as how empty it was. We only say like a dozen other cars while driving the entirety of it.
Should've been titled "Why Nobody Uses The Road With The Fastest Speed Limit in America" haha, but that doesn't really matter
Everyone speeds regardless of limit. Here in Indiana people already go 90+ mph on 70 zones. Speed limits in america are just a suggestion.
That would definitely help out with the algorithm 😅
@@aimxdy8680lol, you haven't met my 75 yr old mother. She doesn't speed. 😂
@@aimxdy8680 I recall a couple years back when leaving STL on I-44 W towards Rolla and beyond the following sign posted by law enforcement:
"It's a speed limit, not a speed suggestion."
@@rickcobos1724 how much people go the speed limit? Last time I cruised at 70 I was getting passed by everyone including semi trucks. Law enforcement doesn’t really enforce speed until you get to the triple digits, Police even cruise at 80-90 mph.
SH130 is an excellent bypass for the Austin Metro if your destination is Corpus Christi or the Rio Grande Valley. You can go to Corpus straight south from Seguin and eventually meet up with 77, and for the RGV, you still save time driving to the 410 loop from 130, thrn getting on 37. Once I69 finishes up in Texas, it will be even better for that purpose.
Better route: Head south on TX-123 and US-181, then cut over to I-37 from Kenedy. You're welcome.
@@colormedubious4747 For Corpus, just staying on 181 I found was faster until you got to 77, then ride 77 to 37.
Gonna have to try going down to Kenedy to 72 and riding that to 281 next time I head down to the Valley. I am normally on the McAllen side of the RGV, so 410 to 37 to 281 is my normal route.
I don’t know we should hope for the per posed I-69 which will cut through my little town of Teneha and through Joaquin to Logansport,La. It’s already pain going through Nacogdoches and Lufkin with all that construction and destruction.
@@Atlasworkinprogress I'm usually going to Port A, so I stay on 181 until Gregory, then cut over to the ferry via 361. If I'm stopping in Corpus enroute, I cut over to 37 via 72 and take the SPID causeway after shopping at Home Depot, Walmart, and HEB.
You should do a video on the Veterans Expressway (state road 589) in the Tampa Florida area. Well known to locals for being absolutely useless. It connects the litteral farmland of barren nowhere north of tampa (brooksville) to a bit north of tampa international airport, and theres like nothing in between the two. For only like a couple of miles is it actually in tampa and for that its mostly all in the suburbs where there are better alternatives. It doesnt even really go to the bedroom communities around tampa, and it pretty much just connects a small town of 4000 (brooksville) directly to Tampa airport. Thats about its only use. And trucks, usually one of the main customers of toll roads, dont even touch it because it goes literally nowhere. But its tolls are super cheap and it does work well as an evacuation route out of tampa during hurricanes
A friend who lives in Homosassa Springs used it almost daily to get to work in Tampa until that job ended.
She still uses it when she needs to get to Tampa Bay area for other things.
And it ends not ‘bit north of airport’ but south of airport.
I generally enjoy your videos. In this on, you buried the lead twice. At the 4:47 mark you started a second review/history. I am leaving this video not knowing why no one uses the freeway, but I’m guessing it’s a toll road and the video is misnamed.
Please get to the point sooner. Check out ‘burying the lead,’ it might help you structure your videos better.
Or get over it and deal with his style of video....no one asked you
I agree. He only mentions that it's a toll closer to where the video ends. I think it being a Toll road is a really being deal, if you're a Texan. But it is also way out of the way for it to give anyone any meaningful time savings of Austin traffic.
@@westnashguy I like toll roads. The riff-raff can't pay to use them, so they stay off it and their bad driving does as well.
Thank you for giving some attention to my neck of the woods, Beaver
(Yes, I subscribed)
This is why road builders should not be in the business of "predicting" how things will turn out, They should just do detailed analyses of current traffic, and figure out ways to facilitate it more quickly and cheaply.
