Extra pavement and project expectations

[Mergingtraffic]

1) Ever keep tabs on a construction project in progress and expect them to do things a certain way (common sense approach) and get mortified when the finished project isn't what you would expect? Such as a widening project and they don't add turn lanes at a heavily congestion intersection etc.

2) Are there spots where there is pavement for an extra lane or turning lane but it's not striped that way?

[hbelkins]

2) Are there spots where there is pavement for an extra lane or turning lane but it's not striped that way?

Yes, I've seen quite a few bridge replacement projects where there is room for an extra lane in the center when/if the road is ever widened.

[mightyace]

2) Are there spots where there is pavement for an extra lane or turning lane but it's not striped that way?

Yes, I've seen quite a few bridge replacement projects where there is room for an extra lane in the center when/if the road is ever widened.

Exactly, I've seen that a lot on the sections of I-71 in Ohio that have not been widened yet.  The one that has the "ghost" lanes the longest is I-76 when crossing over OH 21 west of Akron.

[roadfro]

1) Ever keep tabs on a construction project in progress and expect them to do things a certain way (common sense approach) and get mortified when the finished project isn't what you would expect? Such as a widening project and they don't add turn lanes at a heavily congestion intersection etc.

Yeah, the I-80/US 395 Spaghetti Bowl widening in Reno comes to mind. On their project website, the graphic indicated certain areas would get would be receiving additional through lanes. Particularly US 395 southbound between I-80 and Mill Street was to receive an extra lane. Well they added it, but did it by narrowing the existing lanes and shoulders. Not what I expected, even though I understand why they did it this way.

2) Are there spots where there is pavement for an extra lane or turning lane but it's not striped that way?

You see this all the time in parts of Nevada, especially in regards to left turn lanes.  The intersection is built out wide enough for two turn lanes, but either the traffic control or demand doesn't yet warrant its use, so it's painted with chevrons until needed later.

Another example is I-80 in Sparks. The stretch between Pyramid Way (exit 18) and McCarran Blvd East (exit 19) is striped for two lanes but obviously paved to accommodate three.  The main reason for this is that just west of this stretch is the "Nugget Viaduct", two bridge structures that each carry three lanes of I-80 over the Nugget Casino, with third lanes adding/dropping at Pyramid.  NDOT let the Nugget Casino expand under their right of way such that the existing bridge support columns are actually inside the casino.  Expansion of the viaduct--which is somewhat needed now and will definitely be needed in the future--will mean having to construct a new bridge inside and above part of the main casino. I'm not sure why NDOT allowed the Nugget to expand in this way, but it will be very costly once they ever decide to finally widen this section. 

[hm insulators]

Bridge support columns inside a casino?! THAT would be interesting to see!

[roadfro]

Actually, I think a couple of them are inside a large fish tank...

[Scott5114]

Expansion of the viaduct--which is somewhat needed now and will definitely be needed in the future--will mean having to construct a new bridge inside and above part of the main casino. I'm not sure why NDOT allowed the Nugget to expand in this way, but it will be very costly once they ever decide to finally widen this section. 

I'm not sure exactly how it's constructed (I'd love to get a look at it too!), but I will tell you one thing: casinos are a lot more modular than they look. Entire banks of slot machines can be swapped out with relative ease and is often done to introduce new games. The management probably worked with NDOT to help ensure the future expansion of the road will be easily achieved and probably planned out where future support columns will have to be placed. Around these parts, casino management is generally rather sharp and they know how to work with people to get the results they want, especially with DOTs... two separate casinos in Oklahoma successfully persuaded ODOT to rehab interchanges to handle the expected traffic flow before they even opened.

[roadfro]

The general interior of casinos are very modular and generally moved about pretty easily. Heck, the machines themselves nowadays are built so that you can just swap out the game's program code and maybe the glass/plastic faceplate to get a new game without buying or replacing the machine cabinet.

So the casino floor in and of itself isn't really the issue.  In the case of the I-80 Sparks/Nugget viaduct, I believe the freeway not only passes over the casino floor, but also some restaurant kitchen areas and some of the back-of-the-house facilities and delivery areas.  Additionally, there's other structural issues to deal with. As you pass along the viaduct, you can see HVAC equipment placed on the roof that sticks up between the two directions of the viaduct--here's a Google Maps Street View (look between the sign bridges).  So to fill in the gap and widen the interstate will require a decent amount of structural/mechanical modifications to the building below.

I would just hope that NDOT made some sort of deal with the Nugget that considered future expansion of the freeway facilities above, and that wouldn't cost NDOT too much to implement when needed.