whitetrash said:

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Lund Vernquist said:

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I haven't spent too much time in smaller cities but traffic in Waco is a complete breeze compared to what I've experienced in Tyler.

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Tyler and Temple are similar in that most if not all retail/restaurants in town are confined to only 2 or 3 major streets. In Tyler, it's Loop 323 (which isn't even a freeway) or S Broadway. In Temple, it's S 31st, W Adams, or Loop 363 (which is some semblance of a freeway). Both towns have choking traffic on those and not a whole lot on other streets.

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Localbear said:

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Hewitt/Woodway is the one that isn't prepared for expansion outside its borders since it only has a couple of major roads to get traffic through.

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RightRevBear said:

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Localbear said:

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Hewitt/Woodway is the one that isn't prepared for expansion outside its borders since it only has a couple of major roads to get traffic through.

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I agree with you. There are a few congestion points in Waco around rush hour, but nothing really bad. Hewitt Drive has gotten bad though. Hewitt, Waco, and Woodway do not seem to be doing anything about it either. From around 3PM until 6:30 it can be a parking lot on weekdays. With Midway school traffic it has taken me 30 minutes to get to the HEB from my house in south Hewitt. Even during regular hours it is next to impossible to get a left turn. These cities keep on growing, but they are not creating any alternate routes. It is to the point that I go to the grease pit across from Baylor for fast food instead of Hewitt Dr. because it is faster.

I say this as a person that has lived in 2 of the top 50 populated MSA's in the US and two other of the top 100.

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RightRevBear said:

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They only expanded part of Ritchie Road. From the circle at Chapel Rd. to Hwy 84 it is still a narrow 2 lane road. The 2 lane section is rough and around Old McGregor it has really bad potholes. The four lane is there to accommodate the huge subdivisions they are putting in this area.

Are they doing anything to encourage commercial development on Ritchie Road such as restaurants, stores, banks, doctor's offices, etc. The only commercial development on Ritchie Road is storage facilities for all the new houses.

They should be encouraging commercial development such as restaurants, stores, etc. on Old Temple/Bagby, Sun Valley, and along Ritchie Road. The Wal-Mart development on the Frontage Road is a great start, but they need to support more development along the frontage road.

Supporting this type of development will help decentralize the retail corridor of Hewitt Dr. to lessen the traffic flow.

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trey3216 said:

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RightRevBear said:

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They only expanded part of Ritchie Road. From the circle at Chapel Rd. to Hwy 84 it is still a narrow 2 lane road. The 2 lane section is rough and around Old McGregor it has really bad potholes. The four lane is there to accommodate the huge subdivisions they are putting in this area.

Are they doing anything to encourage commercial development on Ritchie Road such as restaurants, stores, banks, doctor's offices, etc. The only commercial development on Ritchie Road is storage facilities for all the new houses.

They should be encouraging commercial development such as restaurants, stores, etc. on Old Temple/Bagby, Sun Valley, and along Ritchie Road. The Wal-Mart development on the Frontage Road is a great start, but they need to support more development along the frontage road.

Supporting this type of development will help decentralize the retail corridor of Hewitt Dr. to lessen the traffic flow.

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They are actually about to begin the process of expanding Ritchie from Chapel to 84 just like they did from Chapel to Warren. I use Ritchie to get from my house (just off Chapel) to the southern part of Hewitt exclusively. Only use Hewitt Dr early in the morning, late at night, or I turn right from wherever I'm going.

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Coke Bear said:

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Localbear said:

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Starting in November I will be flying out of Waco to XNA(Northwest Arkansas), at minimum, every other week. So I will give a review of Waco airport after about 6 months.

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I fly out every Sunday and back on that Saturday to fly out again Sunday week (unless I have to quick turn the next day.)

As most here know, we have one gate and one airline - AA. They have about 3-4 flights in a day to and from DFW.

The flight time is about 18 minutes. I feel like we land somewhere in South Oak Cliff and taxi the rest of the way to the gate. It seems like we taxi longer than fly.

