Ohio

[The Ghostbuster]

Is Akron planning to deconstruct more of the OH 59 Innerbelt? I wouldn't be surprised if the entire roadway is removed in the future.

[seicer]

No. ODOT officially decommissioned the Innerbelt between W. Exchange and N. Howard in 2018. It was the oldest section and in need of major repairs.

[thenetwork]

No. ODOT officially decommissioned the Innerbelt between W. Exchange and N. Howard in 2018. It was the oldest section and in need of major repairs.

When I was visiting Akron last August, I was going SB on SR‐8, and got off at East Exchange to use the Innerbelt to get to 76 West...Only to find out that the ENTIRE southbound Innerbelt was closed all the way to to I-76 west.  I had to take SR-261 all the way to I-77 to access I-76.

Weeds were seen growing  between the cracks on the closed roadway. 

If that part of the Innerbelt wasn't decommissioned, why was it closed?

[PurdueBill]

No. ODOT officially decommissioned the Innerbelt between W. Exchange and N. Howard in 2018. It was the oldest section and in need of major repairs.

When I was visiting Akron last August, I was going SB on SR‐8, and got off at East Exchange to use the Innerbelt to get to 76 West...Only to find out that the ENTIRE southbound Innerbelt was closed all the way to to I-76 west.  I had to take SR-261 all the way to I-77 to access I-76.

Weeds were seen growing  between the cracks on the closed roadway. 

If that part of the Innerbelt wasn't decommissioned, why was it closed?

While the far right side of I-76 WB was completely dug up for bridge replacements and complete reconstruction at that time, the onramp from 59 was closed--and since the access to the old innerbelt leads only to 76 now, with no exit before for Vernon Odom, the whole innerbelt southbound was closed.  It's open now, with the center of 76/77 now dug up and the construction on the outer part of the westbound side done.

It was indeed a total nightmare with 59 not available as a connection to 76 WB, and the ramp from 8 SB to & 76 WB closed too.  Now, both are open.  Can't ever have one open at a time to relieve stress from the other being closed!

[paulthemapguy]

No. ODOT officially decommissioned the Innerbelt between W. Exchange and N. Howard in 2018. It was the oldest section and in need of major repairs.

When I was visiting Akron last August, I was going SB on SR‐8, and got off at East Exchange to use the Innerbelt to get to 76 West...Only to find out that the ENTIRE southbound Innerbelt was closed all the way to to I-76 west.  I had to take SR-261 all the way to I-77 to access I-76.

Weeds were seen growing  between the cracks on the closed roadway. 

If that part of the Innerbelt wasn't decommissioned, why was it closed?

Talk about a road diet.  This road got demoted from an expressway down to a pair of frontage roads!

[seicer]

2022 TRAC applications are in for Ohio. This guides upcoming major projects in the state. List: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/programs/trac/resources/2022tracapps

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In the earliest phases is a new Ohio River bridge to connect OH 7 in Proctorville with WV 193 in Barboursville to provide a bypass of Huntington: https://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/2022TRACApplications/D9_03_LAW%207_CHEASPEAKE%20BYPASS_TRAC_APP.pdf

[Bitmapped]

2022 TRAC applications are in for Ohio. This guides upcoming major projects in the state. List: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/programs/trac/resources/2022tracapps

I noticed there is a new Tier II project to widen US 33 to four lanes between Athens and the WV state line. Two Ohio Super-2 segments (Athens to Darwin and Pomeroy to WV) were built on new alignments in 2003. They were originally to have been 4 lanes, and 4-lane ROW was acquired, but only two lanes were built at that time due to low expected traffic counts.

In the earliest phases is a new Ohio River bridge to connect OH 7 in Proctorville with WV 193 in Barboursville to provide a bypass of Huntington: https://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/2022TRACApplications/D9_03_LAW%207_CHEASPEAKE%20BYPASS_TRAC_APP.pdf

I don't see anything new here. The feasibiility study was announced a while ago.

[GCrites]

2022 TRAC applications are in for Ohio. This guides upcoming major projects in the state. List: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/programs/trac/resources/2022tracapps

I noticed there is a new Tier II project to widen US 33 to four lanes between Athens and the WV state line. Two Ohio Super-2 segments (Athens to Darwin and Pomeroy to WV) were built on new alignments in 2003. They were originally to have been 4 lanes, and 4-lane ROW was acquired, but only two lanes were built at that time due to low expected traffic counts.

