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The Dispatch wrote
New stretch of Rt. 161 to offer faster commute
Sunday, October 19, 2008
BY ELIZABETH GIBSON
After they leave work Tuesday, drivers headed home between Franklin County and Granville in Licking County should save five to seven minutes on their commute along a new, four-lane stretch of Rt. 161, officials said.
The Ohio Department of Transportation will cut the ribbon on a 7-mile stretch of the new 65 mph roadway between New Albany and Watkins Road on Tuesday morning and then open it to the public that afternoon.
Drivers will still have slower going between Watkins Road and Granville to the east. ODOT officials expect to finish widening that stretch by May 2010 in the second phase of the $160 million project. Once the project is complete, Stickle said, it should save an estimated 22,000 daily commuters about 15 minutes each way.
Related Stories:
- New $134 Million I-270/Rt. 161 Interchange Opens
For the sake of comparison. ;)
Research done by The Danter Group found that 73% of people polled who live or work in the benefit zone would ride the streetcar. There are many people who live, work or attend meetings and conventions along the proposed route, including:
51,000 residents – in downtown, Italian and Victorian Village, University area
141,000 workers at 6,000 businesses in downtown and along High street up to campus
2.3 million – attend conventions/meetings at convention center in 2007
50,000+ students at OSU
More: http://columbus-streetcars.com/qas/index.cfm
This thread should go well.
This might be fantastic news to many commuters. However, in the big picture there are ulterior motives at work:
http://www.columbuspittsburghcorridor.com/
Yes, that’s right an upgraded and super efficient free way direct (mostly) from Columbus to Pittsburgh using this newly updated SR 161.
Can anyone hear the jobs and developments being sucked out of Columbus?
The most annoying issue about this proposal is that the Columbus Pittsburgh corridor parallels the proposed upgraded rail line of the Ohio Hub Plan:
http://www2.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/Ohio%20Hub/Website/ordc/index.html
I’d like to reference a post I made from the “Cota willing to run streetcars, sees benefits” topic…
He should count as driver #1 of the 22,000 that will see a shorter commute time.
McCain endorses new 161 expansion!
BOOOO!
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a good alternative transit hoe down. :D
^^ Speaking of such:
We need your help to create more walkable neighborhoods. Please forward this petition to your friends who support walking, biking, and transit:
http://www.walkscore.com/transportation-bill.shtml
The 2009 Transportation Bill is a once-in-a-decade opportunity. Walk Score will hand-deliver the list of supporters to Congress on foot, on bike, on bus, and on subway.
Thanks for your support!
The Walk Score Team
http://www.walkscore.com
He should count as driver #1 of the 22,000 that will see a shorter commute time.
There’s always my favorite quote of all time:
Developer Robert Weiler, who is a COTA board member, made a very anti mass-transit comment that “Columbus already has a fabulous rapid-transit system. It’s called the freeway.â€
http://xingcolumbus.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/does-cota-need-new-leadership/
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a good alternative transit hoe down. :D
I don’t think freeway projects are all that bad, considering how badly we’ve shot ourselves in the foot pushing further and further out and leaving little alternatives. You can’t let the existing infrastructure lag while building up new.
That said, I hope we’ve learned from yet another period of inflated energy costs and national economic crisis that you can’t base the entire economy or infrastructure on one means.
I’m sure a lot of Ohioans and Columbusites would benefit from a set monthly transit budget of $50-80 than a fluctuating budget of $80+.
Interesting look at the numbers for each route.
Yeah, just for the record, I’m hardly anti-highway development or anti-car. Our car is our primarily means of transportation for our household.
I simply posted this to raise awareness about the costs and the ridership as they compare to rail transit proposals. Both the cost and the ridership have been often criticized components of the current Streetcar proposal, but rarely do you hear anyone making a stink about highway upgrade projects that are even costlier and serve a similarly limited portion of Central Ohio residents.
Even if we forget about the Downtown Streetcar for a second, that $160 million could go a long way towards multiple passenger rail lines that could serve suburban-urban work commuters the same way that a highway expansion project could. Nashville was able to get a single line up and running for $41 million. If we could do something similar, we could have four of these lines up and running from Downtown outward to suburban areas instead of just 7 miles of new highway between New Albany and Granville.
Just something to think about going forward. With the recent developments on mass transit funding on a national level and hopefully a new set of transit values coming into the national office soon, we’ll be seeing plenty of new passenger rail projects being announced in the next four years. Or at least I’m optimistic about it. :D
Found this in today’s web-only letters at the Dispatch:
Until the early 1920′s, when it was anexed into Coumbus, Linden proper was a separate and incorporated little village, “Linden Heights”, with its own mayor and council, even its own jail. The boundries were approximately: Weber Road to the north, Hudson Street, south. McGuffey Road ,west and the C.A.& C. Railroad tracks to the east (East Linden lay to the east of the “tracks”.) When (about WW I) a streetcar line was extended from downtown Columbus to Linden Heights (to apporximately Weber Rd.), Linden grew, leading to the anexation.
There was never a streetcar line to Oakland Park Ave. In the early 1930′s the streetcar tracks were “taken up” amid a big ‘Street Fair Celebration” and a “modern” trolley bus line was installed, the “Cleveland Ave.to Sullivant Ave.” line. The “turn-around ” for the busses was just south of Oakland Park Ave. on the east side of Cleveland Ave. Maybe that was what those at the North Linden Reunion remembered …. but there was NO STREETCAR, .. just a BUS.
Students from North Linden were transported by school bus to the brand new Linden McKinley Junior-Senior High School after its completion in 1942. The rest of the students, south of Oaklend ParK Ave. and those from as far south as Milo-Grogan
(south to 11th -5th Ave) WALKED or rode bikes OR the trolley bus. Did them good…little or no gross obesity in those days … there was comradery and fun as groups of students walked to and from school together!! It WAS a kinder, gentler time!!!!
Thanks for the memories!!
Except for the fact that those numbers might as well represent apples and oranges.
Except for the fact that those numbers might as well represent apples and oranges.
Have you brought anything constructive to this conversation, yet?
How are the numbers different? You have a freeway at x amount serving potentially x number of commuters vs. a proposed alternative transit system estimated at x dollars and potentially serving x number of commuters.
Not to mention the links Walker provided to a transit system that could serve a broader area at the same cost. It’s a pretty good look at how skewed society is with our priorities.
I suspect the first numbers are based on how many people actually use the highway, while the second numbers are based on how many people live/work/attend conventions in the area.
51,000 residents – in downtown, Italian and Victorian Village, University area
141,000 workers at 6,000 businesses in downtown and along High street up to campus
2.3 million – attend conventions/meetings at convention center in 2007
50,000+ students at OSU
Take it you missed the part about the 73% polled.
Don’t forget, numbers can change for the freeways as well. Nothing is fixed. Gas prices go up, car miles go down-as we saw this summer. People move, jobs change etc.
I did miss that.
True, but I’m still going to put more stock into numbers based on actual use rather than potential use.
Even though we can probably be pretty accurate in potential use based on the upswing of COTA ridership the past year?
I don’t think we can, unless there’s some data on the #2 bus on the two-mile stretch of High Street where the streetcar would run.
Then how does anything “new” ever get built?
Then how does anything “new” ever get built?
I’m not often in a position to make decisions about that sort of thing, but I imagine that it involves convincing enough people with enough money to invest that building something new is worth doing.