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Yesterday ODOT announced that they’ve made a decision on their plans for the controversial Downtown I-70/I-71 split fix project. There’s really no new surprises here… just a few decisions made over the several options previously being considered. Essentially… they’ve decided to go with the Mound/Fulton feeder alignment running east-west despite running through the front yards of Miranova and Waterford Tower. Similarly, a Lester/Parsons feeder will run north-south in a fashion that will spell the end of a few Parsons Avenue businesses.
On the bright side, several highway caps, bike paths, and pedestrian-friendly sidewalks are also planned but will require some amount of local funding to develop.
The total cost of the project has jumped up again to a whopping $1.6 Billion. Construction is expected to start in 2011 and be completed by 2017. ODOT is holding a public hearing on the project on Tuesday, February 10th. Read on for details.
PUBLIC HEARING – I-70/71 — SOUTH INNERBELT – COLUMBUS, OHIO
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 – 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission – Meeting Room
111 Liberty Street, Columbus, OhioThe public is invited to attend a public hearing concerning the highway improvements being considered for I-70/71, the Columbus South Innerbelt. The purpose of these improvements is to address congestion and improve safety on I-71 and the I-70/71 overlap in downtown Columbus, Ohio.
The purpose of this hearing is to provide an opportunity for review and comment on the project’s Environmental Assessment and for citizens to provide feedback either through written or recorded verbal comments. The Preferred Alternative as identified by ODOT and the Federal Highway Administration will be outlined. The hearing will be conducted in an open-house format and will allow time for review of highway plans and the tentative schedule for right-of-way acquisition and construction. A brief presentation will be given at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Written comments may be completed at the hearing or submitted by mail before February 24, 2009.
The Environmental Assessment will also be available online at www.7071study.org and at the following locations:
- ODOT District 6 – 400 E. William Street – Delaware
- ODOT Central Office – 1980 West Broad Street – Columbus
- Columbus Library Main Branch – 96 South Grant Avenue – Columbus
- Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission – 111 Liberty Street – Columbus
- Dodge Park Recreation Center – 667 Sullivant Avenue – ColumbusPlease send comments or questions to:
Mr. Ferzan Ahmed, Project Manager
ODOT District 6
400 E. William Street
Delaware, Ohio 43015
Phone: 740-833-8367
Fax: 614-887-4605
ferzan.ahmed@dot.state.oh.us
More information on the project can be found online here.
So is this fix still projected to really only last 30 years? It’s needed, no doubt.
Now comes the part where I worry about whether the construction will cut of the South End from Downtown too drastically for too long. Does anyone know in which order the overpasses will be reconstructed? Hopefully, Third, Grant, High and Front won’t all be down at the same time – I’ve got to cross 70 somehow to get to work!
Hehehe. I can’t imagine they’d tear down all of the bridges at the same time. ;)
“No detour for you!”
Knowing ODOT engineers, I can imagine it, which makes me a little scared.
Well, I’m looking at some info on their project site and I’m not finding what I’m looking for but I could have sworn that I read something last night that gave a rough timeline for where the project would start and where it would end. It sounded like it was going to begin around Front and move eastward on the split and begin at 670 on 71 and move southward on the 71 portion, and the river bridge crossing just west of the split would be the very final phase.
But yeah. I’m totally not finding that now, so maybe I was just dreaming it?
By the time this project is completed I’ll bet it’ll cost 4 billion. From my reading of the article, this budget does not include the caps. I know it’s been discussed to death on this board but considering the cost and our uncertain economic times, wouldn’t it be more prudent to:
-lower the speed limit to 50mph
-hire 25 or so permanent state troopers to enforce the speed limit (this should help with safety)
-improve the interchanges of 70 and 270 on the east and west sides
-add lanes along the south leg of the outerbelt to encourage through motorists to avoid downtown
This alone would save 100s of millions of dollars.
The caps aren’t quite THAT expensive. ;)
This is from an older article (Dec 2006), but I think the costs shouldn’t be too much higher…
So it sounds like ODOT is budgeting enough for a few caps, and possibly just flat greenspace caps (no retail like the 670 cap). It sounds like if we want the rest of them built out then the city or county or MORPC or someone is going to have to come up with additional funding.
I’m going to take a wild guess and say that we’ll see this additional funding in the form of another infrastructure bond package issue in another year or two. If we can get a $1.66 billion bond package passed in 2008, I really don’t see it being a problem getting a $100 million bond package passed in 2010 for these caps.
