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[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I don't mind the way they did that Easton mass

What?

It makes sense except for cutting the main line down to two lanes. But ODOT has a fetish for doing that. I can't stand when they do that. They cause more bottlenecks with that way of doing things than anything else. The curves are definitely too sharp, but the rest of it I think was well thought out.

What does Easton, Massachusetts have to do with this thread or ODOT?

Keep your Massachusetts out of our Oregon.

Oklahoma*

I stand by what I typed

[Buck87]

Bridge built on land and then floated into place.

Nice. I drove past that (on the Ohio side) a couple or so years ago when it was being built and thought that was an interesting concept.

[seicer]

- I'll have to post photos in the next few days, but the Wellsburg Bridge looks awful. The bottom half of the bridge is a nice deep brown color but the upper half is a light brown with splotches of dark brown patches.

- While flying over the Blennerhassett Island Bridge (US 50) between Ohio and Parkersburg, WV, Thursday evening, I spied a significant fuel slick and was able to trace out its origin. I called the Ohio EPA's emergency line and got a reply within minutes. I sent them my images and they were able to get a crew out there the next day. I also gave the company who owned the dock a heads up and they were indifferent to the spill and told me to call back the next day. They didn't seem too thrilled when I did call back the next day, saying I should have notified them first.

- The Memorial Bridge in Parkersburg looks very nice now that the rehab work has wrapped up. It's now pay-by-plate or EZ-Pass; no toll booths remain.

[The Ghostbuster]

What if your street was closed for repairs, and nothing was done for over a year: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/we-re-in-peril-out-here-residents-waiting-for-progress-on-road-closed-400-days/ar-AA1iIOxg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=7e82ff7466874c32921edadc55a503e5&ei=45. If I lived on Ford Rd., I'd be pissed too. And Ford Rd. is a county highway to boot: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ford+Rd,+Ohio/@41.724126,-81.1107039,5738m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x883199e615bfe83d:0xff22ef04f8ab9d0d!8m2!3d41.7237572!4d-81.0933065!16s%2Fg%2F1232fzm0m?entry=ttu.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

What if your street was closed for repairs, and nothing was done for over a year: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/we-re-in-peril-out-here-residents-waiting-for-progress-on-road-closed-400-days/ar-AA1iIOxg?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=7e82ff7466874c32921edadc55a503e5&ei=45. If I lived on Ford Rd., I'd be pissed too. And Ford Rd. is a county highway to boot:

I've seen plenty of County, Township, and city roads closed for multiple years. State DOT maintained roads don't get closed and forgotten about (unless they are being abandoned).

[seicer]

The Ohio Department of Transportation, along with regional partners at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, have begun the Route 23 Connect Study to evaluate enhancements along the U.S. 23 corridor to improve traffic flow between the Columbus and Toledo Regions.

Public meetings are now being held virtually and in-person. See all of them at https://publicinput.com/23connect

[TempoNick]

The Ohio Department of Transportation, along with regional partners at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, have begun the Route 23 Connect Study to evaluate enhancements along the U.S. 23 corridor to improve traffic flow between the Columbus and Toledo Regions.

Public meetings are now being held virtually and in-person. See all of them at https://publicinput.com/23connect

Enhancements? Enhancements!? Just suck it up and do the right thing for a change. The Columbus area is simply growing too fast. This road is necessary.

[seicer]

There are five concepts being considered, one of which is a full freeway with frontage roads along the Columbus to Waldo segment. I made my comments known that ODOT should consider a full build-out as a freeway, and that it could be staged over the years with right-of-way acquisitions. Essentially, phasing it in.

[TempoNick]

There are five concepts being considered, one of which is a full freeway with frontage roads along the Columbus to Waldo segment. I made my comments known that ODOT should consider a full build-out as a freeway, and that it could be staged over the years with right-of-way acquisitions. Essentially, phasing it in.