It was hard for me not to notice how you pronounced Seguin. When I first moved to San Antonio, I used to pronounce it like the hockey player Tyler Seguin, but learned from the locals that it's actually pronounced se-GEEN. The San Antonio area has a lot of towns and streets that are pronounced very differently than how it looks they should. Boerne sounds like Bernie, Gruene sounds like Green, Huebner is HEEB-ner, etc.
Don't forget that Manchaca is pronounced man-shack. And Buda is pronounced byoo-duh. Elgin is el-gin (like Tanqueray).
Subbing for your effort.
And also pronouncing Manor should have been MAAY-ner.
bexar
@@fixpacifica I thought that one was a given. Good add.
One nice thing about this highway is you can drive 100 mph without the risk of a reckless driving charge. I've driven it several times just for that reason.
From Austin to Lockhart I use the free access road along the 130. It's 65mph and run at 75mph. I also don't use any of the new toll roads. The access roads are now better then the roads were before they built the toll roads. Been in Austin and area for 26 years. No need to drive the toll roads.
The northern part from Georgetown to 45 in Buda is actually pretty useful when traffic through Austin is horrible (which is often). The southern part makes a lot less sense because it dumps you so far outside of San Antonio that it eats up any time savings you'd get from bypassing I-35. Add to that, the area is so empty that most people heading that way will just get on the local feeder roads that have 65mph speed limits and no appreciable traffic to save something like $7-8 in tolls.
Also, if you want to see another weird toll road, check out the Chickasaw Turnpike in Oklahoma. It's a 13 mile two-lane toll road that goes from nowhere to nowhere and is a vestigial remnant of an abandoned project to build a tolled bypass from I-35 to I-40 cutting around OKC.
The issue is that the frontage roads are actually US-183 on the southern section of SH-130 Toll. When you get to Lockhart, the frontage roads ends as US-183 heads in a different direction.
As for the Cickasaw Turnpike, I'll say it again...if you can't build a proper toll facility, then don't build it. Two-lane toll roads are stupid and do not serve a purpose as you're limiting the traffic volume. Plus, it will be more expensive later to add that second carriageway. Nothing screams "I'm too cheap to build this correctly, but I'm still going to charge you for it" than a two-lane toll road.
@@ki5aok The likelihood that the Chickasaw Turnpike will ever need a second lane is somewhere around nonexistent. The state government never really wanted to build it in the first place.
@@Default78334 I'm reading up on that road and I believe some politicians needed to have their asses kicked.
So, nobody wanted this toll road, but in order to build two other toll roads, this one, which nobody wanted, had to be built first.
So, they truncated it and made it two lanes in an act of malicious compliance ("you said build it, you didn't say how.")
Meanwhile, nobody wanted responsibility for the maintenance, which caused it to deteriorate to a point that even ODOT wouldn't accept it.
I got to admit, that's some political drama right there.
130 was first proposed and discussed in the mid 1980s but was hindered by legal action threats from the enviromentall bug and flora activists who held sway politically. It was intended to be a standard state highway, publically funded and maintained - NO TOLL. The fact that when they finally let things get so bad that the environmentalist were outvoted and they subbed out the management to build it under to build it quicker than would normally take, a deal that intended tolling it stupidly insured, since the toll is amongst the highest iin the nation, that it wouldn't be used.
I don’t think it’s that expensive coming from Florida. Some Orlando exits change depending on time of day and there was one exit that was 10 dollars at certain times. ONE exit, it didn’t include the other ones you went through
@@robertct06 I read a year or so ago that it as in the top three nationally. I assumed that was true. I've only ridden it once. I object as a matter of principle tolled roads, and since I grew up in central Texas, I know enough back ways to get around it.
