Southern Ohio: SR 823 / Portsmouth Bypass

Started by seicer, June 17, 2013, 02:14:41 PM

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vtk

I drove 823 each way on a work trip, that rainy first night it was open. Saw that accident in the southbound lanes as I was passing through northbound. I recorded a GPS trace of the whole trip, and had fun correcting the alignment and updating exit info on OSM. Couldn't remember the exit number I'd observed for 140 though, so that still needs to be fixed.
Wait, it's all Ohio? Always has been.


hbelkins

I drove the route today, both ways. Started out heading north, getting off at each exit to get photography of the approaches, then went south on US 23 at Lucasville and U-turned, then drove from end to end to end southbound. The route was lightly traveled and I saw no law enforcement. There are several spots where the pavement has been milled already.

Someone mentioned the concrete barrier walls and protective fencing. I think I know the reason why those were installed, along with "Fallen Rocks" signs at various intervals. The rock cuts are not benched the way they would be in Kentucky or West Virginia. I don't know if this was done to minimize right of way and excavation costs, or they blasted only what they would need for the fill areas, or what the reason is. I suspect they're going to have some real fallen rock issues in some of those cuts in 20 years or so. The lack of benched cuts and the narrow inside shoulders make the project look cheaper than we all know it was.

To get there, I took KY 7 to Grayson, then I-64, KY 67 and US 23 to the Greenup Dam, then crossed over to US 52. Coming back, I stopped at Ironton and ate at one of the few remaining Rax Roast Beef restaurants. I had originally planned to follow OH 93 to Jackson, then US 35 into West Virginia to check out construction on the four-lane (GSV taken along the two-lane portion of US 35 shows "Road Work Ahead" signs on some of the county routes that intersect US 35), but I got a late start this morning and would have run out of daylight. So I opted to come home instead of going farther and spending the night. I crossed the new Ironton-Russell Bridge and followed US 23 and US 460 to Salyersville, but I took KY 168 around downtown Ashland.

There's still a whole lot of button copy left between Wheelersburg and Ironton on US 52.

I took gobs of pictures which I will get uploaded, hopefully, in the next few weeks. I've been working on getting all my pictures from last year online.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Buck87


hbelkins

My pictures from Saturday are up on my Flickr feed (same username as here) and on the Millennium Highway Facebook page.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Buck87

I drove the bypass for the first time today, southbound from end to end, and then northbound from OH 140 to CR 28 a bit later. It was nice to finally see it in person, as the pics and videos don't do it justice how much elevation change this freeway has and how massive the cuts are.

One change outside of the bypass itself I noticed is the new exit signs for OH 140 off US 52 east that say:

140, To 823 North
S. Webster
Chillicothe

...with 140 and To 823 trail blazers on top of mileage signs to South Webster and Chillicothe at the bottom of the ramp



VS988


hbelkins

Quote from: Buck87 on February 07, 2019, 07:11:33 PM
I drove the bypass for the first time today, southbound from end to end, and then northbound from OH 140 to CR 28 a bit later. It was nice to finally see it in person, as the pics and videos don't do it justice how much elevation change this freeway has and how massive the cuts are.

One change outside of the bypass itself I noticed is the new exit signs for OH 140 off US 52 east that say:

140, To 823 North
S. Webster
Chillicothe

...with 140 and To 823 trail blazers on top of mileage signs to South Webster and Chillicothe at the bottom of the ramp


I didn't drive far enough west on 52 to turn around and drive eastbound to see the signage for 140, with 823 mentioned since there's no direct connection to 823 from eastbound 52.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Buck87

I see Google maps is finally labelling the bypass as OH 823 on both the map and in directions.

Roadsguy

Quote from: Buck87 on March 25, 2019, 10:23:51 AM
I see Google maps is finally labelling the bypass as OH 823 on both the map and in directions.

Still not a freeway, though. Just reported it; we'll see how many more weeks it takes them to get to this one. :P
Mileage-based exit numbering implies the existence of mileage-cringe exit numbering.

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Quote from: Roadsguy on March 25, 2019, 10:36:40 AM
Quote from: Buck87 on March 25, 2019, 10:23:51 AM
I see Google maps is finally labelling the bypass as OH 823 on both the map and in directions.

Still not a freeway, though. Just reported it; we'll see how many more weeks it takes them to get to this one. :P

Before or after the Portsmouth roadmeet?
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

roadman65

I've been meaning to ask, does this mean Ohio is thinking about building their portion of I-74?
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

seicer

Nope. There is no active or proposed study on either I-73 or I-74, and upgrades to OH 32 and US 23 are entirely separate projects designed to alleviate specific issues (e.g. high accident corridors, congestion).

sparker

Quote from: roadman65 on July 24, 2019, 08:32:20 PM
I've been meaning to ask, does this mean Ohio is thinking about building their portion of I-74?
Quote from: seicer on July 25, 2019, 11:22:32 AM
Nope. There is no active or proposed study on either I-73 or I-74, and upgrades to OH 32 and US 23 are entirely separate projects designed to alleviate specific issues (e.g. high accident corridors, congestion).

