Ohio 161 Expansion for New Intel Plant

[The Ghostbuster]

Would it be possible, or practical to four-lane the rest of OH 16 between OH 60 and US 36?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Would it be possible, or practical to four-lane the rest of OH 16 between OH 60 and US 36?

Possible? Yes. (Its been on ODOT's wish list since I was born)
Practical? Doubtful.

[carbaugh2]

Construction of the SR 16 widening begins on Monday. One twist is that ODOT is petitioning Licking County to remove the entrance from River Rd to eastbound SR 16 (access to SR 16westbound was previously closed off in both directions).  The following links are to local news articles regarding the project.

Makes sense. This is the one at-grade intersection (RIRO) in what is otherwise now a 30-mile stretch of freeway. If does end up being retained, it should be rebuilt to have full acceleration and deceleration lanes.

I think you're missing that it will only be a RO (exit) with no RI (entrance). I would prefer to see them find the funds to reconnect River Rd with an overpass. This provides the easy emergency access that first responders need (the fire department is very close to the SR 661/Weaver Rd/River Rd intersection) and reconnects that part of Granville Township with the village.

[carbaugh2]

Would it be possible, or practical to four-lane the rest of OH 16 between OH 60 and US 36?

Possible? Yes. (Its been on ODOT's wish list since I was born)
Practical? Doubtful.

I agree with doubtful in the shorter term but disagree in the long term. There are no plans to widen any of the north-south connector roads between 16 and I-70 in Licking County. For example, Newark just started construction of a roundabout at the Thornwood Dr/Faye Dr intersection last Monday that keeps 1 through lane of traffic in each direction. Also, with the eventual widening of 16/37/161 from 4 to 6 lanes between New Albany and Newark (still Tier 2 in TRAC) and the opening of whatever Intel's site becomes (hopefully Intel ), there will be a need to widen this stretch to 4 lanes as a way to not overstress the north-south routes.

[Bitmapped]

Construction of the SR 16 widening begins on Monday. One twist is that ODOT is petitioning Licking County to remove the entrance from River Rd to eastbound SR 16 (access to SR 16westbound was previously closed off in both directions).  The following links are to local news articles regarding the project.

Makes sense. This is the one at-grade intersection (RIRO) in what is otherwise now a 30-mile stretch of freeway. If does end up being retained, it should be rebuilt to have full acceleration and deceleration lanes.

I think you're missing that it will only be a RO (exit) with no RI (entrance). I would prefer to see them find the funds to reconnect River Rd with an overpass. This provides the easy emergency access that first responders need (the fire department is very close to the SR 661/Weaver Rd/River Rd intersection) and reconnects that part of Granville Township with the village.

Removing the entrance to SR 16 eastbound what ODOT is asking Licking County for approval to do. I'm saying that if Licking County doesn't approve the reduction in access, it should be rebuilt to have full accel/decel lanes (it does have a long turn lane now, but no acceleration lane).

Would it be possible, or practical to four-lane the rest of OH 16 between OH 60 and US 36?

Possible? Yes. (Its been on ODOT's wish list since I was born)
Practical? Doubtful.

I agree with doubtful in the shorter term but disagree in the long term. There are no plans to widen any of the north-south connector roads between 16 and I-70 in Licking County. For example, Newark just started construction of a roundabout at the Thornwood Dr/Faye Dr intersection last Monday that keeps 1 through lane of traffic in each direction. Also, with the eventual widening of 16/37/161 from 4 to 6 lanes between New Albany and Newark (still Tier 2 in TRAC) and the opening of whatever Intel's site becomes (hopefully Intel ), there will be a need to widen this stretch to 4 lanes as a way to not overstress the north-south routes.

Traffic wanting to go to I-70 isn't going to take SR 16 to US 36 to I-77 to I-70. They're going to use SR 146 if they make it east of Newark. Traffic heading north to Cleveland is better served taking SR 13 north out of Newark already.

SR 79 is already 4 lanes from SR 16 at Newark to I-70. Improving the existing corridor, especially with access point consolidation, seems more practical than a brand new north-south corridor. Spot improvements on SR 37, and to a lesser extent, SR 13, would also help.

[carbaugh2]

Construction of the SR 16 widening begins on Monday. One twist is that ODOT is petitioning Licking County to remove the entrance from River Rd to eastbound SR 16 (access to SR 16westbound was previously closed off in both directions).  The following links are to local news articles regarding the project.

Makes sense. This is the one at-grade intersection (RIRO) in what is otherwise now a 30-mile stretch of freeway. If does end up being retained, it should be rebuilt to have full acceleration and deceleration lanes.

I think you're missing that it will only be a RO (exit) with no RI (entrance). I would prefer to see them find the funds to reconnect River Rd with an overpass. This provides the easy emergency access that first responders need (the fire department is very close to the SR 661/Weaver Rd/River Rd intersection) and reconnects that part of Granville Township with the village.

Removing the entrance to SR 16 eastbound what ODOT is asking Licking County for approval to do. I'm saying that if Licking County doesn't approve the reduction in access, it should be rebuilt to have full accel/decel lanes (it does have a long turn lane now, but no acceleration lane).