@@jamesoliver6625 only reason I hate tolled roads is that the tolls don’t go to fix the roads and improve them
Actually, you’re confusing two different highways. The one discussed in the 1980’s was The Mo-Kan Expressway. Similar to the MoPac Expressway (Loop 1) on the west side of Austin. The MoKan would have followed the generally north-south path of the Missouri-Kansas railway line in East Austin/Travis County (closer in to Austin than SH-130’s path), just as the MoPac Expressway follows the Missouri-Pacific railway line in west Austin.
However once the old Bergstrom Air Force base was slated for closing, the city of Austin ceased looking at an area just northeast of Manor for the new airport. This caused the end of plans for the MoKan Expressway.
Texas SH130 was/is a totally different project developed as part of the Texas Trans-Corridor project that resulted from the NAFTA agreement.
Totally different projects.
@@jamesmarciel5237 No. I'ver lived in Austin almost 70 years and my parents had land in the Manor area that was going to be directly influenced by what was described at the time as proposed SH 130 in the mid 80s. It was the same idea ultimately incorporated into the Texas Trans Corridor but the notion was first proposed when Frank Cooksey was mayor and was screwed up by the "Save Our Springs" coalition. The number of politicos that owned land from the 60s where the road was eventually built (Governors, Lt Governors (Ben Barns), power brokers from all levels) was telling that they were going to work a way to turn the profit, which eventually happened just as they had planned.
Since it connects on the south side with I-10 east of San Antonio (and believe me, it's still quite a drive from that point to San Antonio proper), I wouldn't exactly say it connects from San Antonio.
OMG BEAVERMAN VIDEO SHOWED UP ON MY FEED!!! Hope the channels going well
I love you Ace
I live in San Antonio and drive through Austin regularly. I-35 is a total mess in Austin. I cannot imagine going past Austin without using this toll route. Before the road Austin was small but it took much more time than it takes with the toll today.
You can take 35 up to Kyle, then take 45 over to 130. Siri takes me that way sometimes... but I live on the east side. I'm traveling from east Round Rock to Converse and back once a month... I always ask my phone which way to go... it usually tells me 130 to 45 to 35 going down and 10 to 130 coming back. I can stop in Lockhart for BBQ! Trust the phone... when it tells you to avoid 35 then do it.
I understand from a LOCAL standpoint, it's a waste in most scenarios. Maybe in long scenarios, too. But I think it depends on where you're coming from/going t. For me, I use SH 130 traveling from Southeast of San Antonio, past Austin up to Waco. It wouldn't make sense to go up north to I-35 when I can drive up to Seguin in 30 minutes and take 130. Idk maybe it's just me.
I used to have to commute between Leander and San Antonio, and I learned to absolutely take the north SH45 to SH130 down to the south SH45 and then get on I-35 from there. It saved anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes each way and was a much less annoying/stressful trip.
Just last week I was on SH130 at evening rush hour and it was stop and go traffic between Round Rock and Pflugerville. Which is why they are expanding the "north" part of it with an extra lane in each direction.
Definitely it had (and still has) some issues, especially the south end, but at least the north end was a good decision. Especially as Texas gets ready to completely rip out I-35 through Austin and rebuild it, which will be absolute chaos. (And the planned rebuild of I-35 was also one reason they gave for building SH130.)
Uh,... actually "130" was originally preposed to go further south and west to meet up with I-37 south of San Antonio to bypass both Austin and San Antonio also alleviating the I-37 to I-10 traffic in San Antonio and that's why it dumps into I-10 in the middle of nowhere. If that had actually come to fruition there were whispers of a connection all the way to I-35.
Once lived in Austin, I can tell you traffic on 35 is always bad. It was poorly designed going through the city. I think more people would use 130 if it wasn’t a toll road. Or some how divert truckers onto that SH. But it seems all new highways built in Texas must be a toll road. I don’t get it.
