Looks like the state plans to tear down and replace the Paddock bridge this summer.  See the HamCo projects.  This should be in the news, and ODOT should be building it to match the current design (and I'm sure they won't be)

 

https://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D08/Construction/Documents/2017%20D8%20%20construction.pdf

They're replacing the Seymour Avenue bridge, and just modifying Paddock.  I believe they need to saw-cut away some of the concrete abutments. 

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/_layouts/mobile/dispform.aspx?List=454c3b6d-ca08-4f10-bef1-9d84976a40d2&View=2943ccdc-112f-433e-9d99-98bafd9d04c0&ID=5

That's odd. I remember looking at ODOT plans a few years ago that showed they were going to keep the existing Paddock overpass and narrow the lanes so they could squeeze 4 lanes in each direction underneath. But I guess they now plan to rebuild so they can fit in full-width lanes.

I think you are confusing the two. Paddock was reconstructed in 2002 and will be slightly widened at its base. Seymour was built in 1958 and is original to the interstate.

It says OH4/561 bridge in 2017 construction PDF which would mean Paddock, in what I posted.  But the details are likely to be right in the bid note.  Looks like an error on ODOTs part in the publication then.

 

On another note.  I don't understand how they phase this.  Do Mitchell and Hopple but leave 74, now moving north making another gap.  Why not so it in line, at least.  It sure seems like moving northward from the southern sections would make the most sense. 

 

In 2020, this newly constructed GE section will just be a freshly paved parking lot heading into the lockland split. 

"Thru the Valley" and "Mill Creek Expressway" are two separate projects with their own budgets, phasing, etc.

 

"Mill Creek Expressway" goes from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Ronald Reagan Highway. That project has already finished with Mitchell and Hopple, and will do the I-74/75 interchange next.

 

"Thru the Valley" is just now kicking off, for the most part (some of the overpasses on I-75 South were widened year and years ago because they were "shovel-ready projects" and got stimulus money). That project covers Ronald Reagan Highway to I-275.

 

The Brent Spence Bridge project includes everything from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Cut In The Hill (NKY).

OH-561 follows Seymour to Vine Street where it ends.  OH-4 is Paddock to Vine and Springfield Pike.  So there really isn't such a thing as an OH-4/561 bridge because the routes aren't concurrent. 

"Thru the Valley" and "Mill Creek Expressway" are two separate projects with their own budgets, phasing, etc.

 

"Mill Creek Expressway" goes from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Ronald Reagan Highway. That project has already finished with Mitchell and Hopple, and will do the I-74/75 interchange next.

 

"Thru the Valley" is just now kicking off, for the most part (some of the overpasses on I-75 South were widened year and years ago because they were "shovel-ready projects" and got stimulus money). That project covers Ronald Reagan Highway to I-275.

 

The Brent Spence Bridge project includes everything from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Cut In The Hill (NKY).

 

They're both managed by ODOT and part of the same prioritization processes for funding, no?  I fail to see how this matters.  Even the phasing within Mill Creek Expressway is nonsensical.

^Everything was supposed to be done by now back when the projects were designed back around 2005.  The 2008-09 recession was a disaster for ODOT's finances.  They had to push everything back 5-10 years. 

It says OH4/561 bridge in 2017 construction PDF which would mean Paddock, in what I posted.  But the details are likely to be right in the bid note.

Looks like an error on ODOTs part in the publication then.

 

http://contracts.dot.state.oh.us/common/searchAPI.do?PROJECT%5FNUM=170361&cabinetId=1002

 

The replacement bridge is the Seymour Ave. overpass (SR561); with this project there is some work to the Paddock overpass (SR4).

 

In ODOT parlance, work on separate routes in separate locations gets the 'slash' in the Project name; with the lower route listed 1st; hence HAM-4/561

[glow=red,2,300]Cincinnati bridge project dead[/glow]

 

 

A bridge from South Cumminsville to Central Parkway and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College will not be built after city and state officials determined that the existing traffic system in the area can handle the numbers of vehicles present.

 

State funding for the Elmore Street connector will be moved to the city’s bridge program to address needs, according to a memo signed by City Manager Harry Black.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/05/08/cincinnati-bridge-project-dead.html

"after city and state officials determined that the existing traffic system in the area can handle the numbers of vehicles present."

 

:clap:

Stopping an unnecessary highway project before it gets so far along that there's no turning back... it's a victory, albeit a small one. Next, the Brent Spence Bridgedoggle...

[glow=red,2,300]Cincinnati bridge project dead[/glow]

 

 

A bridge from South Cumminsville to Central Parkway and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College will not be built after city and state officials determined that the existing traffic system in the area can handle the numbers of vehicles present.

 

State funding for the Elmore Street connector will be moved to the city’s bridge program to address needs, according to a memo signed by City Manager Harry Black.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/05/08/cincinnati-bridge-project-dead.html

e

 

One more JC failed project.

Another door to nowhere.

It's happening.  About two weeks ago crews showed up and did some preliminary work near St. Rita's and this morning I saw all sorts of heavy equipment tearing up grass and foliage near that interchange. 

