US 65 Freeway Rebuild

[ozarkman417]

It's that time of year again... It's the third summer in a row they have shut down sections of the US-65 (Schoolcraft) freeway on the east side of Springfield, Missouri.  I believe that in it's Springfield section, US-65 it is the busiest freeway outside of the KC & STL metro areas. This highway goes down to Branson as a four lane highway and there is two to three construction projects on the corridor at any given time, or so it seems. Example: A freeway closure, an overpass replacement, and a widening project, all at once. The first phase in 2017 involved rebuilding the northern half of the freeway (I-44 to Route D). The Second (in 2018) was replacing bridges carrying 65 over I-44, and the third and ongoing (as of Aug 2019) phase is rebuilding the Southern half of the freeway From Route D to US-60/James River Freeway, the southern bypass of the city. The Southbound side of the southern section is being reconstructed, but northbound work will start in a few days.

What are the impacts of this, how do drivers get around this? Those driving to Branson & Ozark from the west don't have to worry, they bypass that area using the James River Freeway. Otherwise, drivers end up using Glenstone Avenue, which happens to be the old US-65 before the freeway was originally built in the 70s. Due to Glenstone's history as US-60, 65, 66, and 166 at one point or another, it became the busiest arterial road in Springfield and still is today. 65 being closed doesn't help with that so if you wanted to avoid traffic, you could drive another 15 miles or so around the city on 44 to the west end of James River Freeway, looping back to 65. 65's outer road is two lanes, and on it there are some temporary traffic signals. Despite the low capacity, many people tried to use the outer roads anyway and the backups were pretty bad. At the moment, Battlefield to JRF (SB) is completely closed, while Route D to Battlefield (SB) is only one lane. Northbound 65 is unaffected, but not for long.

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

https://www.modot.org/route-65-rebuild-final-phase

[Kniwt]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

Indianapolis says "hold my beer."
https://www.wthr.com/article/indot-gives-update-i-465-southeast-side-closure
https://www.wthr.com/article/2-major-road-closures-coming-i-65-i-70-downtown

[Revive 755]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

https://www.modot.org/route-65-rebuild-final-phase

* Part of I-55/I-70 in the Metro East was apparently shut down this past weekend for microsurfacing.  Link to IDOT press release

* It might not be recent anymore, but around 10 years ago now US 40 between Ballas Road (I think) and I-170 one year, then from I-170 to Kingshighway the next year.

[Rothman]

Wasn't I-96 in Detroit fully closed a few years ago?

[froggie]

MnDOT routinely does weekend shutdowns in the Twin Cities area.  In addition, two years ago they did a 9-month shutdown of US 169 in Edina and a few years before that there was a 5-month shutdown of MN 36 in North St. Paul.  Full shutdowns are a pain for motorists but enable road work to get done faster and cheaper because crews don't have to worry about maintaining traffic through the zone (which is a hefty chunk of a typical road construction project).

[Plutonic Panda]

They need to remove the at grade access and make it interstate quality from Springfield to the Arkansas state line.

[The Ghostbuster]

No need to make it an Interstate. In any event, what are the traffic counts on the US 65 freeway? I'd expect less traffic disruption from it than the other examples mentioned.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^^Not suggesting to sign it as an interstate, just build it to interstate quality. Every time I am on it it is fairly filled with cars and fully controlled access should certainly be the standard.

[ozarkman417]

No need to make it an Interstate. In any event, what are the traffic counts on the US 65 freeway? I'd expect less traffic disruption from it than the other examples mentioned.

At it's busiest section between Battlefield & James River Freeway it's average daily traffic is 72k vehicles per day. This is slightly more than the traffic counts on James River Freeway (69k) and quite a ways from the I-44 traffic count (46k)

Numbers are from MODOT's 2016 traffic volume map.

[Revive 755]

^^^^Not suggesting to sign it as an interstate, just build it to interstate quality. Every time I am on it it is fairly filled with cars and fully controlled access should certainly be the standard.

IMHO US 65 needs to be a freeway down to Branson.  The at grade intersections on the long downhills seem likely to have safety issues.  The corridor is getting busy enough that it could also use climbing lanes.

