January 12, 20241 yr New I-71 SB flyover ramp can be seen in the distance from this traffic camera Edit: they just zoomed the camera in a bit, so this one will give a better look:
January 18, 20241 yr On 1/12/2024 at 9:24 AM, CbusOrBust said: I know not everyone checks the "Columbus: Interbelt News" topic as much, so I thought I'd throw this in here too: It gives a good idea of how drastic the difference will be once the Downtown Ramp Up project is complete Reminds me of the interchanges I would see driving around Dallas, that flyover looks massive from this angle. At the same time, it looks like it'll drop them off right into the Greenlawn exit.
January 18, 20241 yr 3 hours ago, PrestoKinetic said: Reminds me of the interchanges I would see driving around Dallas, that flyover looks massive from this angle. At the same time, it looks like it'll drop them off right into the Greenlawn exit. Sometimes they zoom in even closer and it really looks massive. I've been trying to catch it again and snatch a quick screenshot but I haven't been able to as of yet.
January 18, 20241 yr On 1/12/2024 at 9:04 AM, CbusOrBust said: New I-71 SB flyover ramp can be seen in the distance from this traffic camera Edit: they just zoomed the camera in a bit, so this one will give a better look: Zoomed in a little more:
January 29, 20241 yr Another piece of the I-71 SB flyover ramp is up as part of Downtown Ramp Up From 70 East From Dodge Park
January 30, 20241 yr I noticed on my drive today the exposed beam and patchwork being done to the 4th St Bridge due to the accident a few weeks. 4th St Bridge is slated for reconstruction in the coming years and couldn't help but think they should've just removed the bridge and started the reconstruction right now. The current Project doesn't include a bridge cap, but I hope it's reconsidered and added. Have a cap across all 4 bridges and removing the exit ramps onto Livingston is going to make this area more walkable and pleasant.
January 31, 20241 yr 20 hours ago, KyleofColumbus said: I noticed on my drive today the exposed beam and patchwork being done to the 4th St Bridge due to the accident a few weeks. 4th St Bridge is slated for reconstruction in the coming years and couldn't help but think they should've just removed the bridge and started the reconstruction right now. The current Project doesn't include a bridge cap, but I hope it's reconsidered and added. Have a cap across all 4 bridges and removing the exit ramps onto Livingston is going to make this area more walkable and pleasant. "Columbus will kick another $25 million to the Ohio Department of Transportation for its megaproject along Interstates 70 and 71 south of Downtown. Columbus City Council voted for the funding, which will go toward construction of three bridges, finishing touches on the roadway, and other crossways. The projects the city is contributing to are largely between Fourth Street and Miller Avenue. ODOT plans to construct bridge caps on Third, Fourth, and High streets as part of one phase of the project. Rather than restoring the current bridges, the bridge caps will be substantially wider and more friendly to those biking or walking across them, Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla said." https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/how-rebuilding-of-i-70-71-will-affect-downtown-columbus-streets/
January 31, 20241 yr 35 minutes ago, CbusOrBust said: "Columbus will kick another $25 million to the Ohio Department of Transportation for its megaproject along Interstates 70 and 71 south of Downtown. Columbus City Council voted for the funding, which will go toward construction of three bridges, finishing touches on the roadway, and other crossways. The projects the city is contributing to are largely between Fourth Street and Miller Avenue. ODOT plans to construct bridge caps on Third, Fourth, and High streets as part of one phase of the project. Rather than restoring the current bridges, the bridge caps will be substantially wider and more friendly to those biking or walking across them, Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla said." https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/how-rebuilding-of-i-70-71-will-affect-downtown-columbus-streets/ Not to be too critical, but does that count as a "cap" if it's a bridge with wider sidewalks? With High/3rd/4th being major crossovers from the Southside to Downtown the caps should be large enough to include buildings like the Short North Cap and the projected buildings on the 3rd Street Cap. It should be a seamless transition where a pedestrian doesn't realize they're crossing over the interstate.
January 31, 20241 yr 2 hours ago, KyleofColumbus said: Not to be too critical, but does that count as a "cap" if it's a bridge with wider sidewalks? With High/3rd/4th being major crossovers from the Southside to Downtown the caps should be large enough to include buildings like the Short North Cap and the projected buildings on the 3rd Street Cap. It should be a seamless transition where a pedestrian doesn't realize they're crossing over the interstate. In my eyes, the Short North cap has been so successful, I don't know why it's not SOP to include these in most if not all of the major overpasses around downtown Columbus
January 31, 20241 yr Cost I suppose. Also does anyone know if the Department of Homeland Security still handles security on the SN caps?
