On Saturday, I found myself driving south on I-35 in Round Rock. I was planning to stop at the Petco in La Frontera to pick up some dog food before heading south to the vet. I got off at my usual exit, but – Holy Missing Exit Ramps, Batman! – there was nothing but a dirt mound where the exit ramp had once led into La Frontera.
I found myself in a rapid ascent, heading straight into the heart of a largish cumulus cloud. As I throttled back to allow myself time to adjust my oxygen mask, I realized that I must have erred onto the new toll road system. Just before the cloud, the way parted and one road led far off to the east beyond Pflugerville. The other appeared to go west towards Mopac. Neither of these were where I wanted to go, but if I got to Mopac, I would be able to land closer to my destination.
I began a steady westward bank that took me over La Frontera. Eight thousand feet below me, I could see Petco and Krispy Kreme, Lowe’s and Barnes & Noble and dozens of early morning shoppers scurrying like ants to and fro. I adjusted the ailerons, came out of the bank and leveled off at cruising altitude to find that the new tollway would take me either back to the vicinity of my home in north Austin or, as I suspected, to Mopac from where I could take Parmer to I-35 to resume my journey.
The driving was peaceful from the elevated roadway that cuts through farms and fields and provides views and angles of north Austin that I’d never before seen in the eighteen years I’ve lived here. When I began my descent near Howard Lane, there was some confusion as other travelers didn’t seem to understand that the roads were free right now, but nonetheless I returned safely to terra firma.
Later in the day we intentionally traveled the toll roads and found them to be convenient and managed to cut about thirty minutes round trip off of one of our regular errands.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I still say the toll authority missed a bet: if they’d timed the opening of the roads to line up with the Ikea grand opening two weeks later, all of Austin would have used the occasion to check them out.
Prentiss, I think the Ikea opening will draw people out one way or the other, but you’re right that would have been a good idea.
[…] I was inspired (or should I say provoked?) by a gigantic billboard that was erected near our neighborhood, surely making it one of the biggest erections in recent history. Well, it seems the county has won its legal battle with the apartment complex whose billboard can be seen for miles, as I realized when I first drove on the new toll roads. […]