Love your videos man, I live in between both cities. Seguin is pronounced “suh-geen” . Wanted to clear that up for ya😂😂
Reducing or removing the toll altogether might make this stretch of highway appear much more useful to the average traveler. I haven't driven TX 130 yet, and the toll might deter me from ever doing so. Rerouting I-35 and through traffic onto TX 130 makes a lot of sense, particularly for improving mobility and access within Austin. The Transportation Department has even considered adding limited tolls on existing interstates. One proposal in NC was to add tolls along I-95 at the border, but it would only toll through traffic.
there are stretches of Michigan divided highways that people drive 80+. US 31 which goes from the Indiana border near South Bend and goes all the way to just south of the Mighty Mac. The divided highway/expressway(it switches back and forth) ends at Ludington. having send many summers near Ludington I can tell you that doing 70-75 means people will pass you. I've seen groups of cars doing 90+
Can't even watch the video. You failed so hard with this one. State Route 130 isn't a freeway, it's a toll road, which is the absolute primary reason it isn't used, but it is used... It's used by thousands every day, it just doesn't get the use that was hoped for because they were stupid and built a toll road and charge too much to use it. It saves some time but at great expense in distance, fuel, and tolls. If you're going to do a video on FREEways, don't use TOLLways.
Okay buddy
The video isn’t THAT BAD. (ok I’m not from Texas but whatever)
The stretch of 130 that runs from Georgetown to Buda is helpful and well traveled if you need to get north or south of Austin. I've used it often and it's worth the tolls to avoid Austin rush hour traffic.
The section that runs from SH 45 south to I-10 is little traveled and largely useless.
Yeah everything south of 45 is pointless except for people going to Corpus. Maybe they're planning a San Antonio bypass for an Austin - Corpus commute, but how many people are needing that?
@@JakeKoenig agreed. It's not even a good way to get to I-10 from the Austin area. I'd rather go through Luling and get I-10 there if I need to head east. I really have no idea why that stretch of 130 exists. Because it's so little used.
LOL, this guy never heard about the Autobahn (The Motorways of Germany) where in most places there is no speed limit whatsoever. Greetings from Germany!
I’ve been using it since it opened, and I love it. Not having so many vehicles on it is a huge plus, and it makes travel time to Austin from the south much more predictable and pleasant. I-35 is a daytime nightmare. 130 makes it easy to get to anything in the east half of Austin, including the airport, or to bypass Austin altogether.
Traffic on 130 around Austin has increased considerably in the last few years, not nearly as wide open as it used to be, but still moves right along - way better than 35. I would still rather drive a few miles to the east and get on 130 than join the herd on I 35.
And it has a really great view of the Tesla factory.
Interesting video! I'd agree with you that the Southern portion isn't in the best location. However, the North portion is used so heavily that is was starting to back up and they had to add another lane in each dirction a few years ago. Also keep in mind that, when building a freeway, you need to get the right-of-way and build it before you need it! If you wait until the area turns from agriculture to rooftops, the cost to buy the right-of-way skyrockets, you have to displace existing residents, and existing residents complain about being along the freeway. That's why there isn't a major bypass around the West side of the City.
its also political suicide for a politician to support taking of land for a freeway, Especially today where there is less incentive than previous years by people to support "just another few lanes".
The reason why there is no real bypass on the western side of Austin, is not so much the right-of-way issues. It is more the environmental impact raises the cost of development and construction to astronomical levels. Not only that but the time to complete the studies on the environmental impact of the projects delays the development and construction for so long that costs are always out of date by the start of construction. I am not against the minimization of the environmental impact but am just illustrating the real detriment to a western bypass in the Austin area.
@@jamesmarciel5237not to mention that the east side of Austin it mostly flattish central Texas prairie and the west side is the beginning of the Hill Country. Lot harder to build big roads in the hills.
Can't wait to see how much it costs Texas, to build that wall on the New Mexico border.
It's pronounced "Suh-GEEN" (Seguin) and "MAY-nor" (Manor) Please be careful, Texans get sensitive about such things and expect outsiders to know intuitively how to say it. LOL Nice analysis though. I travel that route frequently. The southern section is not used a lot, but the section from 71 north to I35 was lousy with trucks when I went that way last week.