February 1, 20241 yr On 1/31/2024 at 1:36 PM, GCrites said: Cost I suppose. Also does anyone know if the Department of Homeland Security still handles security on the SN caps? Costs would for sure be a factor, but look at how much the Short North Cap improved the surrounding area. The development that has spurred since the cap was built has to be a greater return than the initial costs. German Village / Brewery District are a major "tourist attraction" for majority of visitors. Why separate such as celebrated area with hap-hazard bridges from downtown? Literally 3rd and 4th St bridges are in absolute shambles. I'm also excited at Livingston being converted to two way traffic. Still would like to see protected bike lanes and wide sidewalks.
February 5, 20241 yr 20 hours ago, CbusOrBust said: Downtown Ramp Up from W. Mound St Great photos, I'll be interested in seeing the new Mound Street with the new onramp bridge.
March 6, 20241 yr That westbound 70 to southbound 71 flyover bridge is going to cut off views to the skyline.
March 6, 20241 yr The old abandoned bridge to Scioto Audubon did as well including on Family Guy. I don't really watch that show anymore after it stopped being all Transformers jokes though
March 11, 20241 yr Ramps rising seemingly everywhere south of Downtown as part of the Downtown Ramp Up project
March 11, 20241 yr I might be in the minority, but I’m beginning to hate this flyover bridge. It’s an aesthetic mess. The bottom of the bridge is taller than the Main St. bridge arch. It will block views for eastbound motorists on 70 into downtown (the Mound St bridge only partially blocked views - it didn’t cross the river). At River and Rich, traffic will be very visible above the flood wall. You’ll be able to watch semis driving by walking along the Scioto Mile. The top of a semi might be 16’ above the steel depending on how thick the bridge deck is. I’m not against freeways (I do like the wider bridges and/or caps) but this seems ridiculous.
March 11, 20241 yr 1 hour ago, Pablo said: I might be in the minority, but I’m beginning to hate this flyover bridge. It’s an aesthetic mess. The bottom of the bridge is taller than the Main St. bridge arch. It will block views for eastbound motorists into downtown (the Mound St bridge only partially blocked views - it didn’t cross the river). At River and Rich, traffic will be very visible above the flood wall. You’ll be able to watch semis driving by walking along the Scioto Mile. The top of a semi might be 16’ above the steel depending on how thick the bridge deck is. I’m not against freeways (I do like the wider bridges and/or caps) but this seems ridiculous. Good lord what an eyesore! I understand the height at the 315/71 interchange, but why is it so tall going into downtown? It's still going to go under High/3rd/4th right!?
March 11, 20241 yr 38 minutes ago, CMHOhio said: Good lord what an eyesore! I understand the height at the 315/71 interchange, but why is it so tall going into downtown? It's still going to go under High/3rd/4th right!? This is the ramp from 70/71 westbound to 71 southbound. I'm guessing it's this tall to get over the railroad. The mainline does go underneath Front St.
March 13, 20241 yr Few more of the new flyover ramp From Harmon From Harmon/Mound curve You can see the new wall and the new ramp in the distance from Mound
March 13, 20241 yr On 3/11/2024 at 1:25 PM, Pablo said: I might be in the minority, but I’m beginning to hate this flyover bridge. It’s an aesthetic mess. The bottom of the bridge is taller than the Main St. bridge arch. It will block views for eastbound motorists on 70 into downtown (the Mound St bridge only partially blocked views - it didn’t cross the river). At River and Rich, traffic will be very visible above the flood wall. You’ll be able to watch semis driving by walking along the Scioto Mile. The top of a semi might be 16’ above the steel depending on how thick the bridge deck is. I’m not against freeways (I do like the wider bridges and/or caps) but this seems ridiculous. I agree with you. This is 100% a disaster that you can see clear as day from Scioto Audubon sticking well above the trees. Also, the 100's of millions of dollars that are going into creating a "fly over" ramp for traffic that may occur for 2 hours on weekdays is an absolute waste of tax payer money. Not to mention an absolute eye sore. I may be yelling into the wind here, but if anyone has information to support the use of this fly over ramp, please feel free to share. I don't see the benefit other than potentially easing 5 minutes of congestion on the freeway. In my opinion, this is an ugly eye sore that is a waste of time and money.
March 13, 20241 yr I don't see the benefit of Phase 6R West Interchange and lets say it's half the cost of the $280 Million in total. This in part of the flyover project.
