US 33 Upgrades in Ohio

[seicer]

Alt-3 (tight diamond) and Alt-4 (new terrain/existing) were my favorites. Alt-2 seemed overkill, and Alt-1 would devastate the huge tourist stop at Rockbridge. I would hope that with any of the alternates that a rest area be provided and that the off/on ramps be something more than right-in/right-out but none of the alternatives seem to accomplish that.

[GCrites]

Yeah 3 or 4.

[TempoNick]

Alt 4 sounds like it will never happen. I think I read $300 some million dollars, not including right of way acquisition, versus 80ish million for the other alternatives.

So if I understand this correctly, US 33 is likely to become almost all freeway from Ohio 104 until about 10 mi south of Athens (Darwin) and this isn't pie in the sky. It's going to happen in reasonably short order. It's too bad they don't have such a nice solution for US 23.

[sprjus4]

From what I'm understanding, this project is not fully upgrading the section from Lancaster to Logan. It's only upgrading the portion in Hocking County. A few at grade intersections will exist south of the Lancaster bypass including the traffic signal at Sugar Grove. Not sure why they wouldn't upgrade that small gap with this project, creating 46 miles of uninterrupted 70 mph freeway between Carroll and Nelsonville.

With the portion between Athens and Darwin being widened to 4 lanes and upgraded to freeway, closing in the remaining gaps between Columbus and Lancaster, the aforementioned portion south of Lancaster, and Nelsonville and Athens would create 84 miles of uninterrupted freeway between Columbus and Athens, with the rest of the route to West Virginia being limited access divided highway with limited at-grade intersections.

It would be a very reasonable project for Ohio to "close in" these at-grade portions over the coming decade or two and finally create an uninterrupted 70 mph freeway connection (112 miles) between I-70 and the West Virginia state line, and work with West Virginia to fill that short gap to I-77.

[TempoNick]

I see a couple of problems. The newer sections of 33, like the bypass around Lancaster and the newer interchange near Diley Road are nicely laid out. They have nice wide berths and not only look great, but seem very safe and able to handle the traffic volume. Some of the older sections are narrower and look like they were done on the cheap. Maybe design standards were different back then, but hopefully this will be fixed in the future as they upgrade the sections.

I don't know what they were thinking in Carroll. That section right through town is pretty narrow, that cable divider, and that goofy exit into Carroll going westbound really seems half-assed to me. Canal Winchester around Bowen Road also seems like they need some more right of way. I can't believe that Speedway is still in operation.

If they ever get US 23 North of Columbus fixed, US 23 to the north and US 33 to the southeast connecting to I-77 seems like it would be a good route for I-73 at least until the other pieces come together, if they ever come together.

I don't like route numbers that change. I wish Ohio would do things like Iowa does with the Avenue of the Saints being all Iowa 27 regardless of what road you're driving on.

[GCrites]

As compared to today's projects, yes the older work was very much "done on the cheap" but not necessarily intentionally since projects were so incredibly cheaper back then even when adjusted for inflation. People just didn't think Lancaster Bypass/Nelsonville Bypass big back then. It wasn't considered necessary and it was much harder to move that amount of earth in those days. Diley Road is really only that tall due to the advent of double-stacked train cars.

[GCrites]

For example, let's say the Lancaster Bypass was done in the '70s. It would probably start at about the mall since there weren't any traffic lights between Carroll and the mall until the Meijer opened up in the '90s. None. No houses on W. Fair west of the Campground. It would have hugged the city much more closely and would have re-joined the old road near Memorial Drive and Ford St. where Lancaster Sales used to be.

[GCrites]

Alt 4 sounds like it will never happen. I think I read $300 some million dollars, not including right of way acquisition, versus 80ish million for the other alternatives.

So if I understand this correctly, US 33 is likely to become almost all freeway from Ohio 104 until about 10 mi south of Athens (Darwin) and this isn't pie in the sky. It's going to happen in reasonably short order. It's too bad they don't have such a nice solution for US 23.

After looking at the packet I am Team 3.

[carbaugh2]

From what I'm understanding, this project is not fully upgrading the section from Lancaster to Logan. It's only upgrading the portion in Hocking County. A few at grade intersections will exist south of the Lancaster bypass including the traffic signal at Sugar Grove. Not sure why they wouldn't upgrade that small gap with this project, creating 46 miles of uninterrupted 70 mph freeway between Carroll and Nelsonville.

This is correct. It appears the traffic study is only focused on Hocking County. The Sugar Grove traffic is beginning to remind me more of Cherry Valley Rd in Newark prior to the Thornwood Crossing/16 interchange. At least the traffic volumes aren't that high yet. I remember rush hour backups going nearly 2 miles at that light before the interchange was finally built. I have a feeling that the Sugar Grove interchange will be next on the list once District 5 gets the Pickerington Rd project construction started next year.