The path of least resistance is to leave US 23 alone south of Delaware lake (except for modest enhancements), build a bypass and then use US 36. It will get the job done for now. It may not be ideal looking out 40 years, but for the time being, it will get the job done. That was the reason for building US 36 the way it was built, wasn't it?

The problem with frontage roads and fixing US 23 is that even though they put all that effort into fixing US 23 the last time, there are still backups around there, especially when going I-270 East from US 23. The backups have now moved to the I-71 exit going to Polaris. That I-71 North Lane is backed up and it's hard to go eastbound on I-270 because you basically have to weave through two or three lanes, come to a standstill and then try to merge onto I-270.

 US 23, 315 and I-71 are simply too close to each other to ever get that working right, unless you build several dozen flyover lanes. I'm exaggerating, of course, but you get the idea.

I'm also fearful that they will do to US 23 what they did to US 19 and Pinellas County. That will just ruin all the commercial land with overpasses blocking everything.

[seicer]

I wonder how they will work with the "express" lane set up they built at Interstate 270. It did not include provisions for any sort of expansion.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The problem with frontage roads and fixing US 23 is that even though they put all that effort into fixing US 23 the last time, there are still backups around there, especially when going I-270 East from US 23. The backups have now moved to the I-71 exit going to Polaris. That I-71 North Lane is backed up and it's hard to go eastbound on I-270 because you basically have to weave through two or three lanes, come to a standstill and then try to merge onto I-270.

The backup on I-270 EB, between US 23 & I-71 (northside) has nothing to do with US 23 or Oh 315 interchanges. It has to do traffic going from I-270 EB to I-71 NB. Even though that ramp is signed for 50 MPH, there are no trucks that do that ramp at that speed.
ODOT is going to have to find a couple hundred million dollars to redesign and rebuild that ramp (and hopefully not have to spend extra millions in expanding the I-270 bridges over I-71) to cure that problem.

[TempoNick]

The problem with frontage roads and fixing US 23 is that even though they put all that effort into fixing US 23 the last time, there are still backups around there, especially when going I-270 East from US 23. The backups have now moved to the I-71 exit going to Polaris. That I-71 North Lane is backed up and it's hard to go eastbound on I-270 because you basically have to weave through two or three lanes, come to a standstill and then try to merge onto I-270.

The backup on I-270 EB, between US 23 & I-71 (northside) has nothing to do with US 23 or Oh 315 interchanges. It has to do traffic going from I-270 EB to I-71 NB. Even though that ramp is signed for 50 MPH, there are no trucks that do that ramp at that speed.
ODOT is going to have to find a couple hundred million dollars to redesign and rebuild that ramp (and hopefully not have to spend extra millions in expanding the I-270 bridges over I-71) to cure that problem.

But it's all related. If they decide to push all that US 23 traffic through there, that just helps clogs things at I-270. Rerouting it to US 36 takes some of the pressure off of that, not to mention that almost everything you need is already there except for what maybe 5 or 10 miles of freeway between Delaware lake and US 36? Then slow US 23 to 35 mph from Delaware to Lewis Center, just to give people incentive to take the new expressway.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The problem with frontage roads and fixing US 23 is that even though they put all that effort into fixing US 23 the last time, there are still backups around there, especially when going I-270 East from US 23. The backups have now moved to the I-71 exit going to Polaris. That I-71 North Lane is backed up and it's hard to go eastbound on I-270 because you basically have to weave through two or three lanes, come to a standstill and then try to merge onto I-270.

The backup on I-270 EB, between US 23 & I-71 (northside) has nothing to do with US 23 or Oh 315 interchanges. It has to do traffic going from I-270 EB to I-71 NB. Even though that ramp is signed for 50 MPH, there are no trucks that do that ramp at that speed.
ODOT is going to have to find a couple hundred million dollars to redesign and rebuild that ramp (and hopefully not have to spend extra millions in expanding the I-270 bridges over I-71) to cure that problem.

