Dallas/Waco/Austin/San Antonio Megalopolis?

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Yeah that's a HUGE stretch.

I hate to say it but some redneck from Shreveport or Texarkana must have written that!

As much as it would be nice to be linked with Dallas... it ain't gonna happen. Tyler has a much greater chance of being linked to Dallas than Shreveport or Texarkana.

Just goes to show how far someone will stretch the "truth" to make themselves seem more important. I think the I-65 corridor between Huntsville-Decatur and Mobile, is more of a Megalopolis than that one. IMO

[bigboyz05]

I hate to say it but some redneck from Shreveport or Texarkana must have written that!

A very stupid one at that.

[Aporkalypse]

Alright, I grew up in this proposed megalopolis and will tell you that it will not happen in our lifetimes. Dallas is growing north but starting to shift to the east a bit more. Wish they would build south a little bit. Waco is not growing that much whatsoever. It's media counterparts, especially Killeen, is the one that is growing and will pass Waco in the next few years. Austin and San Antonio is growing towards each other but Austin is growning more towards the north. There is too much of a gap between Dallas and Waco that's about 90 miles.

I agree. It is impressive the number of people that live along the I-35 corridor, though. There are quite a few.

Dallas is closer to growing into OKC than into Texarkana or Shreveport. The DFW metro will extend to Oklahoma before long.

[dimebag1980]

I agree. It is impressive the number of people that live along the I-35 corridor, though. There are quite a few.

Dallas is closer to growing into OKC than into Texarkana or Shreveport. The DFW metro will extend to Oklahoma before long.

No doubt. I've been expecting for some time to see the DFW metro area include Sherman and Denison. I wonder how long that will be... I'd guess not very long.

[Aporkalypse]

No doubt. I've been expecting for some time to see the DFW metro area include Sherman and Denison. I wonder how long that will be... I'd guess not very long.

North of McKinney, which is definitely part of the metro, the towns of Melissa, Anna, and Van Alstyne are all that lies between Sherman/Denison and they're booming with cheap subdivisions. There will be no break in development before long, certainly in 10-12 years.

[dimebag1980]

Man, McKinney is one anti-development city!! I guess they're trying to discourage themselves from being like the rest of DFW, although it's way too late for that. My wife recently finished working on plans for a bank in McKinney, and those people are super-picky. She was so glad to be finished with that job, but then a couple of weeks ago it was kicked back from the City of McKinney with MORE revisions. To make things worse, the City of McKinney refuses to mail plans back to developers, engineers, etc and requires them to drive to McKinney from wherever (Shreveport in this case) just to pick up their plans. I can understand wanting to limit sprawl, but that's downright ridiculous!

[nowensone]

As populous as Texas is, this is a large corridor (I-35) and would take at least a hundred years to fill in to megalopolis status. Not to mention the current development along it is almost nothing but sprawl and strip centers along access roads as is common for Texas, outside of the city centers themselves I-35 passes through. Definitely not that urban dense type feel you associate with "megalopolis". That's not any kind of insult, by the way, just an observation as an ex heavy traveller of that area and resident.

[dimebag1980]

As populous as Texas is, this is a large corridor (I-35) and would take at least a hundred years to fill in to megalopolis status. Not to mention the current development along it is almost nothing but sprawl and strip centers along access roads as is common for Texas, outside of the city centers themselves I-35 passes through. Definitely not that urban dense type feel you associate with "megalopolis". That's not any kind of insult, by the way, just an observation as an ex heavy traveller of that area and resident.

No way... not an insult, but truth. Think about central and east Texas... it's very rural in many places.

By the way, where do you live now? Just curious! And what part of Texas did you live in?

[nowensone]

No way... not an insult, but truth. Think about central and east Texas... it's very rural in many places.

By the way, where do you live now? Just curious! And what part of Texas did you live in?

Five years in Austin, 6 in Houston, and my father has lived in the Dallas area for close to 20 years. Now I am back in NC where I spent a majority of childhood.

[bigboyz05]

North of McKinney, which is definitely part of the metro, the towns of Melissa, Anna, and Van Alstyne are all that lies between Sherman/Denison and they're booming with cheap subdivisions. There will be no break in development before long, certainly in 10-12 years.

Do you know if the Sherman/Dennison area is growing fast?

[Aporkalypse]

Do you know if the Sherman/Dennison area is growing fast?

Not particularly, Grayson County (Sherman, Denison) only grew 5.6% between 2000 and 2005. Collin County, which borders Grayson and has Plano, McKinney, Frisco, and Allen, grew by 34% during that period and is one of the nation's fastest growing counties.

[dimebag1980]

Not particularly, Grayson County (Sherman, Denison) only grew 5.6% between 2000 and 2005. Collin County, which borders Grayson and has Plano, McKinney, Frisco, and Allen, grew by 34% during that period and is one of the nation's fastest growing counties.

Shows how much I know. I thought Sherman-Denison was two counties above Frisco and Plano... not one. Wow, it's even closer than I remember. I do quite a few homes in the Sherman area... we have a pretty large presence there.

[Spades]

I seen on one board where the Sherman-Denison area has actually been added to the DFW metro numbers. CSA continues to be more and more worthless by the years, though.

[bigboyz05]

Wow! D/FW is growing ridiculously! I heard that the population is currently 6.7 million. By the time the census comes out it will be well over 7 million.

[Rardy]

Wow! D/FW is growing ridiculously! I heard that the population is currently 6.7 million. By the time the census comes out it will be well over 7 million.

[TexasTea]

??? Where did you read that? That would be over 20% growth since 2000, which is a bit hard to believe, honestly.

[Rardy]

Is it really? Texas population is going to double in the next 40 years to around 44-45 million.

[Aporkalypse]

Oh I don't doubt that Texas is booming.

Take a look at this:

MSA					  2000 pop.		 2005 pop.		  Change

Atlanta				  4,247,981		 4,917,717			15.8%

Austin				   1,249,763		 1,452,529			16.2%

Birmingham			   1,052,238		 1,090,126			3.6%

Charlotte				1,330,448		 1,521,278			14.3%

Dallas				   5,161,544		 5,819,475			12.7%

Houston				  4,715,407		 5,280,077			12.0%

Jacksonville			 1,122,750		 1,248,371			11.2%

Louisville			   1,161,975		 1,208,452			4.0%

Memphis				  1,205,204		 1,260,905			4.6%

Miami					5,007,564		 5,422,200			8.3%

Nashville				1,311,789		 1,422,544			8.4%  

New Orleans			  1,316,510		 1,319,367			0.2% 

Oklahoma City			1,095,421		 1,156,812			5.6%

Orlando				  1,644,561		 1,933,255			17.6%

Richmond				 1,096,957		 1,175,654			7.2%

Tampa					2,395,997		 2,647,658			10.5%

San Antonio			  1,711,703		 1,889,797			10.4% 

Virginia Beach		   1,576,370		 1,647,346			4.5%

Census places Dallas at 5.8 mill. Perhaps the larger figure was a CSA estimate?

[Trae]

I thought that in 2006, Dallas-Fort Worth was at 6.2 million? Houston was closing in on 5.4 million. San Antonio was at 1.8 and Austin was at 1.5 million.

[Spades]

yeah. It's not a 6.7 million. But DFW could be there by 2010 the way it's growing. At the beginning of the year, it sat at 6.2 million(numbers from the North Central Texas council). Since 2000, 150,000 people have moved to the region a year. If that has continued thi syear. The DFW population could be well over 6.3 million on 1/1/2007.