Results tagged “traffic”

While working on the 4300 block of Manor Road today, street crews discovered a sink hole. To do adequate repairs, they have had to close that area of Manor Road (next to Morris Williams Golf Course, between Pershing Dr. and Lovell Dr.) down to one lane until 7pm this evening. Flaggers will be directing traffic, but the city recommends staying away from this part of Manor Road if you can.

Currently all lanes of IH35 at mile marker 280 between Jarrell and Salado (at the Bell/Williamson county line) are closed because of flooding. KXAN reports that the access roads have also been closed. This area north of Austin has reportedly received 10 inches of rain since last night. [Statesman on Twitter]

Austinite Michelle Deloach was driving up MoPac on Labor Day, headed for a barbecue, when a 5-foot-long tree log smashed into her Honda Civic.

• Louisiana Pastor says Jindal should reimburse taxpayers for his helicopter trips to church.
• President Obama to address Republican attacks on health care.
• Out of work? The government is hiring, maybe.

• Fried butter is coming to the State Fair of Texas. “Big Tex” might just get bigger….
• P.E. requirements reduced by the State of Texas, but you’ll still need them to graduate from the Corpus Christi Independent School District!
• Want to live to be 110? Don’t take a car! (That's actual advice from someone who is 110 years old.)

A SWAT situation has been going on since mid-afternoon on the Barton Creek Greenbelt near 360 and Mopac. APD says a man with a gun is threatening suicide. All Mopac southbound lanes are closed from 290/71 to 360, and KXAN posted to Twitter that the Mopac northbound lanes will be closed soon at 360. If you know an alternate way to get down south instead of Mopac, you might want to take it. [Statesman]

A great-grandmother from the Hill Country has taken on legal representation after being tasered and jailed for resisting arrest.

Be prepared for these road closures tomorrow caused by First Night prep. A Travis County sheriff's car was stolen with thousands of dollars worth of equipment in it. KVUE newsvan flipped on IH35 in Round Rock; passengers are ok. Georgetown cop was assisting someone by the side of the road when a drunk driver seriously injured him last night. Fort Hood and UT partnering up to help military families who have children with disabilities. DMN names Dallas County DA Craig Watkins Texan of the Year (Laura Bush and Phil Gramm also make their list, though). One of the "Jena Six" attempts suicide after a shoplifting charge.

News 8 Austin reports that companies wishing to use photographic evidence in court must possess a certain "private investigator's license"—neither the camera company used by the City of Austin nor the largest firm in Texas has this license.

After an accident this afternoon involving an 18-wheeler and a bus left oil on the road, the northbound side near 11400 IH-35 (near Onion Creek) is currently closed while crews clean up. [KXAN via Twitter]

Road closures downtown for tomorrow's festivities. City of Austin needs more lifeguards to keep summer water programs operating. Holly Street neighborhood concerned about five-story condo development set to be built across the street from the old power plant. New Leander high school will be named after a soldier (and Leander High grad) killed in Iraq. A woman may have lured a man into a Fourth Street alley where he was robbed and beaten by two men Monday night.

A chunk of Cesar Chavez will be closed from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Sunday as the City continues converting the downtown street to 2-way. They will be installing conduit for a streetlight at the Guadalupe/Cesar Chavez intersection, and the street will be closed from about San Antonio to Lavaca; the S. 1st Street bridge will be closed at Riverside. Plan any downtown excursion on Sunday accordingly! [City of Austin]

The Austin Police Department is conducting a web survey about driving safety and driving behaviour. With just a few clicks you can agree or disagree with questions like "There are a lot of bad drivers on the road." "Bad" seems redundant, but there are certainly a lot of drivers on the road, so umm ... "Strongly Agree" seems right.

A wall at Rice University campus collapsed this afternoon, trapping four people. Millions of pounds of toxins from Mexico may soon be headed for incineration in Port Arthur if the EPA approves an exemption. Gov. Perry agrees with his buddy in the White House on lifting the ban on offshore exploration. "This is likely not the finest moment for DPS," Texas Public Safety Commission chairman admits after an internal investigation into how an arsonist was able to bypass security and set fire to the Governor's Mansion. Worst exit in Texas at southbound IH35 and MLK, second worst at northbound IH35 and Riverside. Or so this study says, anyway.

Candidate for City Council Cid Galindo failed to list over $60,000 worth of expenses on his campaign finance forms. 21-yr-old man accused of propositioning 12-yr-old boy at Ruiz Library. After this second alcohol-related arrest in a month, former Longhorn Cedric Benson is cut from the Chicago Bears. San Antonio man driving the wrong way on IH35 in Georgetown dies early this morning after hitting a truck head-on. Not really a surprise: burn ban set for Travis County.

Around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, an event police are calling a "freak accident" took the life of a driver who fell from the Ben White overpass above I-35.

