Home > Fit City > Recent Comments
20 Most Recent Comments
Best wishes for a painless and complete recovery to one of Austin’s finest. John Conley is one of the hardest working, caring and sincere I’ve had the pleasure to meet and his passionate commitment to the Austin running community is unmatched. My thoughts are with him, his wife Stacy and everyone at Conley Sports.
I find it a little amusing that some of these restaurants are in places difficult to access by bicycle. Aster’s is tucked in the westbound I-35 access road offramp at Dean Keeton. I imagine you can get there by taking the alleys from Red River, but it’s not in what I would call a bike-friendly location. Similarly, Pars Deli is in a strip mall on Burnet just south of 183. It’s great that these places are offering deals for cyclists, but I wonder how many people have the confidence to bike there.
I truly relish whilst I go through your blogs and articles.
I can’t believe the City didn’t see this coming a long time ago — especially if this where Bush was almost hit when he was Governor. Anyone with a brain could see that this was a dangerous area, and it’s a travesty that someone to die to bring about change and finally get these barriers up. The victims’ families should sue the City for millions, and win. What idiots the City handlers are.
I lived in Austin for 6 years and couldn’t believe how unsafe some of the streets in downtown are. Case in point: the Rainey Street district where there are tons of bars, cars, no street lights, and no sidewalks! I guess it’s going to take a hit-and-run on Rainey St. for the City to finally react despite warnings from residents on Rainey for years.
Hi Cate, you are right. As the blog states, the zip codes are in areas surrounding the two locations of the gym.
I looked up those zip codes I think the teens who live there probably come from wealthy enough families that 1. obesity is not so much of a problem and 2. they already have access to gyms. Seems like they’re helping kids who might not need help.
Of course, that’s a hunch uninformed by actual research… and this is a great idea. Maybe it could catch on on a bigger scale. Although I think the YMCA already lets kids work out, if not for free, for pretty big discounts.
I agree some kind of barrier should be up.
Same goes for any sidewalk edging a sharp curved street. Another badly needed spot for such a barrier is the curve on Guadalupe, just north of 27th street. It seems only a matter of time before a car runs off the street and goes straight through that sidewalk. This sidewalk gets lots of foot traffic between students, runners, and the general public, getting to and from campus.
I’m sure there are many areas in Austin that could use a barrier to protect pedestrians from cars running off the street, but this spot surely needs to be looked at also, before something happens.
I agree with many of the comments suggesting boulders and not a solid wall, in keeping with some of the landscaping ideas. That is a very exposed and vulnerable curve that needs permanent protection.
I also noted comments about multiple users and potential conflicts. I wonder how many of the people startled by bikes are wearing ear buds, or walking three abreast, or letting their dog leash run out. I also agree that it is not a good location to test out how fast you can go on a bike, but there does seem to be a general lack of courtesy or awareness from every type of user.
RE runner on the trail
What you say? A posted speed limit for cyclists on the run, hike AND bike trail? Improbable and impossible. That’s akin to regulating leisurely strollers three abreast blocking the path or children who aren’t taught the concept of “KEEP RIGHT.”
However, your complaint is noted. Grievances occur when too many people attempt to enjoy a limited resource — and typically fail to exercise common sense and social decency.
I would rate that section of the trail as the most dangerous. Second most dangerous are the speeding cyclists on the trail. IS there a speed limit for cyclists. I have been grazed twice and my kid has been in one accident.
glad to see the barriers this is always a scary piece of road to me when I drive this way. It’s narrow, lots of pedestrians and usually everybody passing as i travel at the speed limit on the signs. Lots of danger factors so you really have to be careful here.
This is a very dangerous curve and it was just a matter of time until this happened. I am so sorry these two people had to suffer. There seems to be a theme in most deadly “accidents”. No drivers license or a suspended license, no insurance, under the influence of something and speeding. It seems like Austin does a really bad job of prosecuting drivers with minor offenses and these are always the people that cause deadly accidents. Now this louser will get a court appointed lawyer and maybe even probation for killing and injuring upstanding citizens. Maybe more creative punishment like cleaning up the ER and the ambulance. Or working in the morgue??? Please don’t let this guy get off.
Yes, we need a permanent guardrail at this location!
Despite warning signs, many drivers take this turn too fast heading eastbound because there are so few traffic lights on the road. Moreover, the camber of the road (ie the slope away from the center of the road and toward its edges) can make it difficult to control an overspeed car that is surprised by this turn.
Runners, walkers and drivers alike need a guardrail in this location!
This is the same curve where a garbage truck almost did the human race the favor of crushing George Bush. Let’s take down the barriers and see if we can get Governor Cheerboy McGoodhair to take up jogging.
Apparently it is the official policy of our city government to wait until someone dies before they will bother themselves to do their jobs. They can’t wait to hand out unnecessary contracts to their friends in the road repair business for repaving that doesn’t need to be done. But when it comes to doing something to safeguard human life at a very well known and long-time hazard area, they become Satanists - they demand a human sacrifice before they’ll get off their kickback-padded butts.
I agree with adding barriers. Expecting people to slow down and obey traffic laws puts to much faith in humans doing the right thing. As history has proven… humans are idiots, and you can’t bring people back once they are already dead.
The speed limit on that stretch of road is 40. It’s very clearly marked back where the exit from the high school joins the road. Anyone who is doing more than 40 on that road is either and incompetent fool who should never drive or is a dirtbag who doesn’t care that he’s endangering others and should be horsewhipped.
I don’t think speed is the issue. It’s bad and irresponsible drivers that is the issue. The posted speed limit is 35 and it shouldn’t be lowered. Coming FROM Mopac I think the speed limits are fine. Going TOWARD Mopac, in fact, the speed limit should be RAISED as you approach Mopac on Ceser Chavez as it feels like you’re on a freeway but the speed limit is still 40… should be 50 at a minimum.
That being said, they should indeed install some guardrails here to prevent cars from flying onto the trail.
I wonder how many people remember that this was the very same location where George Bush was nearly nailed by a truck that overturned onto that same section of the trail. It was in 2000, I think, when he was still governor.
This is very sad and easily could have happened to any of the thousands of Austinites who use this portion of the trail every day, including me. I think that they should build a cement wall by the curb with bright turn arrow signs facing the road. On the trail side of the cement wall, plant lots of big trees to separate the peaceful runners from the terrible traffic on the other side. Lots of love goes to the families of the victims and hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again in this area.