[Bobby5280]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

The South leg of Tulsa's Inner Dispersal Loop (un-signed I-444) around downtown is currently closed for construction. Well, at least the whole road was closed when I drove through there a couple weeks ago. The pavement is being completely replaced. US-75 is detoured along I-244 around the north side of the IDL.

I think this is part of a larger project for improving all of the IDL. There will be all kinds of different lane or roadway closures happening through next year.

[rte66man]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

The South leg of Tulsa's Inner Dispersal Loop (un-signed I-444) around downtown is currently closed for construction. Well, at least the whole road was closed when I drove through there a couple weeks ago. The pavement is being completely replaced. US-75 is detoured along I-244 around the north side of the IDL.

I think this is part of a larger project for improving all of the IDL. There will be all kinds of different lane or roadway closures happening through next year.

That situation is a little different as the west and north legs were redone a few years ago and can serve as a viable interstate alternative when the south and east legs are closed. I agree that it is better to completely close where feasible.

[cwf1701]

Wasn't I-96 in Detroit fully closed a few years ago?

Back in 2008, along with I-75 to rebuild the interchange to both freeways and build direct access to the Ambassador Bridge.

[sprjus4]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

https://www.business40nc.com/Pages/default.aspx

The Business I-40 freeway through Downtown Winston-Salem in North Carolina has been closed for almost a year now for a major $100 million reconstruction project.

[wanderer2575]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

There have recently been several in metro Detroit for reconstruction (sorry, I don't recall all the years offhand).  MDOT decided in each case it was better to completely close the freeway and get the reconstruction done as quickly as possible vs. keeping lanes open and dragging out a project for multiple years:
*  I-75 between I-94 and I-96 in downtown Detroit
*  I-75 Ambassador Bridge Gateway project (2008 and 2009)
*  I-96 (Jeffries Freeway) between US-24 and I-275 (2014)
*  I-275 between M-14/I-96 and I-96/I-696/M-5 (2016, one side of the freeway at a time, each closed for about three months),
*  M-10 between I-696 and Lahser Road in Southfield (2006) and between Lahser Road and Meyers Road in Detroit (2017)
*  M-39 between M-10 and McNichols Road in Southfield and Detroit
*  I-75 Rouge River bridge redecking and other bridge/road work (2017 and 2018, southbound lanes closed, northbound lanes moved to the southbound side in 2018)
*  I-696 between I-75 and I-94 (2018, westbound lanes closed, eastbound traffic moved to the westbound lanes while that side was reconstructed)

[Rothman]

Yeah, the 2014 I-96 one is the one I was thinking of.

[ozarkman417]

Northbound reconstruction started today. They opened all lanes for the Labor Day weekend.

Next up on MoDOT's closure list: I-70 between I-435 & MO 291: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article234701532.html

[skluth]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

https://www.modot.org/route-65-rebuild-final-phase

MoDOT did this a few years ago with the I-64 rebuild in St Louis County east of I-270. The first year they closed it between I-270 and I-170. The second year it was closed from I-170 to Kingshighway well within the city proper. Loads of problems for anyone coming into the city from West County. Thanks to Richmond Heights NIMBYs, the second project didn't expand the eastern upgrade to four lanes each way. 

[US71]

Are there any other instances of completely closing an urban freeway for any reason that have happened recently?

https://www.modot.org/route-65-rebuild-final-phase

MoDOT did this a few years ago with the I-64 rebuild in St Louis County east of I-270. The first year they closed it between I-270 and I-170. The second year it was closed from I-170 to Kingshighway well within the city proper. Loads of problems for anyone coming into the city from West County. Thanks to Richmond Heights NIMBYs, the second project didn't expand the eastern upgrade to four lanes each way. 

Hard to believe that's been 10 years. Rich Piehl held a roadmeet where we toured some of the construction

[sprjus4]

US-65 Northbound is now re-opened as of Saturday, September 14.

[X99]

^^^^Not suggesting to sign it as an interstate, just build it to interstate quality. Every time I am on it it is fairly filled with cars and fully controlled access should certainly be the standard.

IMHO US 65 needs to be a freeway down to Branson.  The at grade intersections on the long downhills seem likely to have safety issues.  The corridor is getting busy enough that it could also use climbing lanes.

Somewhat related to this, I created a proposal map (originally made for a Fictional Highways thread) on HOW to upgrade US 65 to freeway, at least to the MO 265 intersection south of Branson.