US 23 between Delaware and Marion, OH

[NE2]

Is anyone familiar with this section of road? It has four carriageways, two in each direction: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=40.39522&lon=-83.07044&zoom=16&layers=M (aerials confirm). All have proper turn lanes. Apparently ODOT uses this section for pavement testing, with only two carriageways open for through traffic.

Are there any special signs at intersections? Anything else strange?

[dfilpus]

I've driven this stretch a dozen times. In normal operation, the center carriageways (which has the test pavement and/or paint stripes) are for through traffic and the side carriageways are closed. The side carriageways are used only when the main carriageways are being repaved/repainted.

If you look at Google Maps Street View, you can see the road with the northbound traffic on the side carriageway with the main northbound carriageway closed and the southbound traffic is normal. There are two side road intersections, each has two stop signs, one at each carriageway. There is a warning sign under the first stop sign, but I don't remember what it says.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Is anyone familiar with this section of road? It has four carriageways, two in each direction: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=40.39522&lon=-83.07044&zoom=16&layers=M (aerials confirm). All have proper turn lanes. Apparently ODOT uses this section for pavement testing, with only two carriageways open for through traffic.

Are there any special signs at intersections? Anything else strange?

Other than doubling up on signage between Norton and Delaware State Park, nope.

[Central Avenue]

I always liked this sign at the beginning of that section:

[The Premier]

Since when did U.S. 23 made it all the way to the Akron-Canton area?

I think you got the wrong Norton.

[NE2]

Marion, whatever.

[agentsteel53]

yeah I had one hell of a time trying to find it on google maps.

this is the northern end of the four-carriageway section.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=marion+oh&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=28.114729,55.458984&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Marion,+Ohio&ll=40.425634,-83.072884&spn=0.006583,0.01354&t=k&z=16

see it under satellite view for the full effect

[The Premier]

Marion, whatever.

That kind of explains the typo.

And please, call me Alex.

[JREwing78]

That is one screwy stretch of road. I'm not sure what ODOT was smoking with that one, but it was apparently good stuff.

The frontage roads were a fine idea, but their execution is terrible.

[NE2]

The frontage roads were a fine idea, but their execution is terrible.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Since when did U.S. 23 made it all the way to the Akron-Canton area?

I think you got the wrong Norton.

Unless NE 2 posted the wrong map link, he got the right Norton the first time.
http://www.co.delaware.oh.us/engineer/viewmap/front.htm

[NE2]

Ah, I was right (that Norton also shows up on OSM). Bad Perkinser. Five years in the clink for you.

[agentsteel53]

Five years in the clink for you.

no no, the minimum punishment in the Perkins Union is double execution.  that's for suspicion of being a carbon-based lifeform.  mistaking Ohio towns of the same name - the punishment for that is genocide of your entire species and any other species that shares at least 99.2% of your DNA.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

All will be expunged from The Premier's record if he makes the roadie from (suburban) Akron to (suburban) Columbus for the Road Map Collectors meet in two weeks.

[agentsteel53]

All will be expunged from The Premier's record if he makes the roadie from (suburban) Akron to (suburban) Columbus for the Road Map Collectors meet in two weeks.

but he'll still be nuked from orbit.

it's the only way to be sure.

[vtk]

In my experience there's no predicting which carriageways will be in use.  The outer carriageways, however, when not used for through traffic, aren't strictly "closed".  They are blocked at the upstream split, but drivers can switch to them at any crossroad or "crossover".  Of course, they have to be open to local traffic, as there are homes and farms with driveways on US 23 here. 

[The Premier]

Since when did U.S. 23 made it all the way to the Akron-Canton area?

I think you got the wrong Norton.

Unless NE 2 posted the wrong map link, he got the right Norton the first time.
http://www.co.delaware.oh.us/engineer/viewmap/front.htm

OK, for a moment there I though the Norton you were talking about was in Summit County.

Ah, I was right (that Norton also shows up on OSM). Bad Perkinser. Five years in the clink for you.

Five years in the clink for you.

no no, the minimum punishment in the Perkins Union is double execution.  that's for suspicion of being a carbon-based lifeform.  mistaking Ohio towns of the same name - the punishment for that is genocide of your entire species and any other species that shares at least 99.2% of your DNA.

but he'll still be nuked from orbit.

it's the only way to be sure.

NOT cool. Not cool at all.

All will be expunged from The Premier's record if he makes the roadie from (suburban) Akron to (suburban) Columbus for the Road Map Collectors meet in two weeks.

I wish I could, but its not happening. Sorry.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

If the Columbus Dispatch thought enough to make a story about this stretch of US 23, then I have no problem bringing this thread out of mothballs either.

"˜Perpetual pavement' to get test-drive on Rt. 23
Researchers laying out base in bid for longer-lasting, lower-cost roads
By  Robert Vitale
Monday August 27, 2012 7:35 AM

A stretch of Rt. 23 in Delaware County might very well lead to brighter budget days for the Ohio Department of Transportation.

There, between Delaware and Waldo, Ohio University researchers plan to test a new road design that they hope might last 50 years or more with nothing but an occasional new coat of asphalt.

"Perpetual pavement,"  as it's called, has been around for a while in the road-building business, although its high upfront construction cost has limited its use.

Shad Sargand, a civil-engineering professor and associate director of the university's Ohio Research Institute for Transportation and the Environment, said the quest now is to build longer-lasting roads at a lower cost for taxpayers.

