To Do

[thenetwork]

COLORADO (and when I think these will probably get done):

1) Widen I-70 to 3-lanes minimum in each direction between US-24 near Vail and Metro Denver.  (I may see that one completed in my lifetime).
2) Widen C-470 to 3-lanes minimum in each direction between I-70 and I-25 in Metro Denver.     (Within the next 10-15 years???)
3) Fill in the missing 470 link through Golden & NW Denver and rename the whole thing I-470. (Not until the current generation of NIMBY's die off )

[roadfro]

Actual projects in environmental review or later stages at Nevada DOT, in my own priority order:

1.  Project NEON — I-15 widening/reconstruction near downtown Las Vegas (from Sahara Ave to I-515/US 95)
2.  I-515 widening in Las Vegas (from I-15 in downtown Las Vegas to end of I-515 at Railroad Pass in Henderson)
3.  Carson City Bypass, phase 2B


If I were in charge of NDOT planning with no budget restrictions, I'd add these:

1.  Boulder City Bypass alignment re-evaluation (the southern alignment chosen is rediculously far south...)
2.  Widen rural US 95 to divided highway (gear up for I-11, if it happens)
3.  Las Vegas Beltway eastern leg (despite the estimated price tag, it's well worth the mobility increase)

[wytout]

My legit CT 3 would be the obvious... and at the risk of sounding like a broken record....  Number 1 still has a chance, number 2 will be a necessity at some point structurally, but it's a necessity NOW traffic-wise, number 3 is happening, but at a snail's pace.


1).... wait for it......  Now that it's back on the table again, kind of... PLEASE someone just finish Route 11.
2) Replace the Aetna Viaduct on 84 through Hartford, BURY IT! (legitimate option in the long term plans for the area).
3) Step up the pace on blanket replacement of the 1980's Button-Copy-legend-on-Retroreflective-field BGS's.  (I'm not sure what genius came up with that combination, Because as they age half of them just look like green rectangles with brown squiggles on them at night, as the buttons stop reflecting and the aging green retro engineer grade sheeting dims).

[hbelkins]

For West Virginia:

1.) Finish Corridor H (US 48)
2.) Finish US 35
3.) Finish US 52 (note I did NOT call it I-73 or I-74).

[Coelacanth]

1) Build the MN 36 bridge replacement at Stillwater
2) Upgrade US 169/MN 60 to 4-lane expressway between Shakopee and Iowa (says the man driving to Sioux City later this week!)
3) Remove the "three bridges bottleneck" in MN 100

[1995hoo]

(1) Repave I-66 westbound from the Beltway to Fair Oaks (Exit 57 for US-50). The eastbound carriageway was recently resurfaced and I believe the westbound side is in queue as well, but I'd like to see it expedited. I was on that road this morning and it's a washboard, probably the worst road in Northern Virginia.

(2) Build a right-turn-only lane on northbound Van Dorn Street at Pickett Street in the City of Alexandria. Van Dorn backs up almost every morning but the traffic breaks loose once you get north of this light. Since there's no right-turn lane, people going right have to wait out the red light because there's bound to be someone going straight. While a right-turn lane wouldn't be a perfect cure (no doubt the traffic would back up past the end of the turn lane), I've always thought it would help the traffic flow. Some mornings it can take 45 minutes to go the roughly one mile from the intersection of Van Dorn Street and Franconia Road to the light at Van Dorn and Eisenhower Avenue. Van Dorn is perhaps THE primary northbound artery for my area of Fairfax County, so it's one I'd very much like to see improved.

(3) Re-open E Street across the Ellipse in Washington DC. Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House will never re-open, but there's no reason why E Street (in the reconfigured setup adopted shortly before 9-11 where westbound traffic used E Street all the way across, rather than hooking around via State Place) can't be open to traffic other than the Secret Service's desire to have extra parking for themselves. The road is far enough away from the White House that unless someone were to drive a very large truck onto it, there would be no real security risk, and the truck risk can be mitigated via appropriate restrictions or by careful design to make it difficult to get a truck onto the road.

[US71]

1. I-49 from Texarkana to Louisiana

2. I-49 from Bentonville to Pineville

3. Repave all Arkansas Interstates (and do it right this time)

[hm insulators]

For Arizona:

1. Widen I-17 to three lanes each direction all the way to Flagstaff, or at least the grade between Black Canyon City and Sunset Point.
2. Repave all of Arizona 74 between I-17 and US 60.
3. Finish Loop 202 through Ahwahtukee and out to Tolleson, rather than tie in to I-10 at 51st Avenue.

For California:

1. Build the 710 through South Pasadena.
2. Widen I-5 between California 91 and...
3. Oh hell! Just blow up the entire L.A. freeway system and start over!

