Suburbs of Austin??? Nice?

[DMickey28]

Any idea's on the suburbs of Austin. I am trying to gather the best area for us to live in!!!

I have multiple threads going on tx right now. Mostly on the Dallas area but Austin is possible too!

 

[missypie]

North suburbs or South? North are Round Rock, Georgetown and Pflugerville. My niece graduated from Round Rock High. Round Rock used to have quite a bit of charm...now it looks like every other suburb, full of big box retailers, strip centers, etc. I don't know anything about the South suburbs, except there always seems to be intense road construction down there.

 

[Deb in IA]

Sis-in-law lives in Spicewood, outside of Austin -- that is the mailing address, but they actually live right on Lake Travis!!

It is very beautiful there . . .

 

[Aimeedyan]

I have friends in Round Rock, nice quickly growing area. I just honestly can't image living in Austin and dealing with I35 on a daily basis. Everytime I commute through there I just cringe... it's ALWAYS a nightmare, and Austin has very few other ways to get around without it. THe exits for Round Rock are always backed up and torn apart in construction... I wonder if they'll EVER finish that mess. Its been YEARS.

I know people whine about Dallas traffic, but there are enough major thoroughfares and freeways to get around fairly quickly. You just have I35 in Austin, really. I am sure those that live there figure out other ways to get around, but each time we've visited we've sat in traffic more than anything... For sucha big city, it's amazing there isn't an additional freeway.

I totally didn't mean to create a whole post on Austin traffic! Just when I think of living in suburbs there, I think of dealing with 35 each day... It truly is a beautiful area, and Austin is a unique city =)

 

[Dcat2u]

It used to be there was plenty of space between Georgetown, Round Rock and Austin now they all run together. Alot of people from Austin are moving towards Florence, Killeen and Copperas Cove area. From what I hear more house for the money.

 

[WDWHound]

We live in Round Rock. It has grown a lot in the last 10 years, but I still love it here. Traffic is bad on I35 during rush hour, but its not so bad on the west side of town now that 183 has been extended. Between the MoPac, 620, 360 and 183 (the 4 other main highways I use in town) I can get most places I want to go quickly. My typical drive from Round Rock to our Austin offices is under 25 minutes.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, or just post them here.

 

[missypie]

Regarding the unending highway construction in Austin, what I heard is that quite a few years back, those in charge wanted to keep away growth and retain the small city feel...the idea was "If you don't build it, they won't come." So they didn't improve the highways. But loads of people came anyway, so they've been playing catch up on road construction for years.

I'm sure that if you live there, you figure out ways to avoid the heavy traffic and construction areas.

 

[WDWHound]

Originally posted by missypie
Regarding the unending highway construction in Austin, what I heard is that quite a few years back, those in charge wanted to keep away growth and retain the small city feel...the idea was "If you don't build it, they won't come." So they didn't improve the highways. But loads of people came anyway, so they've been playing catch up on road construction for years.

Yup, thats pretty much what happened.

 

[DMickey28]

Just at my initial look there are a lot of nice homes available for rent in the Round Rock area!!!

3 beds for $1200..... not too bad! Some really nice ones.

 

[JulieWent]

We used to live in Enfield (Downtown Austin) back when it was affordable and we were students. It was beautiful. If I were going to live in Austin now, I'd want to live close to where I worked because of all the reasons stated above. The city council back in the '80's really messed up not planning ahead. Anyway. They're building a lot of really nice burbs down between San Marcos and Austin in South Austin. (I love San Marcos. If I were moving back, I'd moved to San Marcos.) I love Northwest Austin because it's kind of the beginning of the "Hill Country," but it really has gotten congested out that way. Round Rock is a nice community, though. Small town feel next to the big city.

Julie