Ironically, part of the funding for OH 823 came from the ARC pool -- although the alignment does correspond to the original I-73/74/HPC #5 concept (the northernmost "split" of the combined routes was to have been around Lucasville).  Essentially HPC #5 (dating from 1991; the Interstate designations came about 4 years later) was simply, at least in Ohio, an overlay of ARC corridors as far north as Columbus (OH 32, which was to serve as I-74's egress to the Cincinnati area, was also an ARC corridor).  But while advantage has been taken in regards to funding availability, the idea of renewing the I-73/74 concept in OH hasn't taken hold; the route north of Roanoke (I-73) and the NC/VA state line (I-74) is essentially in a state of continuing dormancy; the concept still exists on paper, but the execution just isn't forthcoming.  Now -- that doesn't mean that localized projects such as the Portsmouth bypass won't crop up from time to time along the various corridor segments (the good old SIU concept come to life!) -- but the prospect of coordinating those back into any semblance of the original plan is highly unlikely!

GCrites

Even though the bypass is brand new it would be a big project to make it interstate grade.

Henry

We can fantasize about bringing I-74 through Cincinnati all we want to connect with the bypass, but the sad reality is, it'll never happen. Plus, the existing I-74 south of Indianapolis is a stupid routing anyway, because that's where it begins to violate the grid. The NC portion is the worst, because it is so far south that it feels out of place in a state whose east-west numbers range from 26 to 40 (soon to be 42), and a backup number should've been used in case the portions north of there are cancelled, which they are. (On a side note, I can live with I-73, despite its equally severe grid violation, being east of I-77, and I-75, for that matter, even in proposed form.)
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

FightingIrish

Quote from: Henry on July 26, 2019, 10:37:47 AM
We can fantasize about bringing I-74 through Cincinnati all we want to connect with the bypass, but the sad reality is, it'll never happen. Plus, the existing I-74 south of Indianapolis is a stupid routing anyway, because that's where it begins to violate the grid. The NC portion is the worst, because it is so far south that it feels out of place in a state whose east-west numbers range from 26 to 40 (soon to be 42), and a backup number should've been used in case the portions north of there are cancelled, which they are. (On a side note, I can live with I-73, despite its equally severe grid violation, being east of I-77, and I-75, for that matter, even in proposed form.)
Diagonal routes do not violate the grid.

roadman65

Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Henry

Quote from: roadman65 on July 27, 2019, 11:04:49 PM
I-69 is out of grid in Texas?
Until it connects to the original one, then yes. But precedent does exist for many other routes, like I-24, I-26, I-44, I-71 and I-85.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

Buck87

Quote from: Buck87 on February 26, 2018, 04:32:38 PM
After looking at the map a little more I began thinking of ways if could be rearranged while still keeping everything, and then decided to have a go at it myself by messing around with it in MS Paint. Here's what I came up with:




Here's what it actually ended up looking like. As it turns out they made a lot of changes to the style of the map itself.



Buck87

Drove the length of 823 last weekend and noticed some construction work near the Lucasville end of it. There was a section where the shoulder rumble strips had been paved over on both sides of the southbound lanes, for about a half mile stretch or so.

hbelkins

Quote from: Buck87 on November 10, 2020, 10:08:46 AM
Drove the length of 823 last weekend and noticed some construction work near the Lucasville end of it. There was a section where the shoulder rumble strips had been paved over on both sides of the southbound lanes, for about a half mile stretch or so.

ODOT has been doing some smoothing and leveling of pavement in some places. For some reason, I get the Scioto County project updates in my work email.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

GCrites

^and they say states don't communicate well with each other...

seicer

Dad was coming back from Columbus tonight and said that another section had lanes closed off for slippage.

sparker

Quote from: seicer on November 12, 2020, 10:19:55 PM
Dad was coming back from Columbus tonight and said that another section had lanes closed off for slippage.

Was the slippage due to a cut slope mudslide or a fill collapsing?  Since it appears that most of 823 is either cut or fill, that doesn't portend well for the long-term maintenance prospects of the corridor. 

seicer

I'm not sure - I'll be down that way in the coming days so I can check it out. At the least, I'd like to get some new drone photos of the bypass. I know from my rides on the bypass thus far there seems to be a lot of quality control issues, with numerous dips in the pavement that have been repaired, fill adjacent to the bridges sinking, etc. I suppose it isn't that much different than US 35 north of Scott Depot/I-64 in West Virginia which has a lot of patches for all of the dips.

hbelkins

Quote from: GCrites80s on November 12, 2020, 07:26:53 PM
^and they say states don't communicate well with each other...

Actually, the neighboring Kentucky highway districts communicate very well with their neighbors. I'm probably getting those updates because I filled in for a short time as the PIO in District 9, which borders the river from Maysville to Ashland.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.



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