Yep, that is my work exit. Weeeeeeeeeee. I go from Delhi, thru the lick river project which has thankfully ended road wise to the Viaduct to the hopple area part up to Glendale Milford. The back-ups give me time to be impressed by how the people working on all these projects get them done so precisely. The most amazing so far was how they dug a trench along north 75 and build the ramp northbound from Hopple below grade, buried part of it and then the expressway was eventually rebuilt lower months later they dug out the buried parts of the previously built ramp and it meshed perfectly. The Glendale Milford bridge is to be another gateway type bridge so i guess it will all come down and be rebuilt to the new width and design?. Sadly we will also loose the Shepherd lane shortcut around stopped traffic in the re-do when they get to the road part.

 

^It'll be ok though.  With all the added lanes traffic won't ever get stopped again!  ;)

 

It's my exit too.

Oh dear, three years of construction on this interchange.

 

https://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D08/ThruTheValley/Pages/Phases-1-and-2.aspx

 

Highway widening in progress between Mitchell Ave. and Norwood Lateral:

 

 

At Vine Street in St. Bernard:

 

 

I-75 / I-74 interchange:

 

 

 

 

Notice that the old ramp that linked I-74 to Central Parkway is still standing over I-75. I suspect that ODOT might leave it there until they can close the entire highway to demolish it, in order to avoid a repeat of the disaster from 2015.

SO happy to see that onramp from Central Parkway go! That was a dangerous spot for cyclists. Looking forward to that protected bike lane extending all the way to Ludlow, however, now after these months in Seattle and Portland... I wish they had been designed with north and south bound bike lanes on the same side of the street. Provides a much safer and accessible cycling environment.

Is that awkwardly sharp right-hand turn on the endless NB onramp just temporary while they work on the I-74 interchange? I really hope it's not permanent because I can already forsee a lot of accidents happening there with that configuration.

 

Also, Holy Moly it's going to be so much wider when it's done. I also can't believe that they're still not done with that widening.

Temporary until the new interchange is built. Here's the PDF for what that section will eventually look like.

I wish they had been designed with north and south bound bike lanes on the same side of the street. Provides a much safer and accessible cycling environment.

 

I'm not so sure this would be a good spot for that. The logical place to put a two-way cycle track on Central Parkway would be the west side, because the east side has a lot of driveways, which create a lot of conflicts. But the east side is the side with more destinations and connections to other streets, hence it's the side cyclists naturally want to be on (I have even seen cyclists riding the wrong way in the northbound bike lane, presumably for this reason). If there were a two-way cycle track on the west side, I would expect many cyclists to not even bother with it if they aren't traveling the full length between Downtown and Ludlow. But the danger factor is too intense to put it on the east side, where e.g. you will have southbound cars turning left into driveways, not looking to see if there are southbound cyclists they are about to crash into.

Temporary until the new interchange is built. Here's the PDF for what that section will eventually look like.

 

What part is temporary?  I thought the long on ramp was going to be permanent, unless I'm misunderstanding what BigDipper is saying.

The way that they just took the old Central Parkway onramp and hooked the Hopple Street onramp into it ... that is temporary. The final Hopple Street ramp will still be very long, but it will join I-75 in a much more direct fashion instead of turning right to follow Central Parkway and then turning left to hook into the old onramp. I've attached a close-up of that part of the plan. Notice the red X's marking the current ramps that will be removed.

That pic has to be wrong. No way I-75 is going over the Ludlow overpass.

That pic has to be wrong. No way I-75 is going over the Ludlow overpass.

 

It isnt, the way they do those files is to only draw the new parts and x out the demo parts. Since the Viaduct exists and wont be altered it stays on the base photo layer.

Demo of the 80 year-old railings that line the famous Lockland Split began today.  Also, telephone poles are being moved on the west side of the trench. 

The Split was one of those great sections of old expressway that had a bunch of character, especially when that old factory was standing on the east side of it still. Most of Ohio's freeways lack that level of intrigue, fast speeds and safety be damned.

It's amazing how rare a spectacular wreck is in that channel.  Earlier this year someone attempted to make 110~ degree turn onto the Lockland exit ramp and hit the wall dead-on.  I mean, their error in judgement was simply massive. 

The Split was one of those great sections of old expressway that had a bunch of character, especially when that old factory was standing on the east side of it still. Most of Ohio's freeways lack that level of intrigue, fast speeds and safety be damned.

 

With that being said, I hope ODOT doesn't do some stupid "make it look vintage" thing like they tried to do around Mitchell and Hopple. Just a simple, utilitarian trench like we have in FWW will be fine.

 

But I guess that isn't cool anymore.

^ I felt that the little concrete arches along the railings were a nice touch that mirrored the railing along Central Parkway, but it doesn't look that great painted with that anti-graffiti paint, big fences, and out-of-scale streetlights mounted on it. One of the best "highway trenches" I've seen in person is probably the stretch of I-35 north of downtown Duluth - that whole area was landscaped really well with a nice, modern motif that wasn't over the top and still seems to be holding up. Meanwhile ODOT is building weird ugly fake-stone highway overpasses in Lima that don't make any contextual sense.

