Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

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BRoss
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Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by BRoss »

LOCATION: The projects are located on I-80 in Douglas County. The project begins at just west of 60th Street
(MM. 450.84) and extends 3.01 miles to the east on I-80 westbound ending at 24th Street (MM. 453.35).

PURPOSE AND NEED: The purpose of the project is to increase capacity and improve traffic operations on I-80
westbound by accommodating the Missouri River Bridge expansion project from Council Bluffs, Iowa into Nebraska
(currently under construction).

The need for the project is the result of increased traffic and Iowa’s rebuilding of their interstate in Council Bluffs and
the proposed design of expanding the number of lanes entering into Nebraska from Iowa. The existing lane
configuration in Nebraska is not adequate to handle the additional lanes coming in from the Iowa project extending
through the I-80/I-480 Kennedy Interchange. In addition, this project will improve the I-80 westbound traffic operation
west of the I-80/I-480 Kennedy Interchange by reconfiguring the existing lanes.

SCOPE OF WORK: The additional westbound lanes being constructed on I-80 during Iowa’s Segment 1 work will
necessitate the addition of a new lane to the existing two lanes in the middle of the I-80/I-480 Kennedy South
interchange. This will be accomplished by restriping the existing lanes and shoulders through the middle of the
system interchange. The new striping results in three (3) lanes on westbound I-80 with reduced shoulder widths.
Adding the three existing lanes from westbound I-480, west of the system interchange, will result in a total of six (6)
mainline I-80 lanes. These six (6) lanes will be extended to the west to the 60th Street exit ramp before initiating lane
drops. The ramp from the Kennedy Freeway northbound to I-80 westbound will be added as a seventh (auxiliary)
lane which must exit at 42nd Street. An additional one (1) or two (2) lanes will need to be constructed to facilitate the
additional lane and eliminating the existing lane drop prior to the 42nd Street interchange.

In addition to the expanding lane configuration, the project will maintain the two lane exits at the 42nd and 60th Street
interchanges. Three bridges will need to be widened to accommodate the additional lanes. The 42nd Street mainline
westbound bridge project will need to be widened 24 feet. The bridge on I-80 WB over I-480 NB ramp will be
widened a total of eighteen feet (18) and the 50th Street Bridge will need to be widened twelve (12) feet.

http://vimeo.com/68533247
http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/ ... /index.htm
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nativeomahan
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Post by nativeomahan »

They certainly need to add a third westbound lane under the I-480 bridges.  I have no idea why that wasn't done years ago when they did the rebuild.
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Post by RNcyanide »

So will they do any decorative work like they will in the Iowa sections?
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Post by BRoss »

RNcyanide wrote:So will they do any decorative work like they will in the Iowa sections?
Doubt it. Probably will just add the lanes.
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Post by RNcyanide »

HR Paperstacks wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:So will they do any decorative work like they will in the Iowa sections?
Doubt it. Probably will just add the lanes.
Aw.
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Post by Bugeater »

Huh? WB80 between 480 and 42nd St is already a giant goddam |expletive|, I don't see how adding lanes is going to improve that one bit.
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Post by BRoss »

Bugeater wrote:Huh? WB80 between 480 and 42nd St is already a giant goddam |expletive|, I don't see how adding lanes is going to improve that one bit.
I personally think it will help a lot.
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Post by mrsticka »

When the I-80/I-29 project in Council Bluffs is finished, eastbound I-80 will be 4 lanes from 13th to the Missouri River bridge, where a 5th lane will form.  It should be built as 5 lanes all the way from 13th to I-29 just like westbound I-80 will be.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

Is this project beginning? I have seen all the construction barrels on 480 southbound and was just wondering.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Turtle9160 »

I have been wondering that too, saw a crane this morning on the side of the interchange down along 80. Look like its driving piles or something in down there, maybe for a bridge
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Coyote »

I've seen workers on EB-80 x NB-480, for the past several days. I haven't seen their schedule, so I don't know what prep is needed at this juncture.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by iamjacobm »

Work being done to add the lane over 42nd Street going on right now.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Brad »

Anyone know that they coated the bridge deck with at 42nd Street in the Westbound Lanes of I80? Its like that fancy driveway coating with the little pebbles in it? It rides really nice, just wonder what the cold and plows will do to it.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

I just wonder whose job it is to clean up the shoulders on the interstate. I am sick and tired of seeing them so littered with debris. This weekend alone there was a mattress that was in the southbound shoulder of 480 and on the eastbound section of 480 near the Centurylink Center there were numerous sheets of siding. All of these were still there as of yesterday afternoon. When I was recently in Denver, the roads were clean, medians painted, no potholes. I have seen worse, but it sure makes Omaha look trashy if you were just driving through.

I have seen the same cardboard boxes next to the median on northbound 480 for over two weeks. Like I have posted before, the city or state needs to get out there and clean up the interstate. I never see all that trash when driving on the interstate in other cities.
Last edited by skinzfan23 on Tue Aug 04, 2015 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Brad
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Brad »

I see them cleaning them up all the time. However, It seems like there is stuff always laying around. Must be an abnormal amount of careless people around here...
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

Brad wrote:I see them cleaning them up all the time.  However, It seems like there is stuff always laying around.  Must be an abnormal amount of careless people around here...
Who cleans them up? Is it the NDOR?
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Brad »

skinzfan23 wrote:Who cleans them up?  Is it the NDOR?
Yep, Its a truck that pulls some street sweeper machine. The jump out too and pick up the big stuff.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Uffda »

Crashes spike as drivers arrive at Interstate 80 funnel near 60th Street exit



A new wrinkle along Interstate 80 in Omaha has caught some drivers off-guard, resulting in a spike in accidents.
Westbound I-80 expanded to seven lanes south of downtown but funnels to four lanes near the 60th Street exit.
The sixth lane — along with the seventh — becomes an exit at 60th Street, and the fifth lane disappears during a short lane merge after the 60th Street exit. The fifth lane returns in the form of an on-ramp from 60th Street.

