Old signs to be replaced on I-270?

[6a]

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/11/16/confusing-freeway-sign-to-be-replaced-but-not-moved.html

The sign and faded emblem are about 25 years old, ODOT spokeswoman Nancy Burton said in an e-mail. It is slated for replacement next summer.

Although the sign is showing its age, "it still serves a purpose," Burton wrote.

I know the article is about one particular sign, but the "slated for replacement" part makes me wonder if it's part of a larger plan.  After all, I'd say half the signs on 270 are at least 25 years old (not that that's a bad thing )  Anyone have more info on whether or not there is a widespread sign replacement strategy for the area?

edit: figured I'd save the picture since these articles have a way of disappearing

[J N Winkler]

Ohio DOT District 6 has a major freeway guide sign replacement in the pipeline for the Columbus area.  "Next summer" sounds kind of soon for this, however--I vaguely remember it being programmed for FY 2013.

[6a]

Guess I'd better get off my ass and grab some good shots before it's too late. Out of curiosity, where do you get info like that?  I've not been able to get much if it's not a press release.

[Alex]

Good thing we photographed a ton of Interstate 270 in September...

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Ohio DOT District 6 has a major freeway guide sign replacement in the pipeline for the Columbus area.  "Next summer" sounds kind of soon for this, however--I vaguely remember it being programmed for FY 2013.

Change of Gov't parties. Current ODOT admins may start fast tracking projects now so the next group officials (coming in in January) can't stop them or change them drasticlly.  Ohio has a 8 billion shortfall in their budget for 2010 and the governor-elect is committed to slashing costs.

[6a]

Good thing we photographed a ton of Interstate 270 in September...

Gonna sound dumb here, but I can only find a couple pics from that that are on 270. Can you point me toward the rest?

[Alex]

Good thing we photographed a ton of Interstate 270 in September...

Gonna sound dumb here, but I can only find a couple pics from that that are on 270. Can you point me toward the rest?

I have not posted any of them on the site outside of the blog yet.

[J N Winkler]

Ohio DOT has its STIP online, and this is a good resource for finding out which projects are programmed for design and construction in the next few years (I think it is a federal requirement that a STIP must look a minimum of three years ahead).

In regard to what the Ohio DOT brass have been doing, I have not been paying close attention since Gordon Proctor resigned as Ohio DOT director just after Ted Strickland was elected Governor in 2006.  However, it is my impression that while now is a lousy time to be a state DOT head anywhere, Ohio DOT has been having more troubles with its upper leadership than most.  It has had four directors in the last four years.

Gordon Proctor was Governor Taft's ODOT director for almost eight years and was closely associated with the Jobs and Progress program, which was funded by a gas-tax increase and was chock-full of major freeway construction, especially in the metropolitan areas.  During the Proctor years there was typically at least one major contract in every monthly ODOT contract advertisement.  However, Proctor had a reputation for autocratic style, and was widely criticized for promoting his carpool partner Shobna Varma multiple pay grades (from systems analyst to IT division head) while keeping her as a classified employee, meaning she could not be fired without cause.  Her colleagues were not able to work with her but were afraid to risk Proctor's wrath by taking their concerns to him.

Proctor resigned almost immediately after the 2006 election rather than waiting for Strickland to push him out.  Keith Swearingen, who as acting director was Proctor's immediate successor, revoked Varma's classified-employee status and she was fired almost immediately.  ODOT veterans likened her dismissal to the fall of Communism.

Governor Strickland appointed James Beasley, the former engineer of Brown County, as his ODOT director with a mandate to focus on rural areas (which were thought to have been neglected during the Proctor years) and on developing multimodal options, including passenger rail.  The volume of highway contract letting slackened almost immediately under Beasley, who retired three years into the job.  The consensus, from the Web scuttlebutt I have read, is that Beasley was an amiable nincompoop who received the appointment as a political favor.  As Brown county engineer he had no direct experience of managing high-capacity highways or developing rail infrastructure, and by waiting three years to leave a job for which he was arguably unqualified, he maximized his pension payout.

The current ODOT director is Jolene Molitoris, a former head of the Federal Railroad Administration.  Highway construction contract letting has not picked up much.  ODOT's official biography of Molitoris says she is supervising the biggest highway construction program in ODOT history, but if that is true, there must be some combination of massive cost inflation or a lot of large-sized design-builds in rapid-fire succession, because the amount of work making its way into the bid letting pamphlets is about the same as in a bad year under Proctor.  If Strickland was sincere in his ambition about expanding passenger rail, he probably should have appointed Molitoris in the first place instead of wasting three years with Beasley, but frankly I have my doubts about whether a rail regulator has the skillset for providing rail infrastructure, let alone whether state DOTs are the best vehicles for providing high-speed rail in the first place.