I35 through Austin is about to be rebuilt, and lowered, so that the area above the highway can be used as green space or building sites. This will take (projected) ten years to complete. I suspect this toll road will get much more use as I35 comes to a screaming crawl for the next 10-12 years.
The easy solution: stop building excessive freeways. I'm sure a lot of the traffic through Austin can be alleviated by implementing good public transit (no BRT, but either a metro, suburban/regional rail with proper frequencies or light rail). There is a reason why similar large metropolises in Asia do not suffer the same fate as Austin does.
Austin is not meant to be a big major city and needs to stop attracting business and residents. That area doesn’t have the infrastructure and is over saturated. I lived in Austin from 1993 to 2001 and this highway was being debated and planned. Austin didn’t quite support light rail and the city was already congested and overwhelmed.
@@r.pres.4121 Out of curiosity, why was the LRT line not built? Austin has well over the population that justifies LRT (even Canberra, a city of 400k, has a light rail line and has plans to create a grand LRT network).
Rail has to be leased from Union Pacific. They won’t pay for upgrades needed for light rail which adds billions.
@@jdeang3531 That sucks :-(.
@@nperceivedAustin did approve LRT a few years back and is currently in the process of getting it done. And even before then, they built their first commuter rail line over a decade ago (though it is extremely inefficient and probably shouldn’t have been built in the first place).
The original LRT proposal failed not because Austinites didn’t want LRT, but rather because the plan they gave to voters was ridiculously stupid and wouldn’t have alleviated anything-a problem that was fixed with the more recent LRT routes proposed and approved.
Pronounced Seguin wrong, if you know, you know. You aren't from around these parts , are ya? I'm sure you're not.
What's annoying about that toll road is nobody drives 85 mph on it. They're going 10-15 mph slower. Im driving 85 because I can and enjoying it. If you get on I-35 when its 70 mph you get people driving 90 mph. That's Texas mentality.
I haven't lived in Texas for 5 years (moved to England), but I lived in New Braunfels. We took the toll road any time it was remotely feasible, because the lack of traffic made it far less stressful.
I live just near this freeway and I have literally never had the slightest urge to use it, even when I-35 is completely choked.
Also, Seguin is pronounced "seh-geen," not "sangoon."
Love your videos. But I do have to let you know, the city of Manor is pronounced “main-er” or sometimes “may-nor”. Lots of people from other areas often get it wrong. I grew up here and lived between Manor and Elgin for all but 10 years of my life.
Also, your conclusion on the area of growth around Austin is a little out of date. The area along US 290 around Manor and out towards Elgin has exploded since 2010-2015 and continues to grow. The area is the last section around Austin that is significantly close to Austin’s core and is still more affordable than the areas of growth you listed. Texas 130 now has apartments and single family home subdivisions alongside it along with tech business districts and warehousing between Pflugerville and Manor. Traffic is more significant along the northern/Austin adjacent stretch.
Truthfully, I cannot attest to the southern portion of the toll road. In fact the northern portion of Texas 130 was operated by a different company from the toll company that operated the southern portion. The company that operated the southern portion is the company that filed bankruptcy, not the company that operated the northern section. The partnership of Cintra and Zachry American Infrastructure built the southern section for the state. They then formed the SH130 Concessions Company to operate and manage the toll road in exchange for 50 years of toll revenues. That is the company that filed for bankruptcy in March 2016. Then in 2017 upon exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, investment firm Strategic Value Partners, bought out Cintra's stake in the joint venture.
From interstate 10 to end of toll road just north of Georgetown is 91 miles. I take it everyday for almost 7 years as a truck driver. It adds 16 miles to trip going from San Antonio to Dallas via toll road. As bad as traffic is on hwy 35 due to all the construction, wrecks, heavy heavy traffic etc. It is much better way to go. Most of the time from midnight to 4am going through Austin is better but a high risk of bad drivers (drunk). A lot of people don’t know but there is 2 rates on toll road daytime (prime hours) is a lot more than overnight hours.