Students at Clayton Elementary win national math championship. Pedestrian dies after being hit by two cars (neither of which stopped) last night near Riverside and Montopolis. The shoe with human remains found this weekend near Lake Travis matches one found a mile away in 2007. Chief fires fireman who chose to pick up food from a restaurant before responding to a respiratory distress call. A New York state judge rules that Dell engaged in false advertising practices.

• South African mob violence leads to the deaths of 22 immigrants.
• Here's a nice piece on Bush's current efforts to lower oil prices before the the U.S. Presidential election.
• U.S. soldier is refusing to serve in America's "illegal war."

It may be best to stay off IH35 this weekend; the highway closure in Buda will surely slow down traffic in Austin. Don't forget the municipal election tomorrow! Yeah, yeah, we know already: Perry reaffirms that he will run again for governor in 2010. Sinkhole overtaking the town of Daisetta.

First the traffic cams, now this: Chief Acevedo wants surveillance cameras on high-crime zones. Rep. Krusee from Round Rock, who fought for harsher DWI laws, was arrested last night on DWI charges. Blame a water main break on why you were stuck in traffic this morning near Lavaca and Fifth. American Lung Association gives our city a D for ozone pollution.

Ben Wear has a nice entry on his Statesmen pseudo-blog about the myth that gas taxes fully pay for highway construction, indicating that in the past, the legislature directly contributed to highway construction from the general fund. Didn't we just pass a five billion dollar general obligation bond for TXDOT? Highways don't pay for themselves, even if you only compare gas tax revenues to construction and maintenance costs. Gas taxes generally pay for less than half of the construction and maintenance costs of any new highway. If you take costs associated with congestion, sprawl and global warming into account, highways look like an even bigger waste.

The lower deck of northbound IH-35 is currently closed as authorities deal with an 18-wheeler that jack-knifed earlier this afternoon near the 38 1/2 St. exit. You should definitely plan on taking an alternate route if you're headed north this afternoon.

"We're not publishing the list in our news columns, period": Statesman Editor Oppel on why the paper will not include a listing of precinct voting locations on election day. McCain stopped in San Antonio today. Bill Clinton spoke in town today. On the primary race between Glen Maxey and incumbent Nelda Wells Spears. Power outage in East Austin this afternoon. While her father was tied up, a robber sexually-assaulted a 15-year-old girl in a South Austin apartment yesterday morning. Semi veers off Dallas highway ramp and falls onto Continental Avenue; at least 3 are dead.

Red light camera locations announced this afternoon. New TYC conservator rules out the use of pepper spray in youth prisons, except for in emergency cases. Dallas cop serving in Hillary's motorcade this morning killed after his bike hit a retaining wall. Little Walnut Creek library location is opening tomorrow after almost a year of renovation.

Having won the Iowa Democratic Primary, U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama appears to be rocking and rolling with new momentum. The latest numbers show Obama leading the pack in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, with Hillary Clinton lagging in second place by a 10 point gap. What's going on here?

This weekend human rights activists protested against the family immigration detention center in Taylor. Body left for San Antonio medical examiner after traffic accident wasn't dead yet. McKinney man caught after following UPS trucks and stealing packages left outside homes. Was Jessica Simpson's appearance at the Cowboys game yesterday the reason they lost? If not, can we blame her anyway?

Image from Fix290.org. Despite TXDOT's incessant bleating about lack of funds, they apparently still have plenty of cash to build the controversial Phase II toll roads, including the particularly controversial twelve-lane highway in the sky at the Y (71 and 290 in Oak Hill). In an era of concerns about budget cuts, pollution of Barton Springs and CO2 emissions, it seems like an egregious waste of resources to build this monstrosity that helps Hummer-drivers hurtle...

Photo of Rick Noriega by Matt Wright on flickr After the muggy weekend, some Central Texas counties (not Travis) are under freeze warnings tonight. Today Rick Noriega officially launched his campaign against Cornyn for the Senate seat. Cedar Park police going after drivers who skip out on paying 183A tolls. House State Affairs Committee to review TxDOT's "Keep Texas Moving" ad campaign. Gov. Perry is now heading up the Republican Governor's Association. AT&T is leaving...

Image from Austin City Connection.According to the Statesman, our beloved mayor nearly pulled a Chuck Norris when a Monarch construction truck blocked traffic on West Fifth Street. Story is he got out of his car, walked to the construction site and ripped into the project superintendent. He later indicated that he was sorry if his vulgarity offended any construction workers. Many Statesman commenters noted that if the mayor thinks it is bad to get stuck...

*The views expressed in Truesday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole. Thank heavens.* -The Editors Every city goes through its own little evolution. Not always pretty, not always clean, but always in the process of becoming. Our little oasis is no different. There is a change upon us, and it is high time we grabbed the wheel and started to do some stunt steerin’. You know, to...