Response to Blog Stage 7

I have seen and heard many reports about this new racing track being built in Austin that is mentioned in this blog post. Although it will cost the state money to be built and maintained, it is clear that the revenues from the track will largely outweigh the expenses. However, how will these revenues be split? Clearly, not all the revenues will go towards the state of Texas but one would assume that Texas will stay make money on this effort else the plan would never have been implemented.

            It is quite a shock to hear that a Grand Prix race hasn’t been run in the states since 2007. When one hears about a Grand Prix race being run, it is often associated with some of the most beautiful and entertaining cities in the world. It is a pleasure to hear that Austin will be added to this list for at least the next ten years.

            Austin, especially as of late, has been known as a great music city. With the addition of The Tower Amphitheatre, that reputation will only be bolstered. By having a music venue right next to a race track, it will allow for a great combination of events to be held. It will also bring greater attention to racing from music fans that may otherwise be uninterested or uniformed. The addition of these two venues will clearly bolster the Texas government as well as Austin’s status for being a marvelous city.

85 MPH is plenty safe

           Have you ever driven through the state of Texas? Not in the city, or hillside. I’m talking about the endless strips of highways that blanket West Texas, and other scarcely inhabited parts of the humungous state. You can go 50 miles without seeing anything but tumbleweeds and dead armadillos. Oh, and state patrolmen too. You can’t go twenty minutes without seeing one of them. Sitting in their gold cars, holding up a radar gun, just waiting for someone to break the speed limit.

            Coming from Colorado, I have made the trip between Denver and Austin, both ways, numerous times. It takes about 16 hours, not including stops, when you follow the speed limits. But those speed limits are hard to bear. When you see a sign posting a 75 or 80 mile per hour speed limit, as most highways in Texas are, it is hard to follow them. Maybe in the major cities that is safe. But in the middle of nowhere, it is real easy to put your foot to the ground.

            With that said, Texas should look to start expanding rural highways to 85 miles per hour. They are already currently testing a section of highway 130 with a speed limit of 85 miles per hour (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57449606/texas-testing-85-mph-speed-limit-on-highway-segment/). But that law limits the speed to only new highways. A traffic commission should review all the current highways in Texas and decide which one of those would make for an appropriate transition to a higher speed. It is clear that people already speed on many rural roads, or else Texas would not place state troopers so frequently on them. Texas’ government could spend its money and resources on many other important aspects of law enforcement that traffic violations.

            Many of Germany’s highways don’t have speed limits. That is pretty extreme, and would be reckless in Texas, or anywhere else in the United States. However, raising the speed limit 5 or 10 miles per hour on roads that people already go that fast on would cut down travel time as well as save Texas time and money.