I use the bypass almost every time I go through Austin - depending on the time of day. It’s longer, but a lot of time is saved. Never been on the most southern route because I live in northwest San Antonio and take 45 back onto IH35. And believe it or not, there’s actually traffic jams on 130 around Tesla and Round Rock during the week.
A couple of comments with preface. I am a native Texan, but I don't live in Texas any more. The Austin road situation makes me happy about that. Austin is a horrifying maze of toll roads. It's fine for locals, but it sucks for visitors. It's all toll tag only as well. And Texas has plenty of money, they just want other people to pay for their roads for them. The entire toll system is a huge eff you to visitors to the state. Anyway, we did end up using 130 on our last visit for the reason that the road was built. It was so much quicker. The average speed on 35 between San Antonio and Austin is still faster than walking, but that can include large sections where you are stopped. And that seems to be normal. So I agree it's out of the way, but 35 is just unusable a lot of the time. I'm surprised it isn't used more.
The main problem with the highway is the toll is ridiculously high. Trucks would absolutely use it to get around the traffic quagmire of Austin if they were encouraged to do so, but it costs way too much. That, and the southern half of the route strays way too far from I-35 to be convenient for bypassing Austin, unless Austin's traffic is particularly bad on a given day.
Makes sense to me.
This road helps a lot from getting from Georgetown to AUS
I drove this route just last week, on my way back to Dallas from watching the solar eclipse outside of San Antonio. I didn't take the toll road when I went to San Antonio this time, which I soon greatly regretted, as I35 was congested almost to a standstill virtually the entire distance from Austin to San Antonio. The only way I got to view the eclipse is I took frontage roads around the congestion. Even at 40 mph, I was beating interstate traffic. On my way home, I just didn't want to deal with it.
A few years ago, I had to commute from Dallas to San Antonio and back every week for work. I took the toll road around Austin every time, as my employer paid my tolls at the time.
10:32 Google Maps has a long-running bias for Toll Roads.
There's at least two spots on the map I see that could've been a better connection for this highway to I-35 and San Antonio.
Toll roads in Texas don't make sense financially for drivers.
$15 one way for like 10 miles is not worth saving 5 minutes from your drive.
I stay near Manor and work evenings near I-35 & Ben White. SH 130 has been a godsent. I only use a few miles of it to get to 71/Ben White and it saves me between 25 mins to an hour. Also, FM 971, another route to 71 just outside the city limits has a lot of school buses, utility & dump trucks that slow traffic down substantially when they need to make a left turn on a road with no turn lanes. They did add a few traffic lights when Tesla moved in, which was helpful. However, there's also infinite construction on that drag. There are also reports of rocks getting kicked up and cracking windshields. I have a toll pass and I know working just under 5 mins has paid for the privilege of not dealing with any of that.
I just have to share the road with other speed freaks as we dart around big rigs. But 95% of my work commute is done between 70 & 90mph. I definitely can't say that about eastbound 71 traffic, nor any kind of I-35 traffic at that time.
I've also used it on the rare journey into Buda, as it deposits you about 1 or 2 exits North on I-35. So, it's useful for anyone who already lives that far east but I don't see how helpful it'd be if one lived in, say, Leander or near 2222 and Burnett.
Just an FYI, an autocorrect/typo got you, it’s FM 973, not FM 971.
BTW, that small town outside of San Antonio is NOT pronounced "Sen-gurn" (at 1:35) or whatever you said, it's pronounced more like "Se-geen". Maybe if more people saw "The Alamo" (2004), they'd know that (the town is named for Captain Juan Seguín of the Texian Army during the conflict).
BTW, that is NOT how to critique someone. You say it like; "Its cool if you haven't heard it before, but its pronounced 'Se-geen'." Maybe if more people were helpfull instead of spitefull, they would know that.