20 years already! Getting old

[thenetwork]

At the very bottom of the list, is the Innerbelt rebuild in Cleveland.  Even though it looks like ODOT hasn't started acquiring ROW in earnest, this long-needed project is going as fast as a thundering herd of snails!

[seicer]

2022 TRAC applications are in for Ohio. This guides upcoming major projects in the state. List: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/programs/trac/resources/2022tracapps

I noticed there is a new Tier II project to widen US 33 to four lanes between Athens and the WV state line. Two Ohio Super-2 segments (Athens to Darwin and Pomeroy to WV) were built on new alignments in 2003. They were originally to have been 4 lanes, and 4-lane ROW was acquired, but only two lanes were built at that time due to low expected traffic counts.

20 years already! Getting old

It's still in fairly good shape too. The segment between Pomeroy and Ravenswood is a bit rough from settling but it could be worse (looking at you, US 35 in West Virginia).

[carbaugh2]

Here is the link to the draft list for the 2023-2026 new projects:

https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f2740756-a39c-4222-9352-075182c68265/DRAFT+2023-2026+MN+Construction+Program+List.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE.Z18_M1HGGIK0N0JO00QO9DDDDM3000-f2740756-a39c-4222-9352-075182c68265-op.f731

[Buck87]

I was in Scioto County this weekend and noticed that they have removed all of their unique county outline trailblazers in favor of the standard blue and yellow pentagons.

Here's what the old ones looked like. I'll miss those.

[Black-Man]

I noticed there is a new Tier II project to widen US 33 to four lanes between Athens and the WV state line. Two Ohio Super-2 segments (Athens to Darwin and Pomeroy to WV) were built on new alignments in 2003. They were originally to have been 4 lanes, and 4-lane ROW was acquired, but only two lanes were built at that time due to low expected traffic counts.

Doesn't surprise me it has made the list. Traffic has steadily increased and by comparison, US19/Corridor L in West Virginia lasted all of ~20 years as a Super-2 before it was upgraded and I would venture a guess traffic counts are similar.

[Bitmapped]

I noticed there is a new Tier II project to widen US 33 to four lanes between Athens and the WV state line. Two Ohio Super-2 segments (Athens to Darwin and Pomeroy to WV) were built on new alignments in 2003. They were originally to have been 4 lanes, and 4-lane ROW was acquired, but only two lanes were built at that time due to low expected traffic counts.

Doesn't surprise me it has made the list. Traffic has steadily increased and by comparison, US19/Corridor L in West Virginia lasted all of ~20 years as a Super-2 before it was upgraded and I would venture a guess traffic counts are similar.

I don't have figures handy from when US 19 was still two lanes, but traffic counts today are not close. The Athens-Darwin section of US 33 tops out at 9300 AADT and hits 5200 AADT at its southern end. The Pomeroy-Ravenswood section of US 33 is around 5000 AADT. For comparison, the least busy part of US 19 is still north of 10,000 AADT.

[paulthemapguy]

I was in Scioto County this weekend and noticed that they have removed all of their unique county outline trailblazers in favor of the standard blue and yellow pentagons.

I found a mix of both the old and the new across Scioto County in March 2021.  They've been phasing them out over the last several years, I'd guess.  Here's an example of each an old one and a new one.  I liked the old markers too; they had character.


OH-CSC268 by Paul Drives, on Flickr


OH-CSC55-728NR by Paul Drives, on Flickr

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/03/17/ohio-speed-limit-could-increase-to-60-mph-on-all-state-routes-county-roads-with-exceptions/

Ohio could see a speed limit increase on two-lane roads from 55 mph to 60 mph on state and county roads as well as gives authority to ODOT to raise the speed on two-lane state routes to 65 following an engineering study.

[sprjus4]

^ And yet most of the four lane divided highways in eastern Ohio (non freeway) remain capped at 60 mph. Hopefully they'll be able to also raise those to 65 mph, if this is passed.

[seicer]

It's frustrating as OH 32 east of Batavia is no different than many other highways in Ohio that have 65 or 70 MPH limits.

[JREwing78]

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/03/17/ohio-speed-limit-could-increase-to-60-mph-on-all-state-routes-county-roads-with-exceptions/

Ohio could see a speed limit increase on two-lane roads from 55 mph to 60 mph on state and county roads as well as gives authority to ODOT to raise the speed on two-lane state routes to 65 following an engineering study.

