I-73 updates?

[thenetwork]

And the Columbus-area NIMBYs are starting to flex their muscles again.  Interesting their concern isn't as much the US-23 North corridor, but of the new Intel chip factory on the Northeast side:

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2023/01/20/columbus-outerbelt-270-highway-ohio/69825539007/

[seicer]

The outer-outerbelt was never that popular from the onset, much like the idea of an outer-beltway of Cincinnati never took off either. There is still much that can be done to Interstate 270 before another beltway should even be considered.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

And the Columbus-area NIMBYs are starting to flex their muscles again.  Interesting their concern isn't as much the US-23 North corridor, but of the new Intel chip factory on the Northeast side:

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2023/01/20/columbus-outerbelt-270-highway-ohio/69825539007/

<clears throat & taps his shoe>
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=30900.msg2809210#msg2809210

[thenetwork]

The outer-outerbelt was never that popular from the onset, much like the idea of an outer-beltway of Cincinnati never took off either. There is still much that can be done to Interstate 270 before another beltway should even be considered.

While I don't think a full circular Outer-outerbelt around Columbus is needed,  there should be at least some consideration to now extend a US-23 (I-73) bypass that connects the Delaware area with I-71, the future Intel plant and I-70 East of the current beltway.   

If it went any further, consider extending it only to Marysville/US-33 and if there ever becomes a true border-to-border I-73 through Ohio, then leave room on the southeast side to extend the bypass back to US-23 south of C-bus..   

Around the rest of the Columbus Metro area, I think I-270 handles those areas okay as it is and it has room for expansion if needed.  The north side of 270 is pretty much built out as much as it can be.

[TempoNick]

The outer-outerbelt was never that popular from the onset, much like the idea of an outer-beltway of Cincinnati never took off either. There is still much that can be done to Interstate 270 before another beltway should even be considered.

While I don't think a full circular Outer-outerbelt around Columbus is needed,  there should be at least some consideration to now extend a US-23 (I-73) bypass that connects the Delaware area with I-71, the future Intel plant and I-70 East of the current beltway.   

If it went any further, consider extending it only to Marysville/US-33 and if there ever becomes a true border-to-border I-73 through Ohio, then leave room on the southeast side to extend the bypass back to US-23 south of C-bus..   

Around the rest of the Columbus Metro area, I think I-270 handles those areas okay as it is and it has room for expansion if needed.  The north side of 270 is pretty much built out as much as it can be.

It's time. From West Jefferson to Marysville, to Delaware, to Newark down to US-33 in Lancaster. If you look at some of the state's old maps, it looks like a major road was contemplated between Mansfield and Lancaster anyway.

At the very least US-23 in Waldo to US-33 in Lancaster would be a good route.

[vtk]

https://www.sent-trib.com/2023/03/19/10-million-columbus-bypass-study-finally-moving/

[sprjus4]

https://www.sent-trib.com/2023/03/19/10-million-columbus-bypass-study-finally-moving/

Good, and good on the legislature / governor overriding ODOT.

[vdeane]

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments President Tim Brown

Was there a bunker blast at the meeting?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

https://www.sent-trib.com/2023/03/19/10-million-columbus-bypass-study-finally-moving/

Good, and good on the legislature / governor overriding ODOT.

Laughs. Just more maps.
If ODOT wasn't willing to override a bunch of conservative land owners, masquerading as farmers, to build VTK's I-171 proposal, for the Intel factory, this won't do anything either.

[sprjus4]

^ So, the existing situation is just an acceptable gateway to Columbus from Toledo and Michigan? Miles of continuous traffic lights, gridlock, no access control, in an era with interstate highways feeding from every other direction?

Something needs to be done.

[Terry Shea]

https://www.sent-trib.com/2023/03/19/10-million-columbus-bypass-study-finally-moving/

While I agree that something needs to be done, this statement from the article makes no sense whatsoever:

"The major issue at play is the expected population increase in Columbus. Over the next decade it could increase by 1 million, and the increased traffic from the soon-to-be opened Gordie Howe International Bridge across the Detroit River."

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area.  The area is growing, but it certainly isn't going to increase by well over 50% in the next decade!  And I don't see the Gordie Howe Bridge having much, if any impact whatsoever.  It's not like there aren't other border crossings within a few miles of the Howe, and Canadians are waiting until that bridge is built before they venture over to the other side.

[TempoNick]

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area. 

2.2 million for the metro area projected to be 3.15 million by 2050. The way this stuff works, you better get the roads in now because once it's built out, no way will you be able to jam a freeway in there

[vtk]

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area. 

2.2 million for the metro area projected to be 3.15 million by 2050. The way this stuff works, you better get the roads in now because once it's built out, no way will you be able to jam a freeway in there

Which is exactly why this should have been done 40 years ago. Delaware County has exploded in development in that time, making the upgrades we're talking about now so difficult.

[Terry Shea]

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area. 

2.2 million for the metro area projected to be 3.15 million by 2050. The way this stuff works, you better get the roads in now because once it's built out, no way will you be able to jam a freeway in there

The source I looked at actually said less than 1.8 million.  I rounded up.  At any rate, an increase of almost 50% by 2050 seems quite unlikely, but 2050 is still about 3 decades away, not 1.  I agree that something needs to be done and the sooner the better, but there's no need to exaggerate or sensationalize the facts and figures, which this writer seems to have done.  I drove through Delaware County 40 years ago and traffic was terrible then.  I'm thinking this should have been addressed in the 1960's or earlier.