When I lived in Dallas I would go down to my parents place in San Antonio I would use this toll road. You could bypass most of the Austin traffic but even then it wasn't that useful as you would still hit lots of traffic and construction just North of Austin. And as you pointed out it was so far out of the way in the end only save a few minutes. But I never saw a cop on the hiway. in some places 85 was the minimum and would get passed by cars making near 100! (I take the 5th if I ever did that :)
I35 from the 130 split up through Temple-Belton and pretty much into Waco is much better now. Waco, not so much, but it's getting better. And of course the new Buc-ee's in Hillsboro is going to change that journey forever.
When he said Seguin wrong. Lol
I Used this freeway toll road at Georgetown on Saturday getting off in Lockhart. Nice toll road and it is fast with the light traffic. Great way to get to south Texas.
now if they followed the map trajectory or did a little more looking into, west Austin (talking the more hilly/mountainous part) technically would of been a more probable route to make. beit they would have to spend more money to build in the more mountainy area. (I do see they are building routes to be more efficient in that front. It's just now "hoping" the growth goes eastward... that is alot of infrastructure growth in a more environmentally contested time.
They should have extended the Mopac south and made the 4th lane free. Austin is a joke.
@@cjthompson420 I was told Austin is like Ashville NC or San Francisco CA
@@JerEditz 2 places I’ve never been lol. But nah austin is hugged up on the hill country. So if you go to google maps and do terrain, you’ll see what I mean. That’s why the west side can go 1000 ft above sea level and hilly and the east is flat and below 400
@cjthompson420 yeah I got you. Ashville NC is built in Appalachia and the only major route is interstate 40 and no other space for more freeway really. And San Fran is old and built up so most freeways just avoid San Fran as the only freeway sort of just pours you into downtown SF. No space and the only space is water and mountains in all sides. So similar aituations
@@JerEditz I wanna visit both actually so I kinda know but yeah. It’s different here in a way because austin isn’t surrounded by water. It is but not like bay/ocean. If you’re ever here, driving the mopac and 360 is way more beautiful anyway. 35 is a fuss and it’s boring and flat.
Given that this highway charges tolls, isn't it a tollway rather than a freeway?
Technically, the term "freeway" means "freely moving traffic", IE no stop lights or stop signs, not the cost of using the road.
In general, those states that have toll routes generally call them anything but a freeway, at least officially. Several states called them turnpikes in allusion to the tolled highways of the 19th century, throughways or thruways, parkways (many of those are not tolled), and expressways --go figure.There's no ambiguity with "tollway" or "toll road", because it would be impossible to simply put toll gantries upon some ordinary street or road; such a road must somehow be special. Kentucky's parkways and its one turnpike were to be de-tolled once the costs of construction and finance were paid off.
Most states that have both toll and free express highways use very different names for them. So do people.
I always take 281 to go from the DFW area to San Antonio. No tolls and it is much more scenic.
We live in North Texas. When driving to Austin and immediate surrounds, we don't use 130 (no point). When driving to SA, yes, we use it always. The toll is no problem when saving 1-1.5 hours compared to going I-35 through Austin. Toll roads are the norm in North Texas and Gulf Coast so maybe that's why we don't complain about pay-to-use.
For the Austin locals, yes, I can see it's pretty much useless to them to have to drive so far east to get to 130. That's city driving and can add as much time as 130 takes away. For those just trying to get through Austin on the way to some other place, 130 is a valued addition to our travels, toll or no toll. But also consider, those vehicles on 130 are NOT adding to the traffic woes in the middle of Austin.
Jokes on TxDOT, they are still going to add more lanes in downtown Austin. Why get one freeway project for billions of dollars when you can get two for 4x the price!
That makes no sense to me. Austin is a mess. They should have extended mopac and kept all of it free as a local traffic alternative. 183 as well. All these tolls when we had a budget surplus is wild
That’s a horrible plan, how about you add more light rail systems and bikeable paths and more walkability, no traffic at all.