The only other thing is that we land/takeoff from the Satellite Terminal E. Once I get my bag, I must make the long walk to the E-terminal and go to Term B or C for my next flight. I've been a little stressed worrying about my next flight.

PROS:
20 min drive from anywhere in Waco
TSA is a breeze. It only is about just before they board.
Free parking.
Parking lot is VERY close to entrance.
Local drivers are almost always there at flight arrive for those not wanting to rent

CONS
Limited eating choices
One airline
One destination - DFW
Potential for flight cancellations due to weather and other circumstances

For my situation, ACT is great for me. I could drive to DFW and park in covered parking (my company is buying) so the cost isn't an issue. I could probably save some time by driving back in forth, but I don't want to put the miles on my car or the added stress of driving nearly two hours after a long week.

My wife either picks me up or drops off my car for me to drive home.

Bonus - I earn extra miles and Loyalty points by flying out of ACT.

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cowboycwr said:

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Traffic-

In addition to the areas already mentioned:

- the 6 and 84/franklin merger/intersection. which will get worse for construction before it gets better.

Franklin and new road

340/lakeshore and 35 area.

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trey3216 said:

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RightRevBear said:

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Localbear said:

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Hewitt/Woodway is the one that isn't prepared for expansion outside its borders since it only has a couple of major roads to get traffic through.

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I agree with you. There are a few congestion points in Waco around rush hour, but nothing really bad. Hewitt Drive has gotten bad though. Hewitt, Waco, and Woodway do not seem to be doing anything about it either. From around 3PM until 6:30 it can be a parking lot on weekdays. With Midway school traffic it has taken me 30 minutes to get to the HEB from my house in south Hewitt. Even during regular hours it is next to impossible to get a left turn. These cities keep on growing, but they are not creating any alternate routes. It is to the point that I go to the grease pit across from Baylor for fast food instead of Hewitt Dr. because it is faster.

I say this as a person that has lived in 2 of the top 50 populated MSA's in the US and two other of the top 100.

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I've said it 100 times if I've said it once...you don't turn left on Hewitt Dr. There are at least 2 wrecks per week in the stretch between Mars and Industrial/Chapel from people turning left. They need to put a light in at Van American and Hewitt Dr (a 4 way light now with Shorty's there) and they would ease the flow of Hewitt Dr 15x if the only thing you could do coming out of all the businesses there was turn right. You could effectively line the middle "turning" lane with those yellow markers like they have right at Panther Way, and do so from Panther Way all the way to Chapel. Left turn only from Middle lane and right turn only from all the businesses. IT's really the only thing they can do now to improve traffic flow in that area.

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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Waco is exponentially better than when we were there in the 90s and mid-00s.

I would have no reservation moving back for a good job.

Airport situation is tough - reality of being 90 miles from perineal world's business airport.

Best way to make it work as noted would be a Waco-Temple-Killeen airport - financially wondering if traffic in / out of Fort Hood would keep afloat; seems like that will never happen. Where would it be built? Too close to Killeen and not much better than DFW (although realize DFW has terrible access to I-35.

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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Waco is exponentially better than when we were there in the 90s and mid-00s.

I would have no reservation moving back for a good job.

Airport situation is tough - reality of being 90 miles from perineal world's business airport.

Best way to make it work as noted would be a Waco-Temple-Killeen airport - financially wondering if traffic in / out of Fort Hood would keep afloat; seems like that will never happen. Where would it be built? Too close to Killeen and not much better than DFW (although realize DFW has terrible access to I-35.

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loanbear said:

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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Waco is exponentially better than when we were there in the 90s and mid-00s.

I would have no reservation moving back for a good job.

Airport situation is tough - reality of being 90 miles from perineal world's business airport.

Best way to make it work as noted would be a Waco-Temple-Killeen airport - financially wondering if traffic in / out of Fort Hood would keep afloat; seems like that will never happen. Where would it be built? Too close to Killeen and not much better than DFW (although realize DFW has terrible access to I-35.

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The problem is that Killeen also has a regional airport.

