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Interstate 14

Started by HemiCRZ, November 09, 2021, 12:35:54 AM

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Rothman

Quote from: froggie on March 26, 2022, 09:02:27 AM
For starters, you can look at the maps of the planned I-14 and see that it follows the same corridor between I-20/59 and Montgomery (included in the news articles in the OP and other places on the web).

Meanwhile, here is the Federal Register notice where FHWA, in cooperation with ALDOT, rescinded the EIS for the I-85 extension in 2018.  No EIS means no extension.  Of course, this rescision means that with I-14 now written into legislation (see above news articles), ALDOT will have to start the environmental process over.

Quote from: froggie on March 26, 2022, 09:02:27 AM
For starters, you can look at the maps of the planned I-14 and see that it follows the same corridor between I-20/59 and Montgomery (included in the news articles in the OP and other places on the web).

Meanwhile, here is the Federal Register notice where FHWA, in cooperation with ALDOT, rescinded the EIS for the I-85 extension in 2018.  No EIS means no extension.  Of course, this rescision means that with I-14 now written into legislation (see above news articles), ALDOT will have to start the environmental process over.

Looks like it was rescinded when FHWA started.cracking down on their "10-year PE" deadline.  Once you authorize PE, you have ten years to get to construction or ROW acquisition or you have to pay the funding back (ROW.gives you a lot more time...20 years, I believe).  You can apply for an extension.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.


MoiraPrime

US 84 is an important enough corridor for freight into a decent part of Mississppi, but the 4 lane highway it currently has does a good enough job handling the traffic, and it's not overwhelming by any means. The bypass of Collins that was completed a decade (I think) ago does a good job too of handling the bottlenecks. The only real kink in the whole route across the state in my opinion is probably the intersection with MS 15 in Laurel. It's a mess.

There is enough clear space in Laurel to maybe do a bypass and come out around near Perkins Street... there's not a crazy high amount of housing developments through there, but a bypass would entail the building of multiple bridges across Horse Creek and Tallahoma Creek, as well as the destruction of a museum, a golf course, an animal shelter, and the Jones County School District's transportation department.

US 49 could better use a freeway makeover, but there are some annoying issues they'd have to take care of, and there probably isn't a single way to connect it to I-10 that doesn't involve the destruction of large amounts of housing. The old proposals of MS 601 all seemed to include corridors that followed roughly along Old Highway 49 (The original US 49 alignment) and if you've ever been through that area you know there are a ton of communities that have built up alongside it.

DenverBrian

I do think the US is pretty much Interstated out at this point, and almost all future four-lane highways can be upgrades of existing two-lane roads, with at-grade intersections and movement into and out of towns as needed.

I personally would rather see us create a coast-to-coast I-66 with double sets of dual lanes - inside ones for trucks only; outside ones for cars with no speed limit.

Stephane Dumas

Quote from: MoiraPrime on May 16, 2022, 01:43:12 PM
US 84 is an important enough corridor for freight into a decent part of Mississppi, but the 4 lane highway it currently has does a good enough job handling the traffic, and it's not overwhelming by any means. The bypass of Collins that was completed a decade (I think) ago does a good job too of handling the bottlenecks. The only real kink in the whole route across the state in my opinion is probably the intersection with MS 15 in Laurel. It's a mess.

There is enough clear space in Laurel to maybe do a bypass and come out around near Perkins Street... there's not a crazy high amount of housing developments through there, but a bypass would entail the building of multiple bridges across Horse Creek and Tallahoma Creek, as well as the destruction of a museum, a golf course, an animal shelter, and the Jones County School District's transportation department.

That reminds me of some old talks about a Laurel bypass who was once suggested as a reroute of I-59 as well. http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/laurel-bypass.htm

The Ghostbuster

I think an Interstate 14 along the US 84 corridor has about as much likelihood of being constructed as Interstate 3 does from Knoxville, TN to Savannah, GA. Interstate 14 should only be constructed in Texas and maybe Louisiana. Constructing 14 any further east would be redundant.

froggie

Quote from: MoiraPrime on May 16, 2022, 01:43:12 PM
The bypass of Collins that was completed a decade (I think) ago does a good job too of handling the bottlenecks.