Downtown chicago highway I-90 and I-94 is like 14 lanes each side yet it’s still crowded.
@@aimxdy8680 wack comparison. Austin has miles of bike lanes, it just needs a better train system. Isn’t your city failing? Worry about that. No one is walking here in 100 degree heat
@@CynthiaNotG horribly placed bike lanes on 4 lane roads doesn’t really count. Also my area must be failing, especially when the median household income in my town is 120,000 dollars and it has only grew ever since. Totally failing when my town has exploded in population since 2000, Yup my city is totally failing lmao.
@@CynthiaNotG We hit 100 degree heat a few weeks ago yet it wasn’t bad, try our brutal winters with -30 degree windchills every year. Chicago has one of the worst winters yet they have shit ton of bike lanes and walkability.
Disappointed that the ACTUAL COST OF THE TOLL IN DOLLARS was never mentioned - probably one of the most important reasons people don't use it. PEOPLE HATE TOLL ROADS!!!! Why was the actual dollar amount never mentioned? Such a simple item absolutely ignored. Very disappointing that this obvious factor - the actual dollar amount of the toll - was never mentioned.
Karen ass comment. There’s much more constructive ways to tell someone they made a mistake, especially such a harmless detail.
Good point. It’s a useless toll too. They charge you for the inconvenience
Chill dude
Or you can research it yourself, Google exists dummy
Had to calculate this, but here is the information you are requesting:
Going from north to south...there are a total of four toll plazas on the main lanes.
Toll Plaza #1 (northern section): Cars: 1.74, Semis (5 axles): 4.35, Per axle: 0.87
Toll Plaza #2 (northern section): Cars: 4.10, Semis (5 axles): 10.25, Per axle: 2.05
Toll Plaza #3 (southern section): Cars: 2.56, Semis (5 axles) 10.19. Per axle: Cars: 1.28, Trucks: 2.04
Toll Plaza #4 (southern section): Cars: 5.58, Semis (5 axles) 22.27. Per axle: Cars: 2.79, Trucks: 4.45
Total cost: Cars: 13.98, Semis (5 axles): 47.06
This is 2023 pricing.
I traveled on this freeway a few years ago when visiting Austin and San Antonio. I loved driving 85+ on an open road - no stress from bumper to bumper traffic. The only other driver I saw was another tourist from out of state.
Toll information here is really insightful to a new Texan who moved to DFW from the Panhandle. Toll hwys are wonderful, well, get yourself into the day hour travelling at the 820/I35/I30 interchange in FW. Yah , you will love it. Thanks, former governor Perry. You're so brilliant
I drove this route once, when they had suspended the tolls due to major construction on I-35. It's a lovely road, and for long-distance traffic it's great. For traffic between San Antonio and Austin it adds time even with the higher speed limit. Adding the toll factor, there's not much motivation for anyone to use it.
If you round the speed limit in Poland Dubai and Bulgaria 140 kmh to MPH those are equal to TX-130 Southern speed limit of 85 mph
Indeed!
Although there are some stretches of freeway in *Germany* 🇩🇪 and the *Isle of Man* 🇮🇲 with no speed limit at all.
Ive taken 130 coming from Dallas to get to Laredo in a semi; last time i came from Laredo to Dallas i decided to stick to I-35 the whole way and i honestly regret it; there was a backup every few miles even in the section between San Antonio and Austin, and Austin-Waco. If i taken 130 i wouldve saved so much time and stress that the 2 cities has caused me
My issue with people calling SH-130 a useless highway is that they expect the area near it to urbanize, which is why building it now makes sense as you don’t want to have to bulldoze newly built homes once traffic is backed up. This seems similar to when SR-869 was built in Florida. At the time it was just marshland but soon became the urban boundary for the area and is now being considered for a 10-lane widen. Its only useless until people realize the area is expected to grow.