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Blueashtj said:

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Honestly I haven't flown out of Waco in years. I usually drive to DFW or Austin. Flights are way cheaper and much better schedules.
A decent sized airport somewhere around Bruceville-Eddy would make too much sense.

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RightRevBear said:

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Blueashtj said:

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Honestly I haven't flown out of Waco in years. I usually drive to DFW or Austin. Flights are way cheaper and much better schedules.
A decent sized airport somewhere around Bruceville-Eddy would make too much sense.

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I agree. Troy or Bruceville-Eddy would be ideal. Waco's airport isn't very accessible for Waco area residents.

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trey3216 said:

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RightRevBear said:

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Blueashtj said:

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Honestly I haven't flown out of Waco in years. I usually drive to DFW or Austin. Flights are way cheaper and much better schedules.
A decent sized airport somewhere around Bruceville-Eddy would make too much sense.

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I agree. Troy or Bruceville-Eddy would be ideal. Waco's airport isn't very accessible for Waco area residents.

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if driving 15 minutes isn't accessible, then I'd love to see how you rate Troy and Bruceville-Eddy.

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TechDawgMc said:

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The problem that's hard to get around is that an airport in C. Texas is in the shadow of DFW. Unless there is enough traffic to make it reasonable to fly direct out further, you're always stuck stopping in either Dallas or Houston, and that means it's easy to have flights cancelled and get stuck waiting around for the last flight of the day. After that happened to me a few times, I started going to Austin (or sometimes even just driving up to Love).

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RightRevBear said:

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BaylorGuy314 said:

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It's not housing inventory, per se. We are sitting at about 4 months of inventory. That's better (for a buyer) than it's been in a long time. The problem for Waco vs Temple/Belton is not housing but reasonably priced housing.

Temple/Belton are very developer-friendly and builder-friendly. Waco is absolutely against new construction except in the inner city. The city (and I'm painting with broad brushes here) has spent MANY tens of millions of dollars trying to encourage infill development while pushing enormous costs/hurdles/burdens on anything outside of the core. There is a strong culture against development not only in Waco but in other areas like Woodway and Lorena.

Numerous national homebuilders have come into Waco and quickly left because the Waco inspectors are little Hitlers with massive egos that want Waco to be San Francisco or Austin. Combined with impact fees, excessive inspections, slow inspection times, poor communication and delays, it just makes it unnecessarily difficult. Throw in abnormally high development costs, land costs, etc, and you end up spending more on a house in Waco than you would in Temple/Belton.

With Temple/Belton being closer to North Austin (high growth), good schools, and reasonably priced housing, I'm not surprised it's growing faster.

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There are several national home builder subdivisions in Waco's suburbs. Also, I really don't think it is a horrible thing for them to make them do it right. I worked construction in high school and saw a lot of shoddy workmanship. I can't tell you how many times I had to fix crappy drywall or deal with walls that weren't straight.

The work done by a lot of home builders is shoddy, especially national home builders. Here are links to articles about some of the lawsuits.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2023/09/20/homeowners-strike-161-million-deal-with-dr-horton-over-claims-of-faulty-construction/?outputType=amp

https://www.kadn.com/news/local/news-15-investigates-homeowners-say-d-r-horton-left-them-stuck-in-hell/article_e2de89be-cb80-11ee-acb4-27a930317d0c.html

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/records-lawsuits-reveal-foundation-problems-plague-massive-austin-development/amp/

https://www.builderonline.com/building/regulation-policy/pulte-charged-13-6-million-in-defect-suit_o

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OldBurlyBear86 said:

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RightRevBear said:

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BaylorGuy314 said:

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It's not housing inventory, per se. We are sitting at about 4 months of inventory. That's better (for a buyer) than it's been in a long time. The problem for Waco vs Temple/Belton is not housing but reasonably priced housing.

Temple/Belton are very developer-friendly and builder-friendly. Waco is absolutely against new construction except in the inner city. The city (and I'm painting with broad brushes here) has spent MANY tens of millions of dollars trying to encourage infill development while pushing enormous costs/hurdles/burdens on anything outside of the core. There is a strong culture against development not only in Waco but in other areas like Woodway and Lorena.

