IL: I-270 Chain of Rocks Canal Bridges to be replaced

Started by Revive 755, December 02, 2009, 09:03:48 PM

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Brandon

^^ That Collinsville District (D-8) seems to have its priorities upside down more often than not.  One would've thought that by now, they'd have widened I-270 to six lanes as well as I-55/70.  Instead, I-255 is six lanes and seems mostly free of traffic.  Even D-1 (Chicago) has a better priority list.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg


adt1982

^^  Agreed.  It's maddening to be bottlenecked on 270 with 4 lanes but just fly down 255 with 6.  270 as a whole feels and is just antiquated.

kharvey10

Quote from: Brandon on October 14, 2012, 09:22:03 PM
^^ That Collinsville District (D-8) seems to have its priorities upside down more often than not.  One would've thought that by now, they'd have widened I-270 to six lanes as well as I-55/70.  Instead, I-255 is six lanes and seems mostly free of traffic.  Even D-1 (Chicago) has a better priority list.
Quote from: adt1982 on October 14, 2012, 10:31:17 PM
^^  Agreed.  It's maddening to be bottlenecked on 270 with 4 lanes but just fly down 255 with 6.  270 as a whole feels and is just antiquated.

270 should been widened about 30 years ago but IDiOT was spending their big bucks on other projects that nobody really needed.  (255 was a godsend, though, the options before 255 was going through Route 111 through one of the worst neighborhoods of the entire Metro East, or the heavily congested Route 159.  The Metro East, namely Collinsville and Fairview Heights, did not see their building boom until the late 1990s.)

District 8 has pretty much kept a hush hush on 270 for a very long time.  They let it fall in deep disrepair in the early 1990s to the point of emergency closures of portions of the highway had to be taken.  They have never went to the public with much of anything even still to this day and the locals were pissed when they finally got around into releasing their canal bridge plans last year.  It pisses me off to see 270 still functioning as it was when it was built in the 1960s and other than that 2 mile section at 255, it hasn't even changed much.  I don't think the section from Riverview to Route 111 even meets modern standards as is given all the truck traffic it gets.


Henry

Quote from: kharvey10 on October 15, 2012, 10:05:51 AM
Quote from: Brandon on October 14, 2012, 09:22:03 PM
^^ That Collinsville District (D-8) seems to have its priorities upside down more often than not.  One would've thought that by now, they'd have widened I-270 to six lanes as well as I-55/70.  Instead, I-255 is six lanes and seems mostly free of traffic.  Even D-1 (Chicago) has a better priority list.
Quote from: adt1982 on October 14, 2012, 10:31:17 PM
^^  Agreed.  It's maddening to be bottlenecked on 270 with 4 lanes but just fly down 255 with 6.  270 as a whole feels and is just antiquated.

270 should been widened about 30 years ago but IDiOT was spending their big bucks on other projects that nobody really needed.  (255 was a godsend, though, the options before 255 was going through Route 111 through one of the worst neighborhoods of the entire Metro East, or the heavily congested Route 159.  The Metro East, namely Collinsville and Fairview Heights, did not see their building boom until the late 1990s.)

District 8 has pretty much kept a hush hush on 270 for a very long time.  They let it fall in deep disrepair in the early 1990s to the point of emergency closures of portions of the highway had to be taken.  They have never went to the public with much of anything even still to this day and the locals were pissed when they finally got around into releasing their canal bridge plans last year.  It pisses me off to see 270 still functioning as it was when it was built in the 1960s and other than that 2 mile section at 255, it hasn't even changed much.  I don't think the section from Riverview to Route 111 even meets modern standards as is given all the truck traffic it gets.


I agree, it is a badly-needed project.
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kharvey10

Quote from: Henry on October 15, 2012, 11:11:38 AM

I agree, it is a badly-needed project.
Unfortunately IDiOT doesn't see it that way.  It will remain 2 lanes each way AFTER the canal bridge project is said and done and the accidents will only increase due to the way they will tie it in.  I wished IDiOT would had waited on this project for a few years and did both the canal and river bridge at the same time.