As a reminder, there are numerous at grade intersections between Nelsonville and The Plains including the Movies 10 and the rest area turned Wayne National Forest station. They also need to close off or build a grade separation at the Johnson Rd intersection near 550. ODOT is making great strides, but there is still a lot to be done.

[TempoNick]

As compared to today's projects, yes the older work was very much "done on the cheap" but not necessarily intentionally since projects were so incredibly cheaper back then even when adjusted for inflation. People just didn't think Lancaster Bypass/Nelsonville Bypass big back then. It wasn't considered necessary and it was much harder to move that amount of earth in those days. Diley Road is really only that tall due to the advent of double-stacked train cars.

I really love that bypass visually. It is a nice drive, even though it is a bit short. I realize sooner or later progress will ruin that nice view, but for the time being, they did a very nice job on that section of road.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

For example, let's say the Lancaster Bypass was done in the '70s. It would probably start at about the mall since there weren't any traffic lights between Carroll and the mall until the Meijer opened up in the '90s. None. No houses on W. Fair west of the Campground. It would have hugged the city much more closely and would have re-joined the old road near Memorial Drive and Ford St. where Lancaster Sales used to be.

Mind you, Memorial Dr. was the "original" bypass for 33 around Lancaster. Similar in scope to 23 in Delaware and 16 in Newark. All designed in the late 50s/early 60s then built in the mid 60s.

[carbaugh2]

I feel confident I mentioned this project a while back, but ODOT has now posted a webpage for the improvements on the 33/682 interchange at The Plains. ODOT is removing the traffic light and stop sign at the end of the offramps and replacing them with roundabouts much like 664 and 328 around Logan.

https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/projects/projects/118465

[GCrites]

For example, let's say the Lancaster Bypass was done in the '70s. It would probably start at about the mall since there weren't any traffic lights between Carroll and the mall until the Meijer opened up in the '90s. None. No houses on W. Fair west of the Campground. It would have hugged the city much more closely and would have re-joined the old road near Memorial Drive and Ford St. where Lancaster Sales used to be.

Mind you, Memorial Dr. was the "original" bypass for 33 around Lancaster. Similar in scope to 23 in Delaware and 16 in Newark. All designed in the late 50s/early 60s then built in the mid 60s.

It just wound up with so many businesses and stoplights on it that I often used Columbus Street (old, old 33) to get through town because it was faster. At least until I hit the interchange with Memorial under the elevated section.

[Bitmapped]

I feel confident I mentioned this project a while back, but ODOT has now posted a webpage for the improvements on the 33/682 interchange at The Plains. ODOT is removing the traffic light and stop sign at the end of the offramps and replacing them with roundabouts much like 664 and 328 around Logan.

https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/projects/projects/118465

I'm not sure if it made it into the final iteration of the project, but at least earlier versions of this project also included closing the intersection just west on US 33 that is a connector to SR 682.

From what I'm understanding, this project is not fully upgrading the section from Lancaster to Logan. It's only upgrading the portion in Hocking County. A few at grade intersections will exist south of the Lancaster bypass including the traffic signal at Sugar Grove. Not sure why they wouldn't upgrade that small gap with this project, creating 46 miles of uninterrupted 70 mph freeway between Carroll and Nelsonville.

Hocking County is District 10 and Fairfield County is District 5. This sort of project is normally planned at the district level, which is why it doesn't span the full length from Lancaster to Logan.

[TempoNick]

US 33 Eclipse traffic outbound.

[GCrites]

I thought I was the one who kept dragging this in a 23 direction 

[TempoNick]

My bad. The headline said 33. I replaced the link in the original post.

And while we're at it. Here's Toledo traffic going back to Michigan.

[JREwing78]

US-23 in Michigan is already borderline overloaded with roughly 50,000 vpd on a 4-lane freeway. The backups were probably just as epic north of the border.

[Black-Man]

Looks like the Bixby/Rager Rd engineering was TRAC approved as well.

https://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/2022TRACApplications/D06_05_FRA%20US%2033%20CORRIDOR_TRAC_APP.pdf

[GCrites]

I don't know if they really needed to maintain access for those two roads.

[TempoNick]

I don't know if they really needed to maintain access for those two roads.

Between Hamilton Road and Gender Road, it seems like adding another exit will just create another choke point. Wouldn't it be better to just build an overpass and use the existing two exits? I'm sure you would need some improvements to surface roads, however. There is also the other issue of Groveport not wanting so much connectivity to what's north of 33.

[vtk]

Three "choke points" working together would be less congested than two handling the same traffic.

I'm also strongly in favor of as much local access across freeways as possible, so the local traffic that just wants to cross doesn't have to use the busy roads with interchanges. I-70 has a problem with that between Hilliard–Rome Rd and Wilson Rd.

[JCinSummerfield]

US-23 in Michigan is already borderline overloaded with roughly 50,000 vpd on a 4-lane freeway. The backups were probably just as epic north of the border.

Living less than three miles from US-23 in southern Michigan, I can verify that traffic was equally terrible on all side roads as well!