Ohio

[amroad17]

There used to be green enhanced mile markers on I-75 in Lexington, KY: https://goo.gl/maps/2WjsAV43RmvgQKVk8 (2007 view)
By 2013, they were replaced by blue ones: https://goo.gl/maps/ruj9FfnsV4gra67r7

[SkyPesos]

Found some rural and green ones on OH 2

I have to wonder if there are any other at grade enhanced markers around the country.

US-33 where it makes its turn at College & Livingston in Columbus

Seems like the College Ave section of US 33 in general have them

[SkyPesos]

I mentioned the I-670 SmartLane in another thread, but that reminded me of another proposed SmartLane project in the state, this time on part of the northern loop of I-275. The timeline is to have construction start in Winter 2021. The area getting the SmartLane is between US 42 (exit 46) and OH 28 (exit 57), but I think it should be extended westward to at least the OH 4 exit (exit 41), as traffic exiting from I-75 towards some of the northwestern suburbs like Fairfield and Hamilton uses that stretch of I-275.

[GCrites]

Things do get jammed up good through there, much in the same way they did on 670 before the SmartLane. TV news said the SmartLane made a huge difference on 670 though I haven't been on 670 at peak since it was installed. They are fairly similar stretches.

[6a]

Things do get jammed up good through there, much in the same way they did on 670 before the SmartLane. TV news said the SmartLane made a huge difference on 670 though I haven't been on 670 at peak since it was installed. They are fairly similar stretches.

It made a tremendous difference, but hasn't been used since COVID hit. I think reconfiguring the 670/270 interchange helped quite a bit as well.

[SkyPesos]

Things do get jammed up good through there, much in the same way they did on 670 before the SmartLane.

Part of the issue I see with WB I-275 is in its interchange with I-71. Between the I-71 S exit loop ramp and the entrance ramps from I-71, it narrows down to 2 lanes. Besides adding a SmartLane, it would be nice to add a third through lane in that section, like what the rest of I-275 in that stretch have.

[Dustin DeWinn]

Since Ohio has, or will be eliminating the rear plate plate, for the inspection/registration stickers, is it still just 1 sticker on the front plate, and that's just it?

[tigerwings]

Front plate no longer required as of 7/1/2020. Single tab on the rear plate.

[SkyPesos]

I drove on about 15 miles of I-71 today, and here's some construction updates I noticed:

- Contraflow lane between exits 8 and 11 removed. Currently in the process of repaving the road to what it normally would be like. Though there's a new lane area on the right side of the current lanes on the NB direction between exits 8 and 9. It may be an auxiliary lane for the Red Bank Rd exit (exit 9), as I doubt that I-71 will get expanded to 8 through lanes in this section.
- NB exit 8C (Ridge Ave North) ramp closing later this month. My guess for this is that it'll get removed and replaced with a ramp to Kennedy Rd, as what the ODOT site for this project suggests.
- Not on I-71, but the OH 126 and US 22 roundabout project is in the third phase for temporary traffic flow now. There's cameras set up around the construction area on the project site for those interested in looking at it.

[GCrites]

Since Ohio has, or will be eliminating the rear plate plate, for the inspection/registration stickers, is it still just 1 sticker on the front plate, and that's just it?

Front plate is gone, the rear stickers have gone back to full county names in the center as seen before the Bicentennial plates kicked in in 2003. No more small numerical county code stickers on the left side. Registration month/year sticker stays the same. County stickers are printed on site rather than each BMV keeping an inventory of every county's sticker around. Always wondered how many Ashtabula County stickers the Proctorville BMV went through.

[GCrites]

Also I suspect the reason the front plate went away in Ohio despite howls from the State Highway Patrol (the most powerful lobby in the state) and local police departments/sheriffs is that cars are going to have a lot more sensors and cameras on the front of them in the near future for driver aids. The automaker lobby in Ohio is more powerful than people think and all surrounding states including Michigan (where the automaker lobby is most powerful) already didn't have the front plate. Watch for this to come to your state if it still has front plates.

