San Antonio Austin metroplex?

[ajarreguin3]

Will it happen and when?!.. Will it bigger than DFW.. and where would it rank in the us??

[Squiggles]

DFW is huge. And it's still growing at a very strong rate. I know this is Wiki (and therefore perhaps not completely reliable), but I trust it on this topic.

The DFW combined statistical area has a population of 6,805,275 by 2009 estimates.
The Austin MSA has a population of 1,705,075 by the 2009 estimates.
The San Antonio MSA has a population of 2,142,508 by the 2010 estimates.

The sum of the Austin and San Antonio statistical areas is 3,947,583 by these counts. Well short of the total for DFW. And although there are undoubtably many populated areas on the I-35 corridor between the two anchor cities, we can extrapolate through common sense that the population density and consistency of development isn't nearly high enough to bring it up to par with DFW. Even with the higher growth rates in this part of the state, it would take some time for it to reach/surpass DFW.

[Ian604]

There is already a thread where this exact topic has been discussed no more than a month ago. It's here...

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1389190

[Trae]

Originally Posted by Squiggles

DFW is huge. And it's still growing at a very strong rate. I know this is Wiki (and therefore perhaps not completely reliable), but I trust it on this topic.

The DFW combined statistical area has a population of 6,805,275 by 2009 estimates.
The Austin MSA has a population of 1,705,075 by the 2009 estimates.
The San Antonio MSA has a population of 2,142,508 by the 2010 estimates.

The sum of the Austin and San Antonio statistical areas is 3,947,583 by these counts. Well short of the total for DFW. And although there are undoubtably many populated areas on the I-35 corridor between the two anchor cities, we can extrapolate through common sense that the population density and consistency of development isn't nearly high enough to bring it up to par with DFW. Even with the higher growth rates in this part of the state, it would take some time for it to reach/surpass DFW.

I'd use the 2010 Census over the inflated annual estimates.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by Squiggles

DFW is huge. And it's still growing at a very strong rate. I know this is Wiki (and therefore perhaps not completely reliable), but I trust it on this topic.

The DFW combined statistical area has a population of 6,805,275 by 2009 estimates.
The Austin MSA has a population of 1,705,075 by the 2009 estimates.
The San Antonio MSA has a population of 2,142,508 by the 2010 estimates.

The sum of the Austin and San Antonio statistical areas is 3,947,583 by these counts. Well short of the total for DFW. And although there are undoubtably many populated areas on the I-35 corridor between the two anchor cities, we can extrapolate through common sense that the population density and consistency of development isn't nearly high enough to bring it up to par with DFW. Even with the higher growth rates in this part of the state, it would take some time for it to reach/surpass DFW.

True, as the Austin and San Antonio corridor continues to grow and as the whole region continues to do so, the Dallas - Fort Worth area will need to grow as well to supply it as the primary distribution center.
The Dallas - Fort Worth area has a symbiotic relationship with the whole region. It has an aerospace relationship going on with Wichita, Kansas (self proclaimed aerospace capital of the world). It has a high tech relationship with Austin. As it no longer shares the energy relationship it once held with Houston, it is now developing a new relationship with the port of Houston in regards to trucking in and out containers from southeast Dallas county.
And, of course, there is the 700,000,000 square feet of industrial space in the area.
See, it's also a matter of where the interstates, the railroads, and DFW airport are located.
Something which has flown under the radar recently which is very important to note is the earthquake and tsunami that happened in Japan. I think that disaster is going to have a future impact on the Telecom corridor in Richardson as Japanese companies will be looking to build back ups to what they already have in Japan.
Mark my words. As the safest place to build the now defunct supercollider was determined to be in the Dallas - Fort Worth area, the Telecom Corridor in Richardson will also be determined a safe place to build back up manufacturing faciilites by companies based along the Pacific Rim of fire (California and Japan).

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by Trae

I'd use the 2010 Census over the inflated annual estimates.

Three factors should be considered into the 2010 Census. One is hurricane Katrina, another is the large numbers of illegal aliens looking for work with many returning to Mexico while one can figure many returned to the better energy based economy of Houston, and the other is simple politics. Ask yourself, who is in office? Who was in power during the last census of 2001?
As you seem like an intelligent person, we really don't need to discuss these issues while you can certainly understand how they might have caused a temporary anamoly to happen in the numbers.
In other words, the populations in Dallas - Fort Worth and Houston will certainly go through a correction in the future.

[BevoLJ]

San Antonio is in a growing north towards Austin, but most of Austin's growth is going north up to and well past Round Rock. There is a little growth south of Austin but not much and it pales in comparison to the growth north of the city. The new F1 track though will hopefully bring a lot of new growth down that way. That part of Austin has really missed out on most of our growth.

But I can see a Austin - Round Rock MSA combining with the Temple - Killeen - Ft Hood MSA much easier even though they are further than San Antonio. That is where all the growth has been going and where most of our companies do a lot more business than SA.

[desertpunk]

As both metros get larger, I think the path of least resistance for builders in Austin will be to the south, especially if major industrial and commercial development grows around Bergstrom. San Antonio seems to be crawling inexorably up that I-35 grapevine towards San Marcos which itself may double in size...

[Manitopiaaa]

If they ever do become one giant metropolitan area, I can't even fathom that sprawl.

[jonathaninATX]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

If they ever do become one giant metropolitan area, I can't even fathom that sprawl.

It's already happening as we speak. 2 large housing developments just broke ground along SH 130.

[tampasteve]

Hopefully the LStar gets built, that would really help commuters between the two regions.

Steve

[jonathaninATX]

Originally Posted by tampasteve

Hopefully the LStar gets built, that would really help commuters between the two regions.

Steve

It would, maybe in another 10yrs or so.

[FM 2258]

If we could get a high speed rail line between the cities that would be nice. I don't like having to drive to San Antonio. Maybe I just don't like San Antonio.

[ardamir]

I much prefer the drive to San Antonio than to Austin due to traffic. Speaking of trains, I know there is an Amtrak train that I see go through San Marcos but I do not think it stops there. If it were cost effective, I would totally take any train instead of commuting by car.

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by ardamir

I much prefer the drive to San Antonio than to Austin due to traffic. Speaking of trains, I know there is an Amtrak train that I see go through San Marcos but I do not think it stops there. If it were cost effective, I would totally take any train instead of commuting by car.

The Amtrak Texas Eagle stops in San Marcos going north and south. But the times are not conducive to commuting if you are heading south (unless you work through the night). Austin you might be able to depending on your work schedule. The train runs daily, the northbound departs San Marcos at 8:32am the southbound train departs San Marcos at 7:12pm.


Steve