How to avoid Another Elton John Disaster.
For the longest time, my life has gotten in the way. I was either spending time with my family or hauling toilet paper to those who needed it. But ever since I heard about the Traffic Apocalypse at the Elton John concert, the solution immediately came right up to my mind. I've finally found the time to write on how to solve this problem. Now will it get implemented? Well, that's up to the city of San Antonio.
What Won't Work:
Before I get into the solutions, people will need to understand why building a new arena at the edge of town isn't a solution nor widening the freeway. For one, widening the current freeway (I-37) next to the Alamodome will only cause more congestion whether there's an event happening or not. Now the other solution that I've heard is putting a New Alamodome out on the edge of town. I'm assuming that it would probably be where the Missions baseball team currently plays at which is out by Lackland AFB. But even then, you're just putting the traffic jam caused by any event out on the edge of town. What fascinates me is that the people who are offering these solution either don't understand or ignore the talk about building another sports stadium downtown for the Missions. Apparently their edge of town location ain't doing it for them. They would rather have a downtown location so when people get out from the game, they could go eat at the restaurants nearby. They (the Mission owners) also think that having a more of a centralize location would do a better job in getting people off the couch and going to their games.
Solutions:
To understand the solutions that I'm about to present, you'll need to understand that cities are small places with a lot of people. Traffic congestion is a result of having a successful city when the only way to get around is to drive a car. This ends up misleading people who are forced to drive everywhere into believing that the only solution to the traffic congestion is having more lanes. Unfortunately, adding more lanes causes more traffic jams and longer travel times. The solution to this problem isn't more lanes for cars but with diversifying our transportation options with exclusive right-of-ways for trains, buses and bicycles.
Option 1-Trains:
The convenience of the Alamodome next to railroad tracks and Sunset Station makes this all the more possible, but there's just one big hurdle and that is Union Pacific is a jerk when it comes to having their tracks being used to haul people around. Now it can be done but I believe that Union Pacific is going to want to have a bypass build from Seguin to Von Ormy to make any of this possible. Once the tracks are cleared up of cross country freight traffic, then we can start talking about putting in passenger rail. Suffice to say, unlike Dallas or Houston, our available railroads right-of-way is something to be desired but it can be done. We have options for several routes in which I color coded to make identification easier. (2024-9-1) The three available ones that jump out for me are Red, with stops around Splashtown, Kirby, Converse, Randolph with options out to Seguin. Blue, with stops at Freeman Coliseum, Loop 410 and Loop-- 1604 with options out to New Braunfels. Purple, with stops at Brackenridge High School, Southcross, SE Military, Loop 410, and I-37 with options out to Elmendorf. Other possible routes include Green, Grey, Brown and Pink. For these options to become possible, certain rail connections need to be made, but most of all what is needed is the political will.
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| 2024-9-1 |
Option 2-A Temporary Train:
Unlike option one, this is more illustrative than anything permanent. The biggest hurdle to a temporary train is finding the skilled labor and vehicles to show what is possible; but it can be done. The best routes for this demonstration is the Red Line and Blue line especially to the Freeman Coliseum. Temporary platforms will need to be built at the chosen locations and those chosen locations need to be next to existing parking such as the Freeman Coliseum.
Option 3-Close off Montana for Buses:
During the catastrophe right after the Elton John concert, VIA put out an all points bulletin to their drivers that they had to report to the Alamodome. This decision just added to the traffic jam apocalypse that was already there. Adding more buses doesn't help out the situation when there's no exclusive right-of-way and that where this solution comes in. To remind my readers, A city is a small place with a lots of people. To get a lot of people in and out of a small place is to have big vehicles with their exclusive right-of-way. There's already a place to catch the bus which is the Robert Thompson Transit Center. And there's already a way to get the buses in and out of the area and that's Montana Street. The problem here is that Montana St is a regular city street and the only part that is closed off for traffic during an event is the part between Cherry and Hackberry. This solution of closing off Montana St from I-37 to New Braunfels is the exclusive right of way that is needed so the buses aren't held up by event traffic. The idea is that buses will arrive to and from the Alamodome via Montana St. They'll get off the freeway at either I-35 or I-10 at New Braunfels. Drive to Montana St and then towards the Robert Thompson Transit Station. The busses will go back the way they came avoiding the congestion around the Alamodome.
Now you're probably asking your self "what about the people who reside and work on Montana St?" The solution is to have a group of five people to walk up and down the street two months before the scheduled closer to issue permits for employees and residence cars. They'll work from 9am to 7pm every day except for Sunday and maybe Saturday. They'll work up until one week before the event. Each household may register up to two vehicles free of charge and everyone who works off of Montana St will be required to register their vehicle FREE OF CHARGE.
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| 2024-9-2 |
SART Rail Solution:
For those who don't know, there's a new advocacy group in town called San Antonions for Rail Transit or SART for short. They recently came out with a report titled: "San Antonio-Austin Regional Rail: A Staged Approach." In this report, they highlighted the issues preventing passenger rail coming to San Antonio and provided a solution to overcome those hurdles. The Mission Baseball Team owners are planning a stadium to be built next to the old Fox Tech high School downtown. The problem with this location that it's no where near any railroad tracks. The now abandoned Institute of Texan Cultures is a prime location for any future stadium simply because it's right next to existing Alamodome parking lots and the best proposal for any future region rail connection to the baseball games. The people who are against the proposed Baseball stadium downtown need to know that when you fight against something without offering alternatives; a alternatives cannot be considered. The people who are against any baseball stadium downtown need to understand this. You just can't complain until you're blue in the face and expect your desires to be done. Offering solutions or compromises is a great way to illustrate solutions to problems.
Images:
Image 2024-9-1: A screenshot of the Rail Guide App showing where the Railroad Track Right-of-Way are in San Antonio. It is color coded to illustrate the possible routes to serve Alamodome events.
Image 2024-9-2: A VIA bus on Montana St at Cherry
Source Links:
San Antonio For Rail Transit or SART: https://www.railforsanantonio.com/
San Antonio-Austin Regional Rail: A Staged Approach.: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LmuJxNV0F3eoLv0eI2LnRf18H2vG3OYF/view
"Perfect Storm" caused delays for concert goers Saturday night: https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/perfect-storm-caused-delays-for-concert-goers-saturday-night
Traffic congestion caused disappointment for many fans at the Elton John Farewell Concert: https://foxsanantonio.com/newsletter-daily/traffic-congestion-caused-disappointment-for-many-fans-at-the-elton-john-farewell-concert-local-san-antonio-alamodome-singer-songwriter
VIA apologizes for 'extraordinary' delays to Elton John's San Antonio show: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/via-delays-elton-john-san-antonio-17546450.php
What's Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse: https://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/
Plans for a downtown sports district must earn community support: https://sanantonioreport.org/plans-for-a-downtown-sports-district-must-earn-community-support/
Congestion can be good, study reports: https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2018/06/06/congestion-can-be-good-study-reports
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