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Kraj: Austin, država: United States

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Opis mesta: Austin is a city of over 700,000 in the Hill Country region of the American state of Texas. It's the capital of Texas and a college town, and also a center of alternative culture away from the major cities on the American coasts, although the city is rapidly gentrifying with its rising popularity. Austin's attitude is commonly emblazoned about town on T-Shirts and bumper stickers that read: "Keep Austin Weird." Austin is also marketed as the "Live Music Capital of the World" due to the large number of venues. Driving is not too difficult, if you're used to living in a large city. Traffic is bad from 7-9 am and 3:30-7 pm Monday through Fridays, though IH-35 through town can be jammed at other times as well There are two major north-south expressways: IH-35 and Loop 1 (also called the MoPac Expressway for former owner of the railroad which runs along it, Missouri-Pacific - or "Slo-Pac" for anyone who has experienced it at rush hour). There is only one true major east-west freeway in Austin located south of the city center, known as Ben White or US 290 West/Texas highway 71. The freeway section of 290 West/Ben White currently runs from IH-35 to just east of Oak Hill. Freeway extensions are currently being constructed east on 71 to the airport, and the beginning stages of construction are taking place west towards and past Oak Hill. Hwy 183 runs from the southeast corner of the city near the airport to the northwest suburbs, bridging Mopac and IH-35 in North Austin. Oak Hill is the point at which 71 and 290 split apart and go in separate directions, and in case this isn't confusing enough, some people make the distinction between 290 West and 290 East because at IH-35 290 East actually heads up the interstate, and then continues on to the east in North Austin. There is a second freeway that runs from the Northwest side of the city down to the Southeast side of the city past the airport. This freeway is called US 183, and in North Austin it may also be referred to as Research Blvd. Most of it is freeway now, however there are still several major intersections which are currently being constructed and turned into freeway. IH-35 has no loop that circumnavigates the city, so watch out for aggressive, confused drivers. Also, keep your eyes open for the upper deck/lower deck split between Airport Blvd and Martin Luther King Jr Blvd; it's confusing, and accidents occur there frequently. Drivers going through Austin without stopping, or those who wish to avoid the chaos of the lower deck, should use the right two lanes as the deck split approaches, in contrast to other cities where through traffic uses the left lane. On the northbound side, traffic entering IH-35 at Martin Luther King Jr Blvd goes directly to the upper deck. Out-of-towners be warned: on-ramps on IH-35, especially the lower deck, are very short. Austin has a mostly completed network of toll roads, see Central Texas Turnpike System and Central Texas Regional Mobile Authority. These include SH 130, an Austin bypass east of town; SH 45, an east-west artery in North Austin; the North MoPac extension; the US 183A bypass of Cedar Park and Leander; and SH 45SE in far south Austin. TxTag accounts are available for commuters. There has been significant opposition and accommodations have been made in some areas. Both 183A and MoPac are rather deceptive - if you keep going north on either 183 or MoPac, the freeway seamlessly transitions into a toll road and the signing is rather poor. To avoid the toll, you must keep a sharp eye out and get off the main lanes. Even worse, the first toll on 183A is "TxTag Only" meaning that you cannot pay cash. Parts of the city are subject to flooding at times during the year, however it is not too common as Austin does not usually get an excessive amount of rain. 2007 has seen several flood episodes with the worst effects in Marble Falls, northwest of the city. See City of Austin Flood History for historic flooding. Note: For those of you unfamiliar with proper treatment of flooded areas, NEVER drive through flooded low water cros