I-70/71 Columbus Crossroads

[6a]

I've seen the renderings of the finished project, but seeing the bridge supports being erected really gives you a sense of the scale of this thing. The flyover from downtown to I-71 south has one 80 feet (!) tall, which should be awesome in snow or ice.

[GCrites]

Yeah it's tall even without the girders, decking or barriers up.

[TempoNick]

I've seen the renderings of the finished project, but seeing the bridge supports being erected really gives you a sense of the scale of this thing. The flyover from downtown to I-71 south has one 80 feet (!) tall, which should be awesome in snow or ice.

I was on a real tall flyover in Miami once and it wasn't fun.

I still think they should have reworked I-670 for I-71. It would have made the work on I-70 a lot more simple.

It looks nice, but compared to some of the freeway's in other states, they could have done more with the curb appeal. Peoria, Green Bay, Des Moines and Denver have especially nice aesthetics. I like Peoria and Denver the best.

[6a]

Posted yesterday by the Vivid Columbus Facebook page:

[TempoNick]

Dispatch photo:

[vtk]

The editing makes it hard to study for details, but here's YouTube Short by ODOT showing the last several months of progress:

https://youtube.com/shorts/zCJV18IVOVc?si=WtdOdakW4QWJitG_

[KelleyCook]

It looks nice, but compared to some of the freeway's in other states, they could have done more with the curb appeal. Peoria, Green Bay, Des Moines and Denver have especially nice aesthetics. I like Peoria and Denver the best.

All they had to do was to spy on their neighbors to the north.

I-75 from 8 mile to 12 mile (actually all the way to Square Lake Rd in Bloomfield) should be a lesson on how to reconfigure an urban freeway to both flow better -- especially the new braided entrance ramp coming from I-696 -- and getting a facelift to now look surprisingly nice.

[TempoNick]

I-70 and I-71 construction around Columbus to extend into the 2030s, according to ODOT

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/traffic/2024/04/19/i-70-and-i-71-construction-to-extend-into-the-2030s-according-to-odot/73341994007/

[vtk]

I-70 EB will probably be shifted to the new Fulton St exit ramp to cross over 315 and the river, reportedly May 11. As it was apparently supposed to happen this weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if the traffic shift happens any time between now and then.

[TempoNick]

I was driving through there today and I'm still shaking my head at everything that's being built over there. Don't get me wrong, the work is impressive, but I'm wondering if a better and less complicated solution wouldn't have been to:

1. Leave everything as is along the split, with minor improvements.

2. Divert traffic from I-70 westbound at James Road to Ohio 104 as was suggested once as sort of an express lane for I-70 thru traffic. It would also eliminate having to drive all the curves along existing I-70.

3. Existing I-70 West of James to get another number. (I know ODOT talked about downgrading it to a boulevard, but that sounded stupid to me.)

4. I-71 routed along I-670 and 315 without multiplexing with I-70.

It seems like this would have solved multiple problems without all the complexity of this project. I know other problems would be created, but there are some spots along I-670 that were never right, particularly the ramps around Neil and Goodale.

[GCrites]

A lot of ramps on 315 would probably have had to close for I-71 to return to it.