If ODOT is only demolishing one wall and not the other, I wouldn't be surprised if they match the old design (for the concrete if not the railings, which are probably not code-compliant anyway).  It's pretty simple so it could be sold as both a cost-savings and a nod to historic integrity.  It looks however like they want to do mural type walls, kind of like you see up near the Dayton Airport.  http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D08/ThruTheValley/AESTHETICS102007/Appendix_E_AestheticsDecisionsBrochure.pdf 

Can't be as bad as the Art Deco-style walls and fixtures of the old Waldvogel Viaduct mashing up against the fake rock textures.

I really really really hate that ashlar pattern. I wish they'd just go with an un-stamped design, or if they insist on having a texture, that vertical striped texture. And the noise walls look better with a brick pattern like up in Cleveland than the faux-stone.

The pattern used by the new MLK interchange (I believe?) has a nice vertical pattern. It's not something I've seen ODOT use elsewhere.

 

The stamped rock, if colored correctly, can look quite nice - such as around historical bridges or towns. Not on expressways where there is no context.

 

I'm torn on the brick facade. Perhaps it's because I've seen it used so much up here in New York - such as on New York's expressways, where it's in states of failure. Just vast walls of brick removed down to the concrete base because of ill-maintenance. And it looks very crappy when it's been repainted to an odd red color.

I really really really hate that ashlar pattern. I wish they'd just go with an un-stamped design, or if they insist on having a texture, that vertical striped texture. And the noise walls look better with a brick pattern like up in Cleveland than the faux-stone.

 

Screw Cleveland and Cincinnati noise walls. Most of Cleveland's highways are like a tunnel with nothing to look at. Highway noise isn't really that unpleasant except for jake brakes. Columbus is all highway noise and we don't care. Harleys are everywhere on all Midwestern roads big or small and are 10X as annoying -- and I love motorcycles.

They are taking down the Lockland walls. RIP old Erie Canal.

They are taking down the Lockland walls. RIP old Erie Canal.

 

Yep. S the one on the west side of the trench is staying? It looks almost completely dilapidated.

The one thing that stands out to me is that those concrete walls didn't look to have any reinforcing in them at all.  They were some extremely thick walls though.

There's no way they couldn't have reinforcing in them. 

I wouldn't think so either, but usually when a concrete structure is demo'ed it's pretty easy to spot the rebar sticking out everywhere.  I didn't see any in the rubble of the East wall on the southbound side.  I wish I'd have taken pictures.

The barrels disappeared from Mitchell Ave. on Monday for the first time since 2011.  Six years to add one lane between Mitchell and the Norwood Lateral. 

The barrels disappeared from Mitchell Ave. on Monday for the first time since 2011.  Six years to add one lane between Mitchell and the Norwood Lateral.

They didn't quite disappear, they just migrated north for the Thru the Valley project. Another couple billion to add one lane. 

The barrels disappeared from Mitchell Ave. on Monday for the first time since 2011.  Six years to add one lane between Mitchell and the Norwood Lateral. 

 

Are the ramp meters now up and running?

Also, with that work wrapping up, ODOT has finally opened up the 4th thru lane of I-75 between I-74 and the Norwood Lateral. As you can see from this photo from 2015, the fourth lane was originally striped off.

 

The barrels disappeared from Mitchell Ave. on Monday for the first time since 2011.  Six years to add one lane between Mitchell and the Norwood Lateral.

They didn't quite disappear, they just migrated north for the Thru the Valley project. Another couple billion to add one lane. 

 

It didn't cost a "couple billion" to "add one lane." I won't even go into the specifics of what work was done or the scope or the actual cost - but even if you are an ardent opponent of the project, you can't be *this* obtuse.

Ha, you're right. I looked it up and it only cost 1-1.2 billion for a lane addition between Western Hills Viaduct and just south of I-275. Approximately 16 miles. When you add in the unknown but estimated cost of adding that amount of capacity south to the river from the viaduct and you get right at 2 billion plus the cost of a new bridge.  Look at the ODOT websites for each of these projects you will see in the summary first and foremost that LANE ADDITION is right up front. We did get a bunch of new interchanges but those had to be done to qualify for federal funding. And what do we get for all of that, Induced Demand! I don't really care one way or the other, I was just making a humorous observation but don't snipe comments, it's rude. 

It didn't cost that - it hasn't even occurred. There are also two separate projects entailing more than just a simple "lane addition" that you keep harping about. And we are talking about two separate projects - Mill Creek and Thru the Valley, which combined will most likely exceed $900 million. But again, those projects are phased out well into the next decade or more, so those costs are unknown. And when you spread it out over two decades (or more at this point), that's not that big of a deal.

 

You must have forgotten about the replacement of 50 year old bridges that were nearing the end of their lifespan; the total replacement of pavement that was well over the end of their lifespan; the rebuilding of several interchanges that didn't meet FHWA standards; etc., etc., etc. More than just a simple lane addition.