[Rothman]

Also I suspect the reason the front plate went away in Ohio despite howls from the State Highway Patrol (the most powerful lobby in the state) and local police departments/sheriffs is that cars are going to have a lot more sensors and cameras on the front of them in the near future for driver aids. The automaker lobby in Ohio is more powerful than people think and all surrounding states including Michigan (where the automaker lobby is most powerful) already didn't have the front plate. Watch for this to come to your state if it still has front plates.

So far in NY, no one is screaming to lose the front plate.

[skluth]

Also I suspect the reason the front plate went away in Ohio despite howls from the State Highway Patrol (the most powerful lobby in the state) and local police departments/sheriffs is that cars are going to have a lot more sensors and cameras on the front of them in the near future for driver aids. The automaker lobby in Ohio is more powerful than people think and all surrounding states including Michigan (where the automaker lobby is most powerful) already didn't have the front plate. Watch for this to come to your state if it still has front plates.

So far in NY, no one is screaming to lose the front plate.

Same in California.

[GCrites]

Here it didn't really come as a result of a really big push from the public -- it was more along the lines of a slow simmer for 20 years from budget hounds. I don't think anyone was really expecting it to happen at all. A behind-the-scenes push or maybe even just a heads-up from automakers could have done it.

[renegade]

Also I suspect the reason the front plate went away in Ohio despite howls from the State Highway Patrol (the most powerful lobby in the state) and local police departments/sheriffs is that cars are going to have a lot more sensors and cameras on the front of them in the near future for driver aids. The automaker lobby in Ohio is more powerful than people think and all surrounding states including Michigan (where the automaker lobby is most powerful) already didn't have the front plate. Watch for this to come to your state if it still has front plates.

Don't forget, the police killed a guy in Cincinnati a few years ago after pulling him over for not having a front plate.

[GCrites]

Oh yeah, Samuel DuBose. That might be a big factor too. It also resulted in UC Police ceasing off-campus driving-related stops.

[Buck87]

I wonder if the fact that all 5 of our bordering states are single plate had any effect as well

LM-Q620

[vtk]

I wonder if the fact that all 5 of our bordering states are single plate had any effect as well

I seem to recall that being mentioned in the news when the change was announced a couple years ago. I think it's likely that was included in supporting information given by proponents of the law in the state house.

[SkyPesos]

I actually didn't know they had a front plate requirement that was dropped in 2020, until a couple of weeks ago. My parents bought a Highlander back in 2013 at a Northern KY Toyota dealer, and they opted out of a front plate. Kind of can't believe they got away without having it for 7 years, considering that this car did get pulled over by a cop in Ohio once.

[SkyPesos]

Crossposted from the Ranking State Border Crossings thread. Either ODOT made an error below, or Wintersville/Steubenville really is a much larger city than I initially thought.

I'm not sure about using volume data to rank the crossings. It makes sense to a certain extent, but then you have cases like NY 303 at the NJ line being almost twice as busy as I-86 at the PA line. Yet no one would argue that NY 303 is the more important crossing.

The numbers I got for Ohio are mostly reasonable, so I went with it. Most used crossings at major metro areas like Cincinnati and Toledo. Most interstates are above 4 lane US routes. The only one that's puzzling to me is US 22's 32k AADT at the WV border. US 22 is a freeway at that point, but Steubenville isn't that large of a city, and the 4 lane section dead ends at Cadiz on the Ohio side, though continues all the way as a 4 lane to I-376 on the east. The AADT number would've made more sense to me if it connected to I-70 at Cambridge as a freeway, as that would make a neat Columbus-Pittsburgh freeway corridor, except it doesn't.

2019 AADT of US 22 from Cambridge to WV Border
East of I-77 junction - 5.8k
Concurrency with OH 800 - 2.8k
West of US 250 junctions - 3k
Concurrency with US 250 - 8.5k
East of US 250 junctions - 8.7k
Concurrency with OH 151 - 10.5k
East of OH 151 eastern junction - 11.4k
East of OH 152 junction - 10k
West of OH 43 junction - 10.2k
East of OH 43 junction - 15.8k
West of John Scott Hwy junction - 18k
Between John Scott Hwy and OH 7 - 29k
Concurrency with OH 7 - 33.8k
WV Border - 32k

Actually, a lot of the local roads numbers near Steubenville seem high too, even with 2020 numbers. Especially the 20k on OH 43. Most of the busiest arterials in Cincinnati and Columbus don't even reach that high.