NE2

pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

Brandon

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

NE2

pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

InterstateNG

I demand an apology.

agentsteel53

yeah, the "IDiOT" meme was funny perhaps the first 6 times but it's no longer 1963 so...
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Brandon

Quote from: agentsteel53 on October 16, 2012, 12:28:13 PM
yeah, the "IDiOT" meme was funny perhaps the first 6 times but it's no longer 1963 so...

OK, let's go destroy a bunch of button copy signs and replace them with Clearview, Jake.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

agentsteel53

Quote from: Brandon on October 16, 2012, 07:18:49 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on October 16, 2012, 12:28:13 PM
yeah, the "IDiOT" meme was funny perhaps the first 6 times but it's no longer 1963 so...

OK, let's go destroy a bunch of button copy signs and replace them with Clearview, Jake.

for Illinois in 1963, you're probably looking at demountable letters with reflective sheeting, placed on a non-reflective background.  I don't think there are any of those left.
live from sunny San Diego.

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kphoger

Quote from: kharvey10 on October 15, 2012, 10:05:51 AM
255 was a godsend, though, the options before 255 was going through Route 111 through one of the worst neighborhoods of the entire Metro East, or the heavily congested Route 159

Someone once asked me if I got combat pay for delivering to Roxana and Wood River.  I never minded the area, myself.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
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Male pronouns, please.

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kharvey10


NE2

pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

on_wisconsin

Quote from: agentsteel53 on October 16, 2012, 12:28:13 PM
yeah, the "IDiOT" meme was funny perhaps the first 6 times but it's no longer 1963 so...

About time someone said that.
"Speed does not kill, suddenly becoming stationary... that's what gets you" - Jeremy Clarkson

silverback1065

Why does everyone on this forum call Idot Idiot?  Do they suck at their jobs?  I don't live in Illinois so i have no idea. 

agentsteel53

Quote from: silverback1065 on January 15, 2013, 12:54:56 PM
Why does everyone on this forum call Idot Idiot?  Do they suck at their jobs?  I don't live in Illinois so i have no idea.

solidarity.
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Brandon

Quote from: silverback1065 on January 15, 2013, 12:54:56 PM
Why does everyone on this forum call Idot Idiot?  Do they suck at their jobs?  I don't live in Illinois so i have no idea. 

It is used often by roadgeeks and non-roadgeeks in Illinois as a shot at the foul-ups of the state DOT, IDOT.  The jokes usually are 'IDiOT", and that IDOT can't even spell "idiot" properly.  The foul-ups can be anything from a signage screw up to a failure to address a real infrastructure problem such as a bridge falling apart or capacity (incidentally, both of which I-270 has at the Chain of Rocks Canal Bridge).  I've heard it from municipal government officials when they're frustrated that IDOT under-designs roads consistently or drags their feet on fixing a problem.

Part of this frustration stems from the fact that IDOT tends to spend money on political projects instead of fixing real problems.  A case in point: IDOT widened I-55 to six lanes from Sherman to Lincoln (I-155) as a political favor before any other stretch of freeway outside Chicagoland was widened to six lanes.  This was done even though other freeways in the state (I-270, I-55/70, etc) needed the widening more.  Ever wonder why I-255 is six lanes around Metro East, and I-270 is not?  Political favors and a near-complete lack of wanting to cooperate with neighboring state DOTs (in this case, MoDOT).  That lack of cooperation pisses off the surrounding state DOTs such as WisDOT.  WisDOT wanted to extend I-43 south to Bloomington along US-51.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  IDOT told WisDOT to F-off and picked their own number instead.  That's why I said in the US-41 conversion thread that IDOT would drag their feet and balk at extending I-55 north even though that makes sense.

Makes me wonder what derisive terms are used for other state DOTs.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

agentsteel53

Quote from: Brandon on January 15, 2013, 02:52:44 PM

Makes me wonder what derisive terms are used for other state DOTs.

none that I can think of; thus my sharp opposition to the term "idiot".  I can't imagine Illinois DOT being so fundamentally underwhelming that they, and only they, require a derisive nickname.
live from sunny San Diego.

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jake@aaroads.com

Brandon

Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 15, 2013, 02:57:38 PM
Quote from: Brandon on January 15, 2013, 02:52:44 PM

Makes me wonder what derisive terms are used for other state DOTs.

none that I can think of; thus my sharp opposition to the term "idiot".  I can't imagine Illinois DOT being so fundamentally underwhelming that they, and only they, require a derisive nickname.