[J N Winkler]

I did some further checking into sign replacement in District 6.  It turns out that there are a number of signing contracts scheduled to go out as design-build in the near future.

*  PID 85950--"D06 ExtruSign FY12A"--budgeted for $5 million, award scheduled for July 1, 2011.

*  PID 85955--"D06 ExtruSign FY12B"--budgeted for $11 million, award scheduled for April 1, 2012.

These estimate amounts are an order of magnitude higher than those associated with ODOT's past design-build signing contracts and, for signing contracts in general, are quite high.  This typically implies either heavy structural work, which I think is unlikely, or replacement of massive quantities of sign square footage (probably well over 30,000 SF).

[6a]

These estimate amounts are an order of magnitude higher than those associated with ODOT's past design-build signing contracts and, for signing contracts in general, are quite high.  This typically implies either heavy structural work, which I think is unlikely, or replacement of massive quantities of sign square footage (probably well over 30,000 SF).

Given the huge number of button copy signs still out here, I wonder if there isn't a widespread plan to replace them all.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

These estimate amounts are an order of magnitude higher than those associated with ODOT's past design-build signing contracts and, for signing contracts in general, are quite high.  This typically implies either heavy structural work, which I think is unlikely, or replacement of massive quantities of sign square footage (probably well over 30,000 SF).

Given the huge number of button copy signs still out here, I wonder if there isn't a widespread plan to replace them all.

ODOT has been promising to replace, errr, upgrade all the button copy signs for close to a decade now.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

In regard to what the Ohio DOT brass have been doing, I have not been paying close attention since Gordon Proctor resigned as Ohio DOT director just after Ted Strickland was elected Governor in 2006.  However, it is my impression that while now is a lousy time to be a state DOT head anywhere, Ohio DOT has been having more troubles with its upper leadership than most.  It has had four directors in the last four years.

Gordon Proctor was Governor Taft's ODOT director for almost eight years and was closely associated with the Jobs and Progress program, which was funded by a gas-tax increase and was chock-full of major freeway construction, especially in the metropolitan areas.  During the Proctor years there was typically at least one major contract in every monthly ODOT contract advertisement.  However, Proctor had a reputation for autocratic style, and was widely criticized for promoting his carpool partner Shobna Varma multiple pay grades (from systems analyst to IT division head) while keeping her as a classified employee, meaning she could not be fired without cause.  Her colleagues were not able to work with her but were afraid to risk Proctor's wrath by taking their concerns to him.

Proctor resigned almost immediately after the 2006 election rather than waiting for Strickland to push him out.  Keith Swearingen, who as acting director was Proctor's immediate successor, revoked Varma's classified-employee status and she was fired almost immediately.  ODOT veterans likened her dismissal to the fall of Communism.

Governor Strickland appointed James Beasley, the former engineer of Brown County, as his ODOT director with a mandate to focus on rural areas (which were thought to have been neglected during the Proctor years) and on developing multimodal options, including passenger rail.  The volume of highway contract letting slackened almost immediately under Beasley, who retired three years into the job.  The consensus, from the Web scuttlebutt I have read, is that Beasley was an amiable nincompoop who received the appointment as a political favor.  As Brown county engineer he had no direct experience of managing high-capacity highways or developing rail infrastructure, and by waiting three years to leave a job for which he was arguably unqualified, he maximized his pension payout.

The current ODOT director is Jolene Molitoris, a former head of the Federal Railroad Administration.  Highway construction contract letting has not picked up much.  ODOT's official biography of Molitoris says she is supervising the biggest highway construction program in ODOT history, but if that is true, there must be some combination of massive cost inflation or a lot of large-sized design-builds in rapid-fire succession, because the amount of work making its way into the bid letting pamphlets is about the same as in a bad year under Proctor.  If Strickland was sincere in his ambition about expanding passenger rail, he probably should have appointed Molitoris in the first place instead of wasting three years with Beasley, but frankly I have my doubts about whether a rail regulator has the skillset for providing rail infrastructure, let alone whether state DOTs are the best vehicles for providing high-speed rail in the first place.

Speaking of Directors for ODOT. Gov-elect Kasich announced today that he has tapped Jerry Wray to be director for ODOT....again.  Wray was director for ODOT during the Voinovich Admin from 1991-99.  Under Wray's watch the I-73 experiment came and went along with the creation of the Transportation Advisory Council to decide which projects get funded based on objective criteria (caused in part to Wray & co directing ODOT funding to widen I-270 between OH 161 and I-670 for Easton).

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/11/30/29-kasich-odot.html

[J N Winkler]

It will be interesting to see how a fresh exercise in prioritizing on objective criteria works out in practice.  Doesn't Ohio still require equal funding allocations per ODOT district?