Dallas Transportation

[Danielle Black]

Texas as a whole has been struggling with the issue of transportation. In the past twenty-five years our population has grown by 57% and the use of roads have grown by 95%. Congestion has grown as well and there needs to be a solution where people can travel to and from easily. 

Although there are not many funds to create more highways, the construction of buildings can be placed more strategically. The Bishop arts center has allowed the use of bicycles and people can easily travel on foot. Instead of building so spread apart, the buildings can grow up instead of out. The main article I chose The Texas Transportation Problem focuses on 5 major goals to "Reduce congestion, Enhance safety, expand economic opportunity, improve air quality, and increase the value of transportation assets". All of these issues are addressed in the article.

I chose this article because it explains every facet of transportation and even gives solutions. Building in areas that are already built up to increase on foot transportation. Along with creating a healthy competition to drive down the cost of highways.

I would use the same solutions that the article addresses. The Lord wants us to spread his Word therefore we need to be able to get to people from all over.

http://www.txdot.state.tx.us/txdotnews/trans_challenges.pdf

http://bishopartsdistrict.weebly.com/

[Kallie Roberts]

I would agree that DFW has run into a problem with how to create enough highways, or public transportation in order to eliminate congestion as much as possible.  Places like the Bishop Arts District are good examples of how to use a certain amount of space and create jobs, residential buildings, and retail all together.  However, because DFW has been fragmented in recent years, everything is so spread out.  I think that at this point, I would agree that developers need to focus on already heavily populated areas to build, and to build up rather than out.  Portland is also a good example of this.  The local government in Portland has determined a northern border that does not allow developers to build beyond that line, and therefore they must get creative with how they build in a location already heavily developed.  One benefit to the layout of Portland it that public transportation, such as a light rail, is more practical.  Because everything is confined in this small area of land, it is possible for people to ride a train all over Portland.  However, in DFW, public transportation is a rarity.  I do believe that the Lord has mandated us as Christians to take care and be good stewards of the earth.  However, I do not think that the congestion issue in DFW will be changing anytime soon.  It looks like people are still going to be driving cars everywhere one goes, and there is going to be more traffic as the population increases.

[Erica Pallarito]

Thank you for sharing this article. I am not from Dallas, or even Texas for that matter so i take a huge notice to the traffic. Where i grew up it is all back roads and when you do get into the city of St. Louis most people are riding bikes and walking. In Dallas i notice the enormous amount of traffic that is usually a result of construction or an accident. I think this article had very good suggestions of solutions. I think bicycles are a great way of transportation. They are also extremely cheap. A person can get one from Walmart for as cheap as $50.00. This was a good article because it does give a lot of information on the traffic in Dallas and why it is congested. This is an issue that can easily be fixed, but requires attention and awareness.