Surprises me a bit.  I would've thought "CrapTrans" for "CalTrans", "WishDOT" for "WisDOT", etc.  It was a term invented in Illinois and used in Illinois for the foibles of the state DOT.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

kharvey10

I was talking to someone over facebook that is from Rockford area and another classic example of IDOT putting politicians over needs is the Clark Bridge in Alton.  The local leaders wanted it replaced in the mid 1970s, after they went through a long summer/fall of 1975 when the old bridge was closed for 6 months for repairs.  Back in 1975 parts of IL 3, 143, and 100 were not in their present alignments, and the IL 3 and 143 intersection was just east of Wood River Creek in between some railroad tracks and a lot of traffic control devices that the locals called "The Islands".  The Riverbend region was not on IDOT good side for some reason and not even the political heavy hitters could get them to balk.  In fact IDOT opens up the Berm Highway (now 143) in 1976 partially completed and it dumped you into an at-grade railroad crossing at Ridge Street that had no fewer than 20 trains a day.  It took no less than 45 minutes to get from Godfrey to 270 on a good day - most of the roads were 2 lanes, loaded with stoplights and at-grade crossings that trains used all the time.  It was not until the mid 1980s until IDOT finally caves into the pressure (thanks to a pair of well financed powerful democrat politicians), but they decide to open the new bridge with the Berm Highway approach not completely finished (that came a year later).  It only takes 8 months for the locals to realize that they really got the short end of that project on two fronts - 1. the Illinois approaches were poorly designed, and 2. IDOT didn't give a care about the 270 corridor.  (Every time a bad wreck happens on 270 you will see IL 143 back up from Alton all the way to Wood River depending on what time the wreck happens.)  The IL 255 project took a lot of political willpower as well - just to force IDOT to finish it - and two different sections were opened a year behind schedule.

WisDOT got back on IDOT over  the I-43 thing: they went and upgraded their US 51 corridor and got I-39 on that.  MoDOT did the same thing with I-64 back in 1987 but for different reasons.

NE2

Since I-39's current route makes more sense than a Bloomington-Beloit-Milwaukee-Green Bay mutt rip, I fail to see the problem.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

kharvey10

NE2 that one dates back to the early 1980s at best, maybe late 1970s at the earliest.  The I-43 concoction dated early 1970s and Wisconsin really wanted to number that I-57 at first.  The IDOT vs WisDOT thing has been going on at least 40 years.

Brandon

Quote from: kharvey10 on January 18, 2013, 10:00:23 PM
NE2 that one dates back to the early 1980s at best, maybe late 1970s at the earliest.  The I-43 concoction dated early 1970s and Wisconsin really wanted to number that I-57 at first.  The IDOT vs WisDOT thing has been going on at least 40 years.

Yep.  IDOT does not play well with other state DOTs.  It's pissed of WisDOT for decades now.  First with I-43, now with I-55, not to mention the abrupt end to the US-12 freeway at the state line.  Wisconsin has the freeway, Illinois has shown no desire to connect to it.  They don't even play well with InDOT usually.  My personal belief is that the Kingery Expressway (I-80/94) got done is that it is sandwiched between ISTHA's Tri-State Tollway (I-80/294) and InDOT's Borman Expressway (I-80/94).  Both ISTHA and InDOT were improving their roads and IDOT got forced to follow suit.  IDOT's lack of palying nice with other state DOTs is what seems to be holding up improvements on the Chain of Rocks Bridge mentioned in this thread.  MoDOT has I-270 as six to eight lanes up almost to the state line.  IDOT on the other hand has refused to improve I-270 to match, leaving I-270 at four lanes.  Never mind that traffic counts are much the same on both sides of the bridge.

IDOT doesn't even play nice within the state.  It took a state representative in the General Assembly to pull favors and teeth to get IDOT to widen I-55 from Weber Road (Exit 263) to I-80 (Exit 250) to six lanes.  Even then, IDOT did a half-assed job of it.  Municipalities and counties tell IDOT what they are doing, and that their population projects will require IDOT to improve a section of road.  IDOT balks at it and improves the road about 20 to 30 years later.  Meanwhile, life has gone on and the population increased beyond the most optimistic projections of the municipalities and counties involved.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg



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