This Is Why Texas Traffic Is Insane
The great state of Texas is known for many things. Sadly, one of those things is the insane traffic throughout all of its major cities. But there’s an underlying reason why this is happening.
With cities like Dallas being considered the most dangerous places to drive in the entire country, Texas really has something going on that just simply doesn’t happen anywhere else. Let’s try to find out what it is.
The Dallas Danger
Not long ago, a fairly popular blog ranked Dallas as the city with the most dangerous drivers and the most dangerous city to drive throughout overall. With more than 14 deaths per 100,000 residents annually, all of them related to some type of motor vehicle accident, it’s not hard to understand why so many consider this city as being dangerous for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike.
But it doesn’t stop there. Bad transportation policy is also at fault for the dangers within Dallas and Northern Texas in general. Like much of the US, the great state of Texas suffers from a lack of public transit methods. Most people have to rely on their personal vehicle to get across town. That on its own is reason enough to rethink how we allow for smooth transportation from one point to another.
Speaking of Dallas, you need to be aware of the legal issues surrounding the area and its high-octane traffic. We recommend contacting a Car Accident Lawyer in Dallas than in any other part of Texas if your accident happens to occur right in that city.
Tyler, TX, and Its Illogical Traffic Lights
There’s no flow whatsoever. You stop at every red light. Some people have even complained that you could be the only car out and running at 4 AM and you’ll still be sitting at every red light for no good reason. Add to that the fact that green arrows don’t last at least a little longer at rush hour, when they definitely should, to enhance the flow of traffic.
Do you get it? It’s a hell-hole. And it’s possibly not the only town with such a problem. Fortunately, Tyler and many other Texan towns and cities have started to become aware of this issue. They are trying their best to fix it in a timely manner. Such solutions include the installation of smart traffic lights, tightening streets, broadening highways, and building smarter intersections. This, of course, takes time.
But what can be done right now? Well, nothing much, really. Drivers need to pay more attention to the road and pay more respect towards pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers. Speaking of the conditions of Texan roads, let’s look at yet another thing that tends to keep people in place without it being too obvious at first:
Those Really, Really, Tall Overpasses
A blacktop network such as the one that crisscrosses Texas creates numerous intersections. There are tons of ways to come over those old-style, outdated four-way intersections. Here are a few of them:
● The windmill
● The cloverleaf stack
● The dogbone
● The diamond
● The dumbbell
● The classic cloverleaf
● The stack interchange
● The boomerang
Remember, these are just a few such examples. However, there’s one example that you won’t find anywhere else outside of the Lone Star State. Namely, as it is widely known, the “Texas-style stack.”
Have you seen how that thing looks? It’s huge! It’s gargantuan! There’s nothing quite like it anywhere outside of Texas. Some might even say that the state is worth visiting just to witness these wonders of modern engineering. However, there’s a catch.
Just like with all things grand, these overpasses really make it a pain to reach your destination on time. Sure, they’re not exactly crowded, but they’re not efficient either. There are a number of examples of the Texas-style stack in and around our larger metropolitan areas, including Houston, which, because of its large number of stack interchanges, is known as “Stack City.”
Why This Can Be a Problem
Although necessary for decongesting traffic, the “Texas-style stack” provides another problem that engineers and city planners most likely overlooked in the long run. There’s simply too much “road” until the destination. So, yes, you’ve solved the congestion issue, but you’ve inherently created a longer path towards a destination that would otherwise be fairly straightforward.
It’s not too intuitive to stretch the road more than it is necessary. Not to mention the gas consumption that results because of this. And, of course, the undergoing problem that stems from the previously-mentioned issues is, you guessed it, climate change. Now, whether you “believe” in climate change or not, you can’t deny that the air quality gets inevitably worse the longer people have to drive their cars.
The city gets suffocated and the surrounding areas become very unpleasant. There’s also the noise that we have to take into consideration given the increased traffic. Not to mention the varying prices regarding lands and buildings in the area. There are so many factors to consider that it all becomes quite tangled — both literally and figuratively.
You probably get the point by now. These highways and their structure aren’t the perfect solutions. We need more public transit to make it easier for everyone to get to their destination without burning so much gas and without making the streets of these large cities so unnecessarily crowded. We can do it with the help of the authorities and with some critical thinking.
The Bottom Line
Texas is the Lone Star State and, as the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas, including the roads. With that said, the traffic can also use some improvement, but with more feasible solutions instead of long-winded highways that tend to extend the trip and not much else.
Of course, the authorities need to come up with better solutions and implement them accordingly while taking into account the budget and multiple other factors. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But, in the long run, Texas traffic can be improved.