"As much as we can avoid reconstruction, that is a huge impact on the economics, motorists, everything,"  he said.

Researchers plan to test whether they can use less asphalt but still maintain the endurance of a perpetual-pavement roadway. Perpetual pavement is designed with thicker-than-usual layers of asphalt and other material. One of the ingredients in asphalt is crude oil, so shaving an inch or so from those layers could mean big savings for state transportation departments, Sargand said.

The state goes through 5 million to 6 million tons of asphalt yearly, according to Flexible Pavements of Ohio, the asphalt industry's statewide trade group.

In 2005, Ohio transportation officials built a Rt. 30 bypass around Wooster that included a 16-inch, four-layer road on top of a 6-inch base. In a pavement-testing lab on Ohio University's Lancaster campus, researchers have reduced the top layers by up to 3 inches.

The real-world test will take place within a 3-mile section of Rt. 23 that's used to test new pavement designs by OU and other university researchers. Sargand said a portion of the right-hand lane of northbound Rt. 23 will be tested with 15 inches of asphalt, and the left-hand passing lane will be built with 13 inches of asphalt.

On a stretch of road parallel to Rt. 23, a seldom-traveled county road that was part of the highway until the test stretch was built in 1996, lanes will be rebuilt with 13 inches and 11 inches of asphalt.

Sensors beneath the roads will monitor the weight and stress on the road at all times as well as temperature and moisture.

All of those things help contribute to the deterioration of roads, which the state transportation department will spend $1.8 billion this year to patch, rebuild or improve. ODOT has delayed dozens of projects around the state, though, because officials say the agency's lengthy list of promises can't be kept with declining gas-tax income and rising construction costs.

Mary Cervarich, spokeswoman for the National Asphalt Pavement Association, said "perpetual pavement"  has been a longtime goal.

Two Ohio roadways – a stretch of Rt. 25 near Perrysburg in Wood County and a stretch of Rt. 73 near Wilmington in Clinton County – have been recognized as among the oldest in the nation that have required little more than surface restoration. Both were built in the 1930s.

The goal in building perpetual pavement is to make sure middle layers are strong enough to last, Sargand said. Potholes and other surface problems can be fixed quickly, but cracks below the surface require longer, more-expensive repairs.The two Ohio roads were built with thicker layers of asphalt below the surface.

The asphalt industry's state group is taking part in the tests along Rt. 23. Sargand said monitoring will go on for two years or more.

Ohio University has maintained the Rt. 23 pavement testing area for ODOT and the Federal Highway Administration since 1996. Crews have been installing new sensors this month under northbound lanes of the highway, west of Delaware State Park.

Among its biggest successes, Sargand said, is pioneering the use of a cheaper crushed stone as the base material for new roads. Ohio was the first state to adopt the standard, which has since spread nationwide.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/08/27/road-base-to-get-test-drive.html

[vtk]

On a stretch of road parallel to Rt. 23, a seldom-traveled county road that was part of the highway until the test stretch was built in 1996, lanes will be rebuilt with 13 inches and 11 inches of asphalt.

So the outer lanes are technically county-maintained? And they will be rebuilt? When? If they are seldom-used, why do they need to be rebuilt? Are they becoming part of the test? I'm confused by that passage, and I think so is the reporter who penned it.

[NE2]

On a stretch of road parallel to Rt. 23, a seldom-traveled county road that was part of the highway until the test stretch was built in 1996, lanes will be rebuilt with 13 inches and 11 inches of asphalt.

So the outer lanes are technically county-maintained? And they will be rebuilt? When? If they are seldom-used, why do they need to be rebuilt? Are they becoming part of the test? I'm confused by that passage, and I think so is the reporter who penned it.

I assume this refers to the old alignment *north* of the test stretch, but that was bypassed in 1965. (By the way, the far-west lanes on the test stretch are the original two-lane US 23. Probably in 1965, the far-east lanes were added. Probably in 1996, the center two roadways were added. http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=40.42554,-83.07441&z=15&t=T )

[vtk]

On a stretch of road parallel to Rt. 23, a seldom-traveled county road that was part of the highway until the test stretch was built in 1996, lanes will be rebuilt with 13 inches and 11 inches of asphalt.

So the outer lanes are technically county-maintained? And they will be rebuilt? When? If they are seldom-used, why do they need to be rebuilt? Are they becoming part of the test? I'm confused by that passage, and I think so is the reporter who penned it.

I assume this refers to the old alignment *north* of the test stretch, but that was bypassed in 1965.

That could be.  I happened to drive on that stretch at night around Easter 2011, and I noticed it was Portland Cement.  I commented at the time that the pavement must be rather old, dating to before the bypass, because I couldn't imagine that type of pavement being used for a rural local road. 

[vtk]

Five months later: work appears to be done, but for some reason the northbound traffic is still being forced to the local/outer lanes.  Who knows how long it will stay like that? 

This is why I made OSM show all 4 carriageways as mainline US 23: traffic is shifted unpredictably and usage of the outer lanes is often more than temporary.  On the other hand, now that I have a job which takes me that way several times a month, I suppose I can keep it reasonably up to date with actual usage...

[JCinSummerfield]

Just drove that stretch last night.  Still hate it.  One of these times, I'm gonna count the stop lights going all the way down to I-270.

[vtk]

Today I noticed the northbound traffic was finally switched back to the inner lanes.  That's been nearly a year.