But it's all related. If they decide to push all that US 23 traffic through there, that just helps clogs things at I-270. Rerouting it to US 36 takes some of the pressure off of that, not to mention that almost everything you need is already there except for what maybe 5 or 10 miles of freeway between Delaware lake and US 36? Then slow US 23 to 35 mph from Delaware to Lewis Center, just to give people incentive to take the new expressway.

Now you're talking apples & oranges here.
Rerouting traffic from US 23 Southbound to I-71 south is not going to help traffic going I-71 Northbound from I-270.

[TempoNick]

Rerouting traffic from US 23 Southbound to I-71 south is not going to help traffic going I-71 Northbound from I-270.

eastbound traffic is getting stuck in that queue with northbound traffic.

[Black-Man]

ODOT is going to have to find a couple hundred million dollars to redesign and rebuild that ramp (and hopefully not have to spend extra millions in expanding the I-270 bridges over I-71) to cure that problem.

They already have a project and I believe it's pretty high up on the STIP since it lists construction to start in 2024. https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/projects/projects/105435

[vtk]

There are five concepts being considered, one of which is a full freeway with frontage roads along the Columbus to Waldo segment. I made my comments known that ODOT should consider a full build-out as a freeway, and that it could be staged over the years with right-of-way acquisitions. Essentially, phasing it in.

I don't think they're considering those five concepts anymore, as they all failed a cost/benefit analysis. They seem to now be looking at what smaller improvements they can make along the existing road. Effectively, they picked concept C1 but also decided to half-ass it. There was some noise about forcing ODOT to reconsider, but I don't think anything came of it.

[seicer]

Those were the differing alignments. These are concepts along the US 23 corridor. I attended the first public meeting on November 6 where they were being discussed. (Sadly, there was just one other attendee.)

I did (sarcastically) ask if they were proposing this as part of Interstate 73, and it was a flat response: "no."

[TempoNick]

Those were the differing alignments. These are concepts along the US 23 corridor. I attended the first public meeting on November 6 where they were being discussed. (Sadly, there was just one other attendee.)

I did (sarcastically) ask if they were proposing this as part of Interstate 73, and it was a flat response: "no."

I wanted to go but things kept coming up. I ended up missing each and every window.

[The Ghostbuster]

Interstate 73 may never exist outside of North Carolina. Maybe it is time to give up the dream of a multi-state Interstate 73 corridor.

[TempoNick]

Bridge built on land and then floated into place.

Nice. I drove past that (on the Ohio side) a couple or so years ago when it was being built and thought that was an interesting concept.

Eventually it'll happen, these government programs have a way of never dying out once somebody proposes them and they get started. Just look at I-670 here. For many years it was just two stubs west and east, and the Innerbelt. Eventually, they filled in the blanks. They did a goofy job with it around downtown, but they got it done.

[seicer]

The King Coal and Tolsia Highways in West Virginia are being designed and built as mostly two-lane corridor routes, with provisions for four lanes throughout. There are no provisions for a complete freeway, with the highway incorporating a mixture of interchanges at major junctions and intersections elsewhere. There are no driveways.

The "I-73/74 High Priority Corridor" signs are decades old at this point and some have been knocked down and not replaced. They hold no official designation or bearing. All funding and proposal plans have been to build the highway as a replacement for US 52 and nothing more.

The Ohio folly died when the funding package tied to the Turnpike was nixed. Michigan isn't interested, either. At best, you'd have some isolated stretches of freeway being built where needed - north and south of Columbus. And with the OH 823 bypass around Portsmouth featuring one-lane terminus ramps with absolutely no provisions for extensions or modifications to incorporate an interstate, I would consider it dead.

[TempoNick]

The King Coal and Tolsia Highways in West Virginia are being designed and built as mostly two-lane corridor routes, with provisions for four lanes throughout. There are no provisions for a complete freeway, with the highway incorporating a mixture of interchanges at major junctions and intersections elsewhere. There are no driveways.