Numerous national homebuilders have come into Waco and quickly left because the Waco inspectors are little Hitlers with massive egos that want Waco to be San Francisco or Austin. Combined with impact fees, excessive inspections, slow inspection times, poor communication and delays, it just makes it unnecessarily difficult. Throw in abnormally high development costs, land costs, etc, and you end up spending more on a house in Waco than you would in Temple/Belton.

With Temple/Belton being closer to North Austin (high growth), good schools, and reasonably priced housing, I'm not surprised it's growing faster.

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There are several national home builder subdivisions in Waco's suburbs. Also, I really don't think it is a horrible thing for them to make them do it right. I worked construction in high school and saw a lot of shoddy workmanship. I can't tell you how many times I had to fix crappy drywall or deal with walls that weren't straight.

The work done by a lot of home builders is shoddy, especially national home builders. Here are links to articles about some of the lawsuits.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2023/09/20/homeowners-strike-161-million-deal-with-dr-horton-over-claims-of-faulty-construction/?outputType=amp

https://www.kadn.com/news/local/news-15-investigates-homeowners-say-d-r-horton-left-them-stuck-in-hell/article_e2de89be-cb80-11ee-acb4-27a930317d0c.html

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/records-lawsuits-reveal-foundation-problems-plague-massive-austin-development/amp/

https://www.builderonline.com/building/regulation-policy/pulte-charged-13-6-million-in-defect-suit_o

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How long have you worked for the City?

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RightRevBear said:

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I don't, nor do any of my friends and family. I do have multiple friends that have bought or rented houses made by big national contractors. They had problem after problem. The one family that rented stated that the owner and several other homeowners in the subdivision were suing the company due to the poor quality.

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Coke Bear said:

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RightRevBear said:

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I don't, nor do any of my friends and family. I do have multiple friends that have bought or rented houses made by big national contractors. They had problem after problem. The one family that rented stated that the owner and several other homeowners in the subdivision were suing the company due to the poor quality.

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I am not a contractor or builder nor do I have any affiliation with the City or its inspection services.

My wife and I enjoy walking thru home in various phases of construction. We've been doing this for nearly 30 years. We build our home in '99 and monitored the process almost daily.

Having said that, we've seen the gambit of quality from a variety of builders in the Waco area. We've seen some really good builders (John Houston, Alford, JoCo, both Bland's, etc.) that use quality materials and techniques.

We live adjacent to a DR Horton community. I'm almost shocked to poor craftsmanship (bowed walls, patched framing and walls, cockeyed crown molding, terrible painting, etc.) I've seen very sub-standard materials used in walls and insulation. I've heard horror stories from people that have purchased some of those homes are were in the process of buying one of those homes.

I don't doubt that the City has some Gestapo-style inspectors; however, I'm sure that they have seen their share of poor quality that hardened them to this state.

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CObear said:

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Coke Bear said:

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RightRevBear said:

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I don't, nor do any of my friends and family. I do have multiple friends that have bought or rented houses made by big national contractors. They had problem after problem. The one family that rented stated that the owner and several other homeowners in the subdivision were suing the company due to the poor quality.

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I am not a contractor or builder nor do I have any affiliation with the City or its inspection services.

My wife and I enjoy walking thru home in various phases of construction. We've been doing this for nearly 30 years. We build our home in '99 and monitored the process almost daily.

Having said that, we've seen the gambit of quality from a variety of builders in the Waco area. We've seen some really good builders (John Houston, Alford, JoCo, both Bland's, etc.) that use quality materials and techniques.

We live adjacent to a DR Horton community. I'm almost shocked to poor craftsmanship (bowed walls, patched framing and walls, cockeyed crown molding, terrible painting, etc.) I've seen very sub-standard materials used in walls and insulation. I've heard horror stories from people that have purchased some of those homes are were in the process of buying one of those homes.

I don't doubt that the City has some Gestapo-style inspectors; however, I'm sure that they have seen their share of poor quality that hardened them to this state.

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Russ Davis Homes also does great work!

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