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22963/columbus/population

[TempoNick]

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area. 

2.2 million for the metro area projected to be 3.15 million by 2050. The way this stuff works, you better get the roads in now because once it's built out, no way will you be able to jam a freeway in there

The source I looked at actually said less than 1.8 million.  I rounded up.  At any rate, an increase of almost 50% by 2050 seems quite unlikely, but 2050 is still about 3 decades away, not 1.  I agree that something needs to be done and the sooner the better, but there's no need to exaggerate or sensationalize the facts and figures, which this writer seems to have done.  I drove through Delaware County 40 years ago and traffic was terrible then.  I'm thinking this should have been addressed in the 1960's or earlier.

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22963/columbus/population

2.2 million is the latest census for the Columbus MSA. I am also rounding up, it was actually 2,139 or something like that, but that was 3 years ago so 2.2 million is pretty accurate.

We were at just under 1.2 million in 1980, so another million people in 27 years is not that crazy. Their previous population projections have been spot on, so I would take it seriously.

I'm not a big fan of all this growth, but the alternative is not to grow and that's even worse. I prefer the old Columbus where all the farmland started 7 miles outside of downtown.

[Terry Shea]

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area. 

2.2 million for the metro area projected to be 3.15 million by 2050. The way this stuff works, you better get the roads in now because once it's built out, no way will you be able to jam a freeway in there

The source I looked at actually said less than 1.8 million.  I rounded up.  At any rate, an increase of almost 50% by 2050 seems quite unlikely, but 2050 is still about 3 decades away, not 1.  I agree that something needs to be done and the sooner the better, but there's no need to exaggerate or sensationalize the facts and figures, which this writer seems to have done.  I drove through Delaware County 40 years ago and traffic was terrible then.  I'm thinking this should have been addressed in the 1960's or earlier.

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22963/columbus/population

2.2 million is the latest census for the Columbus MSA. I am also rounding up, it was actually 2,139 or something like that, but that was 3 years ago so 2.2 million is pretty accurate.

We were at just under 1.2 million in 1980, so another million people in 27 years is not that crazy. Their previous population projections have been spot on, so I would take it seriously.

I'm not a big fan of all this growth, but the alternative is not to grow and that's even worse. I prefer the old Columbus where all the farmland started 7 miles outside of downtown.

That may be, but the article referred to another 1 million people in the next decade!  That's a bit on the outlandish side.

[TempoNick]

Yeah, that's BS. I agree. Sloppy with facts, typo, reporter not questioning what he was told, maybe all of the above.

[sprjus4]

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area. 

2.2 million for the metro area projected to be 3.15 million by 2050. The way this stuff works, you better get the roads in now because once it's built out, no way will you be able to jam a freeway in there

Which is exactly why this should have been done 40 years ago. Delaware County has exploded in development in that time, making the upgrades we're talking about now so difficult.

If you constructed a rural freeway alignment to connect with I-71, you wouldn't be dealing with any major right of way / constraints.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The current population of Columbus is less than 1,000,000 for the city proper and about 1.8 million for the metro area. 

2.2 million for the metro area projected to be 3.15 million by 2050. The way this stuff works, you better get the roads in now because once it's built out, no way will you be able to jam a freeway in there

Which is exactly why this should have been done 40 years ago. Delaware County has exploded in development in that time, making the upgrades we're talking about now so difficult.

If you constructed a rural freeway alignment to connect with I-71, you wouldn't be dealing with any major right of way / constraints.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda.
Not going to happen unless you flood the county with money to pay all the landowners off, or murder all the folks who object. I don't see you doing either.

[TempoNick]

Sure it'll happen. It has to happen.

[Henry]

Yet another reason I-73 is dead: the meteoric growth of Columbus. It's been 30 years now, and still no shovels are turning on any mile of it.

[triplemultiplex]

A million more people? In Columbus?  Ohio?  In one decade? Partially because of the Gordie Howe Bridge?


I'll eat my hat if the entire state of Ohio adds a million people in the next decade!
That Intel plant will at best offset the loss of a few tens of thousands overall. 

Doesn't detract from the fact that a freeway corridor between Columbus and Toledo is one of the greatest oversights in the national network of freeways/interstates.  But still, let's be reasonable.  Existing conditions more than justify such infrastructure investments.  No need to conjure up a doubling of Columbus' population to make it a good idea.

[The Ghostbuster]

If any improvements were made to the US 23 corridor between Columbus and Toledo, I would prefer to construct them on-alignment than off-alignment (despite the destruction, right-of-way impacts and road changes any improvements would bring to the corridor). As for that prediction of 1 million people would be added in the next decade, I wonder what that reporter was smoking? I want some too!

[Buck87]

I wonder how much it would cost to upgrade the Delaware County portion of US 23 in the same way that US 31 was upgraded to a freeway north of Indianapolis from I-465 to Westfield.

[sprjus4]

If any improvements were made to the US 23 corridor between Columbus and Toledo, I would prefer to construct them on-alignment than off-alignment (despite the destruction, right-of-way impacts and road changes any improvements would bring to the corridor). As for that prediction of 1 million people would be added in the next decade, I wonder what that reporter was smoking? I want some too!

Ideally the US-23 corridor would be upgraded, but if right of way constraints and costs skyrocket due to acquisition, I say just head for a new terrain freeway alignment. If land concerns in specific areas arise, just shift the alignment further north. At least allow long haul US-23 traffic to connect into I-71.