[seicer]

At that point of count, US Route 22 is multiplexed with OH Route 7. It's a busy area for north-south and a commuter route to and from Pittsburgh.

[Bitmapped]

Crossposted from the Ranking State Border Crossings thread. Either ODOT made an error below, or Wintersville/Steubenville really is a much larger city than I initially thought.

I'm not sure about using volume data to rank the crossings. It makes sense to a certain extent, but then you have cases like NY 303 at the NJ line being almost twice as busy as I-86 at the PA line. Yet no one would argue that NY 303 is the more important crossing.

The numbers I got for Ohio are mostly reasonable, so I went with it. Most used crossings at major metro areas like Cincinnati and Toledo. Most interstates are above 4 lane US routes. The only one that's puzzling to me is US 22's 32k AADT at the WV border. US 22 is a freeway at that point, but Steubenville isn't that large of a city, and the 4 lane section dead ends at Cadiz on the Ohio side, though continues all the way as a 4 lane to I-376 on the east. The AADT number would've made more sense to me if it connected to I-70 at Cambridge as a freeway, as that would make a neat Columbus-Pittsburgh freeway corridor, except it doesn't.

2019 AADT of US 22 from Cambridge to WV Border
East of I-77 junction - 5.8k
Concurrency with OH 800 - 2.8k
West of US 250 junctions - 3k
Concurrency with US 250 - 8.5k
East of US 250 junctions - 8.7k
Concurrency with OH 151 - 10.5k
East of OH 151 eastern junction - 11.4k
East of OH 152 junction - 10k
West of OH 43 junction - 10.2k
East of OH 43 junction - 15.8k
West of John Scott Hwy junction - 18k
Between John Scott Hwy and OH 7 - 29k
Concurrency with OH 7 - 33.8k
WV Border - 32k

Actually, a lot of the local roads numbers near Steubenville seem high too, even with 2020 numbers. Especially the 20k on OH 43. Most of the busiest arterials in Cincinnati and Columbus don't even reach that high.

The numbers look reasonable to me.

Steubenville-Wintersville-Weirton is a decent size area (125k population) and the terrain of the area means there aren't many corridors. If you're driving west to east, you're either taking US 22 or SR 43 because those are the only roads that go east-west through here. Where I live in Morgantown, West Virginia, we have similar geographic constraints. We have several arterials in the 20,000 AADT range and one major corridor pushing 40K.

[SkyPesos]

Couple of I-71 Cincinnati construction updates
- NB exit 8C (Ridge north), and Kennedy to NB 71 ramps have been closed, and pavement ripped out.
- ODOT lists the Ridge North detour on their site by using the Ridge South ramp, which makes sense, as left turn lanes exist on the Ridge south ramp. But when I used 71 yesterday, they had a different, and much indirect route for the detour, as seen in the (terrible quality) dashcam pic below. And the left turn lanes are still open, so it doesn't take that much thought that using Exit 8A is a better option than whatever BS detour ODOT actually signed.

BGS would very likely be replaced when the project finishes, which means that another button copy installation will be gone.

- North of the 562/Ridge/Kennedy complex, it seems like that a 4th lane is getting added on the right of the current lanes, along with a sound barrier. This may be the exit only lane for Red Bank, which is probably why a BGS with an "EXIT ONLY" panel was installed in the sign replacements not that long ago, even though there currently isn't an exit only lane.

[SkyPesos]

Looks like the Lick Run Greenway on the west side of Cincy opened today. Means construction on Queen City Ave, which felt like it lasted forever and one of the worst roads to drive on in the area imo, is finally finished.

[frankenroad]

Looks like the Lick Run Greenway on the west side of Cincy opened today. Means construction on Queen City Ave, which felt like it lasted forever and one of the worst roads to drive on in the area imo, is finally finished.

They have not paved Queen City yet.  I heard yesterday that it won't be until later in the summer.  I look forward to that with mixed emotions - since I travel a short stretch of Queen City every morning.  Looking forward to smooth pavement but not the inevitable lane closures while it's happening.

Westwood Ave has been repaved since last fall, and has become a speedway.