Toll Road SH130: Après Moi, le Déluge

Fast in the wake of the newly opened toll roads, Centurion American Development Group has announced plans to develop a 498-lot subdivision on 97 acres near Harris Branch Parkway and Blue Goose Road. Not to be outdone, Triton Financial Inc. has similar plans to develop a 640-lot subdivision near Parmer Lane and Farmhaven Road, on 130 acres that were previously the Gault family farm.

Both developers cited proximity to the toll roads as a primary factor in the decision to develop suburbs in these locations. ABJ quotes Carter Breed, vice president of land development for Triton Financial, as saying that SH130 "has opened up that whole eastern corridor" for suburban development. Mark Sprague, of Residential Strategies Inc., is quoted as saying that various developers are currently considering development of more than 7,000 acres in East Austin.

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By Shawn Shillington in News on December 12, 2006 9:29 AM 0 Comments

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bigbigtruck

"But we have all sorts of empty condos and new lofts going up everyday! Who are they going to sell these houses to with everyone being able to live downtown now?" - anon

Thanks for the snerk-laff this morning :D

Shilli

The picture is actually just outside of the Austin city limits - I believe it is technically in Round Rock. I used it mainly because it looks like an especially miserable slice of suburbia (nothing but single family homes, cul-de-sacs everywhere, and a prominent feeder road) and because I thought the street name "Rustic Cove" was particularly ridiculous. The developments referred to in the post haven't been built yet - if you click the links, you will see that at present they are basically empty fields.

anon

“AFTER us, the deluge.” (“Aprés nous le déluge.”) This classic remark is generally thought to have been uttered by King Louis XV of France after his forces were defeated by those of Frederick the Great at the battle of Rossbach in 1757. Biographer Olivier Bernier calls the attribution “wholly apocryphal.” At least two memoirs by contemporaries attributed these words in the plural to the king’s mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour. Others to whom the saying has been attributed include Prince Metternich, Marie Antoinette, and Verdi. However “Aprés moi le déluge” was a French proverb in common use long before Louis XV or anyone else was alleged to have said it.

Verdict: An old proverb put in many mouths, especially that of Louis XV.

--The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When by Ralph Keyes

Tim

That's Austin? Really? Looks more like Manor or Pflugerville to me.

Shilli

Love Regina, and she put it in my mind, but she was also borrowing the line:

"When I am dead the deluge may come for aught I care. Generally ascribed to Prince Metternich, but the Prince borrowed it from Mme. Pompadour, who laughed off all the remonstrances of ministers at her extravagance by saying, 'Après nous le déluge' (Ruin, if you like, when we are dead and gone)."

http://www.bartleby.com/81/4834.html

Couldn't be more appropriate for this post. After the highways come the flood of suburbia. After we have squandered cheap land and resources comes the flood of environmental damage. Of course, we will all be gone before the real impact is felt.

anon

But we have all sorts of empty condos and new lofts going up everyday Who are they going to sell these houses to with everyone being able to live downtown now?

Bre

A Regina Spektor reference - nice!

josh

TXDOT should probably start planning now for the toll road that will loop 10 miles east of 130, because all of that prairie will be Centex homes in about 15 years.