Interesting. Ohio has a lot of narrow state-maintained 2-lanes. This seems a bit ambitious.

US-6 around Bowling Green or OH-2 outside Oregon seem to be built to handle a 65 mph speed limit, both with 12-foot lanes and wide shoulders. Then we have roads like OH-109 with 11 foot lanes, and OH-65 with 10-foot lanes.

Michigan, which typically isn't shy with hiking speed limits, hasn't exactly been in a hurry to bump additional roads to 65 mph despite having plenty of qualifying contenders.

[sprjus4]

Interesting. Ohio has a lot of narrow state-maintained 2-lanes. This seems a bit ambitious.

Seemingly, although I feel like in reality, it's not going to make much of a difference at all. Traffic on those 55 mph roads is likely driving around 60 mph, and that probably isn't going to change much.

And if there is a major safety concern, they do have the ability to decrease the speed limit to 55 mph.

While I could see a better approach - such as making 60 mph or 65 mph optional on existing 55 mph roads, vs. force raising all of them - I feel like that will lead to a situation in a lot of states, like Michigan as you mentioned, that still has hundreds of miles of roadway still stuck with 55 mph despite easily being able to handle a raise.

[westerninterloper]

Interesting. Ohio has a lot of narrow state-maintained 2-lanes. This seems a bit ambitious.

Seemingly, although I feel like in reality, it's not going to make much of a difference at all. Traffic on those 55 mph roads is likely driving around 60 mph, and that probably isn't going to change much.

And if there is a major safety concern, they do have the ability to decrease the speed limit to 55 mph.

While I could see a better approach - such as making 60 mph or 65 mph optional on existing 55 mph roads, vs. force raising all of them - I feel like that will lead to a situation in a lot of states, like Michigan as you mentioned, that still has hundreds of miles of roadway still stuck with 55 mph despite easily being able to handle a raise.

Should keep in mind that
(1) Speed limits mean travel goes at that limit + 10mph, so raising to 65 really means 75;
(2) two lane roads have far more dangerous head-on collisions, and
(3) have at-grade road crossings that make collisions more likely.

Maybe on super 2s with expressway-like access, 65mph could work, but not on those windy narrow state roads in ohio mentioned below.

[sprjus4]

Should keep in mind that
(1) Speed limits mean travel goes at that limit + 10mph, so raising to 65 really means 75;

This is not true. Traffic will go what the roadway design dictates, and what drivers perceive as a comfortable speed.

On a super-2, a 65 mph speed limit on a road with wide shoulders, wide lanes, good sight lines, etc., traffic may reasonably go 70-75 mph.

On a windy, narrow 2 lane with a 60 mph (not 65 mph, by the way) speed limit, they are far more likely to stick closer to 60 mph.

Anecdotally, I am one who often sees myself pushing 5-10 mph or more over on straighter, wider, high quality roadways, though I've also driven a number of curvier, windy roads in Virginia with a 55 mph default limit, where half the time I'm barely even hitting 45-50 mph. Why would my speed automatically go to 70 mph if the posted limit was 60 mph?

Ultimately, what dictates driver speeds is road design, not the posted speed limit.

(2) two lane roads have far more dangerous head-on collisions, and
(3) have at-grade road crossings that make collisions more likely.

This should not limit roads to 55 mph. If your principals were applied somewhere like Texas, yikes. Two lanes there are basically 75 mph all across the state, and seem to present little issues.

[Bitmapped]

It's frustrating as OH 32 east of Batavia is no different than many other highways in Ohio that have 65 or 70 MPH limits.

The construction plans I've seen for OH 32 in the past showed a 100 km/h design speed, so ~62 mph. That probably explains ODOT's reluctance to sign it for 65 mph.

[sprjus4]

I've often found that design speeds don't match reality... how about a speed study to analyze the curves, sight lines, intersection traffic volumes, 85th percentile speeds, etc.

[TempoNick]

This should not limit roads to 55 mph. If your principals were applied somewhere like Texas, yikes. Two lanes there are basically 75 mph all across the state, and seem to present little issues.

The thing about Texas that few people understand is that it basically covers the same acreage as the former Northwest Territory (i.e. Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of MN), but has 20 millions less people than we have. So whenever you want to do an apples-to-apples comparison of anything in Texas, you have to statistically compare either all states (for area), or just those that give you the same population.

West Texas might as well be Iowa. East Texas is reasonably populated, however.