[NWI_Irish96]

Indiana:

1) Louisville east end bridge
2) Widen I-65 to six lanes throughout the state
3) Convert rest of US 31 between Indy and SB to interstate

[myosh_tino]

Santa Clara County (California)
1. Improve 280-85-Foothill Expwy interchange complex... separate 85 north to 280 north ramp traffic from 280 traffic trying to exit onto Foothill Expwy.  Current design is a short merge that causes a lot of chaotic weaving and can back up traffic on 280 into downtown San Jose during the morning commute.

2. Improve 85 north to 237 east ramp.  Needs to be widened and separated from north El Camino traffic entering north 85.  Current design is another short merge that backs up traffic for 4+ miles during morning commute.

3. Replace current 880-101 cloverleaf interchange with a high-speed stack interchange.

San Francisco Bay Area (outside of Santa Clara County)
1. Add HOV/Express Lane for northbound I-680 to match current southbound HOV/Express Lane.  This is one of the most congested stretches of freeway during the evening commute.  An even better idea is to connect the HOV/Express Lane to the existing HOV lane north of the 680-580 interchange.

2. Replace 680-580 interchange (currently a partially modified cloverleaf) with a full stack interchange with high-speed ramps.

3. Repave westbound I-580 over the Altamont Pass.

[ftballfan]

(3) Re-open E Street across the Ellipse in Washington DC. Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House will never re-open, but there's no reason why E Street (in the reconfigured setup adopted shortly before 9-11 where westbound traffic used E Street all the way across, rather than hooking around via State Place) can't be open to traffic other than the Secret Service's desire to have extra parking for themselves. The road is far enough away from the White House that unless someone were to drive a very large truck onto it, there would be no real security risk, and the truck risk can be mitigated via appropriate restrictions or by careful design to make it difficult to get a truck onto the road.

From Wikipedia: "In 2002, the National Capital Planning Commission invited several prominent landscape architects to submit proposals for the redesign of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House, with the intention that the security measures would be woven into an overall plan for the precinct and a more welcoming public space might be created. The winning entry by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Landscape Architects proposed a very simple approach to planting, paving and the integration of security measures."
About E St, I would reopen it (as a two way street) and rename it as (New) Pennsylvania Ave, as it turns into Pennsylvania Ave at 15th St.

[formulanone]

Widen Florida's Turnpike from 4 to 6 lanes, from the Lantana Barrier Toll to PGA Boulevard (SR 786): You're a toll road, damn it, and it's not 1957 anymore. Stop wasting money on all-new toll facilities (save SR 706, which was completed) and additional overpasses to additional facilities (the old ones accept two-way traffic), and lay down some pavement (most bridges and overpasses were widened for 6 lanes in the 1990s). I like those old trumpet interchanges, but let's get our priorities straight first...Adjacent US 441 has more lanes than you, and it's a surface-level street.

Put a barrier of some sort between the northbound and southbound lanes of I-95 from SR 60 to the Brevard County Line. I don't need those chevrons to point out an extremely gentle curve, so don't replace them after they get knocked out.

[empirestate]

(3) Re-open E Street across the Ellipse in Washington DC. Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House will never re-open, but there's no reason why E Street (in the reconfigured setup adopted shortly before 9-11 where westbound traffic used E Street all the way across, rather than hooking around via State Place) can't be open to traffic other than the Secret Service's desire to have extra parking for themselves. The road is far enough away from the White House that unless someone were to drive a very large truck onto it, there would be no real security risk, and the truck risk can be mitigated via appropriate restrictions or by careful design to make it difficult to get a truck onto the road.

From Wikipedia: "In 2002, the National Capital Planning Commission invited several prominent landscape architects to submit proposals for the redesign of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House, with the intention that the security measures would be woven into an overall plan for the precinct and a more welcoming public space might be created. The winning entry by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Landscape Architects proposed a very simple approach to planting, paving and the integration of security measures."
About E St, I would reopen it (as a two way street) and rename it as (New) Pennsylvania Ave, as it turns into Pennsylvania Ave at 15th St.

That would be my #1 for D.C. if I lived there...either properly incorporate all of the "temporary" security measures (gates, barricades, tents for police to stand under, scattered Jersey barriers, etc.) into the streetscape, or get off the pot.

[empirestate]

1) Alexander Hamilton Bridge/Highbridge Interchange (I-87/I-95).
2) Harlem River Drive/Willis Ave. Bridge.
3) I-99 to Painted Post.

Notice I didn't include I-86...I don't really have a problem with the pace of that so far. It's been interesting to watch the whole thing develop over the years.

[hbelkins]

3) I-99 to Painted Post.

It was dark when I drove that section last month, but it appears that they're making decent progress on the construction. I'd think it would be done, or close to being done, by this time next year.

[empirestate]

3) I-99 to Painted Post.

It was dark when I drove that section last month, but it appears that they're making decent progress on the construction. I'd think it would be done, or close to being done, by this time next year.

Nah, the bridge contract won't even be let until 2013.

[vdeane]

According to the NYSDOT site it'll be started in 2012.  Guess the old portion has to be upgraded too, though I'm not sure why; those start in 2013 but all the projects are timed to finish in fall 2014.