March 13, 20241 yr 1 hour ago, KyleofColumbus said: but if anyone has information to support the use of this fly over ramp, please feel free to share. I don't see the benefit other than potentially easing 5 minutes of congestion on the freeway. I lived in German Village for several years and took that ramp many times. Any time I got onto the 70 W ramp downtown and needed to get over to the left for 71 S, it felt like I was in Mad Max. The amount of time you have to merge is tiny, and then you have to cut across the whole highway in a short time. This happened at most times of the day. Maybe my experience is unique. But, I feel this will be better, personally, at least from a driving experience standpoint. Maybe not visually. But, I'm pretty sure the entire point of this whole project was to reduce these necessary merges across multiple lanes, which this will accomplish. Edited March 13, 20241 yr by TH3BUDDHA
March 14, 20241 yr 21 hours ago, TH3BUDDHA said: I lived in German Village for several years and took that ramp many times. Any time I got onto the 70 W ramp downtown and needed to get over to the left for 71 S, it felt like I was in Mad Max. The amount of time you have to merge is tiny, and then you have to cut across the whole highway in a short time. This happened at most times of the day. Maybe my experience is unique. But, I feel this will be better, personally, at least from a driving experience standpoint. Maybe not visually. But, I'm pretty sure the entire point of this whole project was to reduce these necessary merges across multiple lanes, which this will accomplish. I may be wrong, but I believe you're not supposed to exit to 71 S if you get onto 70W from Mound St. There's also way worse lane merges in this city than taking this exit such as: 1. 670 W from 71 N to either Goodale St or 315 N. 2. 270 E (on the north side) to 71 N or S. 3. 670 E to 71 S to Main St Exit 4. The worst one of them all James Rd S to 33 to 104 W. My frustration is spending hundreds of millions to create a huge unappealing flyover ramp that's only going to save 5 minutes at most in rush hour. Unless there's evidence that shows it prevents car related accidents and deaths I don't see the benefit of this ramp.
March 14, 20241 yr ^A major goal of the innerbelt project is to remove the weaving necessary for traffic on I-71 to stay on I-71. Going either northbound or southbound on I-71 into the trench where I-70/I-71 run concurrently, drivers had to change lanes to the other side to exit and stay on I-71. That creates a lot of weaving and safety concerns. When finished, the trench will now keep I-70 in the inside lanes and put I-71 on the outside lanes. Perhaps the flyover ramp is an overkill way to accommodate this solution, but it does support a major change that should make the entire innerbelt work more efficiently.
March 14, 20241 yr 30 minutes ago, KyleofColumbus said: I may be wrong, but I believe you're not supposed to exit to 71 S if you get onto 70W from Mound St. I was talking about the 70 W from 3rd St exit. But, either way, this new configuration gives you the option and allows you to avoid disrupting 70 W traffic flow like @inkmentioned.
March 14, 20241 yr 1 hour ago, ink said: ^A major goal of the innerbelt project is to remove the weaving necessary for traffic on I-71 to stay on I-71. Going either northbound or southbound on I-71 into the trench where I-70/I-71 run concurrently, drivers had to change lanes to the other side to exit and stay on I-71. That creates a lot of weaving and safety concerns. When finished, the trench will now keep I-70 in the inside lanes and put I-71 on the outside lanes. Perhaps the flyover ramp is an overkill way to accommodate this solution, but it does support a major change that should make the entire innerbelt work more efficiently. I do agree to prevent the weaving it will help overall, I'm just surprised they weren't able to use the current lanes going across Scioto and then having the flyover built once you got on the other side of the river. Here's an extremely rough sketch, and my last post about this particular flyover ramp.
April 4, 20241 yr Few more from W Mound And one from Dodge Park- looking across a flooded Scioto River- just before another storm
April 30, 20241 yr Ramp to Close for ‘Years’ as I-70/71 Split Work Continues Starting Saturday, May 10, drivers heading southbound on State Route 315 will no longer be able to exit directly to eastbound I-70. The ramp connecting the two highways will close for “multiple years” according the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). The suggested detour takes drivers east on I-670, then to I-71 South and finally to I-70 East. On May 11, traffic will also shift on a portion of I-70 East, moving from the current highway to a newly-constructed elevated roadway. That will allow for crews to “begin to reconstruct the existing roadway,” according to another ODOT update. More below: https://columbusunderground.com/ramp-to-close-for-years-as-i-70-71-split-work-continues-bw1/ "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
Create an account or sign in to comment