2009

QuoteThe only real kink in the whole route across the state in my opinion is probably the intersection with MS 15 in Laurel. It's a mess.

Agreed.

QuoteThere is enough clear space in Laurel to maybe do a bypass and come out around near Perkins Street... there's not a crazy high amount of housing developments through there, but a bypass would entail the building of multiple bridges across Horse Creek and Tallahoma Creek, as well as the destruction of a museum, a golf course, an animal shelter, and the Jones County School District's transportation department.

It depends on how they route it.  Some of the impacts you cite would be possible but I don't think all of them would occur.

It should be noted that MDOT (and its predecessor) have studied basically that same alignment since at least the mid 1970s.  A Draft EIS was issued in 1979 and I know the alignment remained on MDOT's books at least into the early 2000s.  I do not know the current status.  This is the same study I reference in the Laurel Bypass alternatives webpage that Stephane linked to.

MoiraPrime

Quote from: froggie on May 16, 2022, 07:41:33 PM
It should be noted that MDOT (and its predecessor) have studied basically that same alignment since at least the mid 1970s.  A Draft EIS was issued in 1979 and I know the alignment remained on MDOT's books at least into the early 2000s.  I do not know the current status.  This is the same study I reference in the Laurel Bypass alternatives webpage that Stephane linked to.

For what it's worth, the US 84 bypass still shows as "Proposed" on the MDOT Linear reference model data that can be found in MARIS, but I did tweet them a while back about if there were any current plans about it, and they said there weren't. https://twitter.com/MississippiDOT/status/1402675622216974337

lordsutch

Quote from: froggie on February 08, 2022, 12:16:25 AM
^ Have you ever been down there?  I've been on much of that corridor...Meridian-Montgomery barely has enough traffic to warrant 4 lanes, let alone a full Interstate, and from what I recall of my time there Columbus-Augusta isn't any different.  And there isn't enough long-haul traffic needing to avoid Atlanta at such long distances to warrant the expense.

At least the Columbus-Macon(ish) section seems to have been picking up more traffic in recent years, particularly trucks, and US 280 gets pretty heavy traffic from I-85 to Columbus. The lack of any crossing of the Ocmulgee River between downtown Macon and south of Warner Robins is also a real pain, particularly when anything goes wrong on I-16 through Macon. Particularly with Hyundai coming to sorta-kinda-Savannah, I think there's enough to justify at least connecting I-85 to I-16, even if we're only talking about bypassing the congested bits and flush median sections and a few interchanges for now.

Jaxrunner

The Fall Line Freeway should go south of Macon and intersect near Sgoda Rd and I 16 east of Macon. I like the idea of a 4 lane road across central Georgia but there needs to be a better connection for truck traffic connected from the port of Savannah heading to West Georgia.

lordsutch

Sen. Warnock's FY2024 earmark requests include two apparent requests for money related to I-14: $118 million toward safety upgrades on J.R. Allen Parkway in Columbus "to upgrade roadways to Interstate standards" and $285 million toward a "Midland bypass," a project I can find absolutely no information on from either GDOT or the Columbus/Phenix City MPO but based on geography and the description "to alleviate truck traffic from Atlanta and expand the capacity of the Port of Savannah" would suggest an extension of the J.R. Allen Parkway freeway east to bypass the Beaver Run section of US 80 at the end of the existing freeway.

I didn't see anything obvious in the other senate or house earmark requests.

Tomahawkin

I'm totally on board with this. A corridor that would run from Macon thru Columbus all the way to interstate 85 would reduce trucks in the Atlanta area 25-35 percent if I had to guesstimate. Problem is that IH 65 from Montgomery to Birmingham would need widening as it needs it now. AL-Dot should be proactive in making IH 65, 6 to 8 lanes total but that's not going to happen til next decade at the earliest...



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