In a side note to transportation issues, did anyone see that the Director of ODT is leaving and the new Director is a woman who is highly supportive of railways. Check it out, it could be good news for those of us pushing for trains and such.
http://www.columbusunderground.com/jolene-molitoris-is-new-head-of-odot
I saw one conceptual map, but are there any others that show cap location, etc.?
I used to live along Lester. From what I understand this system may be similar to what exists in Detroit, with one way streets on either side of the freeway acting as feeders, and overpasses in between that are cross streets. It is actually a very simple design, however Lester is not wide enough to accomodate it. How many houses and businesses will be torn down for this?
I agree it needs to be done, I’m just curious how much wider the I-71 canyon is going to get?
Yikes, I was really hoping to spare buildings as much as possible.
I too am concerned for the cost of the project, but it is needed.
Matthew: It sounds like building demos are being kept to a minimum and ET Paul & Carabar on Parsons are the only structural demos on the east side of the fix. True, Lester isn’t very wide, but if you look at the “canyon” they’ve got a lot of leeway to play with as the sloped “hills” can be converted into more vertical walls, similar to what you see on 71/75 through downtown Cincy.
Also, here’s a larger map. Click to enlarge:
at least Miranova and the Waterford get to experience the rush of Highway projects and urban renewal…ah the worm turns. it used to be the poor folks had their neighborhoods decimated by DOT, now it is the rich folks, delicious irony….now that Bush is gone I still can’t retire Olberman’s great line about irony being the only justice. at least we still have the safety salamander.
There is actually no need for this, and I agree that the cost will jump much higher. The most likely scenario is that if it gets started it won’t take long for lack of federal funding to delay the project who knows how many times. Remember last year the trust fund that ODOT will be depending on needed an emergency $8 billion bail out. The split doesn’t need to be fixed. People need to stop driving so fast and killing each other. At the very most there should be a ridiculously high fine for speeding with enforcement. That would also make more money and not cost closer to $2 billion.
I drive on the split every morning to work. It’s definitely a problem and safety is a big issue. However, safety is an issue partly because of the number of drivers and the number of crazy drivers. Every morning I take the 71 branch on the south side going north to cross over to 670W. That cross is always a disaster and I’m surprised there are not more accidents the way so many cars quickly cut lanes.
I’m for the public rail solution though. There will always be poor and crazy drivers, but a public rail would significantly decrease the number of drivers on the road. Subsequently cutting back on the number of accidents and time spent in traffic. I prefer the solution to be a public rail to alleviate these problems rather than to restructure the highways time and again. Our city is growing and will continue to grow. A public rail is a permanent solution to handle the ever increasing population and number of drivers.
Three comments:
1. I wonder where they’ll get the money for this?
2. I haven’t read through the huge environmental assessment document yet, but I would like to know how this coincides with the USDOT’s Future Corridors I-70 initiative.
3. I’d still like to see HOT lanes built in the median of the south outerbelt first to see how much traffic it could divert.
I totally agree with using this money towards light rail, but I’m not sure if that’s a possibility. If not, as long as creative caps are constructed; that will support rail; I think this could be a good thing (unless I’m missing something). Right now GV and BD do pretty well on their own, but its still a bit separated from the rest of Downtown. Caps could def. help with the Downtown walk-ability.
I’m thinking about sending a letter to Jolene Molitoris with my thoughts on all of this. Anyone else?
I think they should consider lowering the speed limit, straightening out the sharp curves, and improving access to 670-E from 71-N. 670 is a huge highway, maybe we should begin to direct traffic up to that road, and away from 70/71, which could instead be used as a thruway. As for downtown-bound traffic from 70E, perhaps there could be improvements to feed it up 71 and immediately onto 670W, with improved exit ramps on Cleveland Ave, and higher capacity interchanges on 3rd. We can also build the caps without having to completely rebuild the highway underneath.
It might also be a good idea to install signs along 71 south of 270 that read “Traffic Congestion Downtown: Expect Delays. Thru-Traffic Use 270 W to 70E and 71N” when traffic is bad (if they dont already exist?), so people actually use the 270 bypass on their way to Cleveland and Wheeling. Getting rid of those damn semis would do a lot to unclog the interchange.
Oh yea, have they considered adding tolls to i-70 at the state borders? Jersey does it, and Maryland has 3 toll plazas along i-95 since so much of the traffic is just transiting through those states, despite the fact that the states have to repair those roads. We should do the same here. You have to pay $12 to go from DC to Delaware through MD, and like $25 for trucks. Maybe we should charge something similar on 70. Since trucks clog up county roads to bypass the ohio turnpike tolls, we should also add toll plazas on rte 40 at the WV/OH and IN/OH borders… with an exemption for license plates from OH,IN, & WV so that local traffic isnt hindered.