I was just in Austin for 2 weeks, driving in Austin during rush hour is easy compared to Seattle, San Diego or LA. Whereas going 20 miles in Seattle might take me an hour and a half in Seattle at 5pm, that same trip from South Austin to North Austin is 40 minutes.
while I don't disagree that many cities have worse traffic, your vague example of "South Austin to North Austin" isn't very convincing. All I can say is that I live 12 miles north of my office downtown, and it routinely takes me an hour to get home.
Is there bike infrastructure? A healthy adult should be able to manage 14mph or so. 17 or 18 isn't crazy if you're in good shape (though stop lights kill this).
The bike infrastructure seems to only exist south of the river (what some would call "real" Austin). Outside downtown there isn't bike infrastructure, and it is dangerous to bike/walk as most streets are built 6 or more lanes wide, plus a freeway down the middle on some arterials.
Drivers do not expect people to be on foot or on bike, and the arterials are 50 to 60mph in North Austin. Considering that it has become moderately dense with Apartments & Condos in the past decade, its sad that it is dangerous to walk in that area.