The "I-73/74 High Priority Corridor" signs are decades old at this point and some have been knocked down and not replaced. They hold no official designation or bearing. All funding and proposal plans have been to build the highway as a replacement for US 52 and nothing more.

The Ohio folly died when the funding package tied to the Turnpike was nixed. Michigan isn't interested, either. At best, you'd have some isolated stretches of freeway being built where needed - north and south of Columbus. And with the OH 823 bypass around Portsmouth featuring one-lane terminus ramps with absolutely no provisions for extensions or modifications to incorporate an interstate, I would consider it dead.

That's because of money isn't there. We spend it on stupid things like ukraine, but that's about to end. Once there is money again, we'll start building infrastructure again.

[afguy]

I haven't seen this article posted yet, but back in September announcing that a section of I-70 from  Upper Lewisburg-Salem Rd to Rte. 48 may possibly be widened to six lanes beginning as early as 2029.

City manager Sonja Keaton informed council a future upgrade has been proposed for a section of Interstate 70 near Brookville.

“At a recent Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission board meeting I attended, I learned that one single TRAC (Transportation Review Advisory Council) project was submitted for calendar year 2023. That is the widening and rehabilitation of I-70 from Upper Lewisburg-Salem Road, just west of Exit 21, to state Route 48 in Englewood,” Keaton said.

“This project includes the replacement of two mainline bridge decks over Upper Lewisburg-Salem Road to accommodate the widened section,” Keaton continued.

Keaton noted TRAC assists the Ohio Department of Transportation in developing a project selection process for ODOT’s largest investments.

“TRAC projects are projects costing more than $12 million which adds transportation capacity and are critical to mobility, economic development and quality of life of citizens of Ohio,” Keaton advised.

Keaton said construction is estimated to start in 2029, if the project is awarded during this current TRAC round.

https://www.registerherald.com/2023/09/01/upgrade-planned-for-section-of-i-70/

[Bitmapped]

The King Coal and Tolsia Highways in West Virginia are being designed and built as mostly two-lane corridor routes, with provisions for four lanes throughout. There are no provisions for a complete freeway, with the highway incorporating a mixture of interchanges at major junctions and intersections elsewhere. There are no driveways.

The "I-73/74 High Priority Corridor" signs are decades old at this point and some have been knocked down and not replaced. They hold no official designation or bearing. All funding and proposal plans have been to build the highway as a replacement for US 52 and nothing more.

The Ohio folly died when the funding package tied to the Turnpike was nixed. Michigan isn't interested, either. At best, you'd have some isolated stretches of freeway being built where needed - north and south of Columbus. And with the OH 823 bypass around Portsmouth featuring one-lane terminus ramps with absolutely no provisions for extensions or modifications to incorporate an interstate, I would consider it dead.

That's because of money isn't there. We spend it on stupid things like ukraine, but that's about to end. Once there is money again, we'll start building infrastructure again.

WVDOH isn't interested in building a full freeway. If they were, they would be building that. They want to open land for development, and allowing at-grade intersections does a much better job of that than a full freeway would.

ODOT doesn't see the point of an Interstate for this corridor. For most of its length, US 23/SR 15 are adequate. Building a brand new alignment south of Columbus to support a freeway would be duplicative, eat up lots of farmland, and not significantly improve mobility over what's there. Upgrading the existing US 23/SR 15 to a corridor to a freeway north of Waldo would be feasible but there isn't sufficient traffic to require it at this time.

[SkyPesos]

ODOT doesn't see the point of an Interstate for this corridor. For most of its length, US 23/SR 15 are adequate. Building a brand new alignment south of Columbus to support a freeway would be duplicative, eat up lots of farmland, and not significantly improve mobility over what's there. Upgrading the existing US 23/SR 15 to a corridor to a freeway north of Waldo would be feasible but there isn't sufficient traffic to require it at this time.

Plus, For traffic south of Columbus, there's two 4-lane expressway options to I-77 for traffic bound to the Carolinas, reducing the need for a full I-73 in WV: US 23/35 and US 33.