Would it be possible, or practical to four-lane the rest of OH 16 between OH 60 and US 36?

Possible? Yes. (Its been on ODOT's wish list since I was born)
Practical? Doubtful.

I agree with doubtful in the shorter term but disagree in the long term. There are no plans to widen any of the north-south connector roads between 16 and I-70 in Licking County. For example, Newark just started construction of a roundabout at the Thornwood Dr/Faye Dr intersection last Monday that keeps 1 through lane of traffic in each direction. Also, with the eventual widening of 16/37/161 from 4 to 6 lanes between New Albany and Newark (still Tier 2 in TRAC) and the opening of whatever Intel's site becomes (hopefully Intel ), there will be a need to widen this stretch to 4 lanes as a way to not overstress the north-south routes.

Traffic wanting to go to I-70 isn't going to take SR 16 to US 36 to I-77 to I-70. They're going to use SR 146 if they make it east of Newark. Traffic heading north to Cleveland is better served taking SR 13 north out of Newark already.

SR 79 is already 4 lanes from SR 16 at Newark to I-70. Improving the existing corridor, especially with access point consolidation, seems more practical than a brand new north-south corridor. Spot improvements on SR 37, and to a lesser extent, SR 13, would also help.

I will change my stance on widening 16 in the long-term view to doubtful, although I still think it is something that should be done when looking from a safety standpoint. There have been 18 crashes with severe injuries or fatalities (7 in Muskingum, 11 in Coshocton) in the last 5 years according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Crash Dashboard. My experiences driving this section of 16 (our preferred route to visit Holmes County Amish Country) are that drivers treat it like a freeway even though it is a 2-lane road. My guess is that this would have to be on new alignment similar to how the Hanover to  Dresden segment was constructed due to environmental (wetlands) issues on the south side of existing 16.

As for ODOT's preferred route for connecting between 161/16 and 70, Thornwood Drive is going to be the answer. Here is a link to ODOT's study on it, with the alternatives shown in this separate file. While I enjoy driving SR 146 between Newark and Zanesville, it is 16-17 miles between 16 and I-70 depending on which of the Zanesville exits used, while it is only 9 miles using the various iterations of Thornwood (I wish Newark had just called it Thornwood Drive instead of Crossing) and SR 79. Thornwood also makes up the western border of the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center (COATC), also known as the former Newark Air Force Base. The Microsoft data center property is also on Thornwood (Side Note: Microsoft has begun utility work on that property and the site in Hebron.) It makes a great western bypass of Heath and Newark. While the road isn't being widened to 4 lanes at this time, it is being widened, and the City of Heath has already moved utilities back so 4 lanes or a boulevard can be accomodated.

With regards to the other options mentioned, SR 37 gets used by truck traffic, but the area is becoming filled with more rural subdivisions, much to the chagrin of Granville Township and the Granville School District (EVSD). For SR 13, ODOT and Newark want as little truck traffic as possible going through downtown, especially with the roundabouts and narrowness through the south end of the city, so it was not even considered in the study. While SR 79 is a 4-lane corridor from 16 to I-70, much of the trip through Heath is slow during normal traffic hours. There have been talks of Heath converting the remainder of 79 from the Andover/Oberlin intersection through the remainder of the city into a boulevard, but I don't hear much discussion about it any longer.

[ibagli]

ODOT has also published a project page for the widening of SRs 37 & 16 from just west of the SR 37/SR16/Columbus Rd interchange to the Thornwood Crossing interchange. The preliminary estimated cost for this project is just under $56,000,000 and is slated to begin in Spring 2026. The TRAC application for the continued widening of SR 161 also clarifies that it covers the remaining 4-lane section of roadway between New Albany and Granville and also includes improvements to the Beech, Mink, and SR 37/York Rd interchanges. There is no project page on the ODOT website yet. The exclusion of improvements to the SR 310 interchange indicates that work will be a separate project.

The project to reconstruct and widen SR 16 from Granville to just east of the Thornwood Crossing exit recently went to bid. It looks like Kokosing will win the project with a bid of $42,660,230, which is almost 15% below the estimate of $50,000,000. Completion date is expected to be 10/15/2028.

Construction of the SR 16 widening begins on Monday. One twist is that ODOT is petitioning Licking County to remove the entrance from River Rd to eastbound SR 16 (access to SR 16westbound was previously closed off in both directions).  The following links are to local news articles regarding the project.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/odot-petitions-to-remove-part-of-river-road-in-licking-county/ar-AA20kUQ4?ocid=msedgntphdr&cvid=69d8c580a5eb44cea461291366e391c1&cvpid=99d59fd27e58462fed07f1361a468ff8&ei=8

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/get-ready-for-3-years-of-construction-on-state-route-16-in-granville/ar-AA20uHZw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=EDGEDSE&cvid=69d8c580a5eb44cea461291366e391c1&ei=20

The county commissioners rejected the closure of just the entrance. They want to also close the exit to all but emergency traffic.

https://www.thereportingproject.org/licking-county-commissioners-reject-odot-proposal-to-partially-close-river-road-intersection-with-rt-16/