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/crashes ... 5fa58.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by nativeomahan »

Not sure where else to post this. I don't often drive I-80 in Omaha in the daytime, but a month ago I noticed a number of large overhead directional signs and the support posts laying on the ground along EB I-80. I assumed some new signs were going up.
Today I drove I-80 from 84th Street to 13th Street, and noticed the same large signs laying in the same places as a month ago. I started counting them and quit at ten! Including 3 at the 13th St. interchange.
What gives? These signs seem to have been up, and are now down, doing absolutely no one any good. It makes no sense to me.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by jag42 »

NativeOmahan: I have noticed that too...there are a bunch of them down along I-680 Around the West Dodge Road exits....makes you wonder if somebody noticed a defect in one of them and they were taken down as a precaution.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Ryan_Huskers »

Here is your answer, courtesy of NDOR's "Were You Wondering About...?" page:
Why Are There Large Interstate Signs Down Along I-80 in Omaha? Are They Getting Replaced?

Based on our latest inspections, there are 16 cantilever (single pole with offset sign structure) sign structures that have either been removed or will be due to issues with the bolts that hold the sign structure to the foundation. We have removed these signs and we are currently designing the new foundations and sign structures for their replacement. The new sign structures should be installed during spring/summer 2015.
http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/info/wonder.htm
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

Good find. I think they had a similar thing happen to the digital sign over I-80 east of the zoo a few years ago. It had to be completely redone.

I am surprised it is going to take until spring/summer to complete. When heading south on 13th st and attempting to enter I-80, there is no sign showing which way to go. Have to believe that would make it hard on guests visiting the zoo.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

From KETV:
The problems are bigger than just the bolts. The old signs will need to be replaced by new signs that are bigger to meet recent changes in federal standards, which means everything else, including the base, will also have to be replaced.

"It'll be about $1.6 million to replace all of them, but it's money well spent," Butler said.

NDOR says crews are installing temporary signs and the new and improved ones will be put up by summertime. Once the new signs come in, the NDOR will recover the old signs for use elsewhere. The metal base structures will be salvaged.
Structural damage, federal standards prompt expensive road sign replacements
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Coyote »

I have noticed coming home at night these past few weeks, that signs are being installed on EB I-80 from 126th/Giles to the I St Overpass.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Seth »

It could be worse. At least they aren't critical components of a $6.5 billion dollar bridge.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_2 ... lts-sequel" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

The middle of July and still the signs are sitting on the sides of the road....maybe they meant that they will be up by fall.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by BRoss »

Slightly off topic, but something funny I came across the other day is the exit signs for 84th St on wb I-80 are backwards. The sign showing the right lane is an exit only and the lane next to it is also an exit is right at the exit, whereas the sign with the tilted arrows that are supposed to indicate the exit is about a quarter mile back. I brought it up with NDOR and they went back to their signing plan and said they were indeed wrong and would have to be fixed. Only took around 20 years for them to realize the problem...lol
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

HR Paperstacks wrote:Slightly off topic, but something funny I came across the other day is the exit signs for 84th St on wb I-80 are backwards. The sign showing the right lane is an exit only and the lane next to it is also an exit is right at the exit, whereas the sign with the tilted arrows that are supposed to indicate the exit is about a quarter mile back. I brought it up with NDOR and they went back to their signing plan and said they were indeed wrong and would have to be fixed. Only took around 20 years for them to realize the problem...lol
I had to look at google maps to understand exactly what you are talking about but I see what you mean. That is hilarious. It is crazy how the missed that, but I have driven that way numerous times and never noticed either.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by nativeomahan »

At least one of the exit signs on US 6 by Boys Town is screwed up as well. The lane is an exit only lane, but nothing in the signage instructs the motorist of that fact.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Turtle9160 »

skinzfan23 wrote:The middle of July and still the signs are sitting on the sides of the road....maybe they meant that they will be up by fall.
I know for sure that there planning to do the work on the sign structures some time in the fall, unless there is a wait for new signage I am not for sure what the wait is
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by BRoss »

Not I-80, but since we were talking about the signs on the side of the road on this thread - I noticed they are putting up the one at Dodge & 680 today. About time...
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

skinzfan23 wrote:I just wonder whose job it is to clean up the shoulders on the interstate. I am sick and tired of seeing them so littered with debris. This weekend alone there was a mattress that was in the southbound shoulder of 480 and on the eastbound section of 480 near the Centurylink Center there were numerous sheets of siding. All of these were still there as of yesterday afternoon. When I was recently in Denver, the roads were clean, medians painted, no potholes. I have seen worse, but it sure makes Omaha look trashy if you were just driving through.
I have seen the same cardboard boxes next to the median on northbound 480 for over two weeks. Like I have posted before, the city or state needs to get out there and clean up the interstate. I never see all that trash when driving on the interstate in other cities.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by Brad »

Another Story on all the signs that were taken down, including the reporter climbing the rebar like its a piece playground equipment.
http://www.ketv.com/news/fractured-road ... s/35403810
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

Glad to see that they will finally be up by the end of the year.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

February is almost here and still the signs are sitting on the side of the road in most locations on I-80. I can't believe how long it is taking them to install a few signs. It has almost been a year since we first heard about the signs being taken down.
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Re: Westbound I-80 - I-480 to 60th Street

Post by skinzfan23 »

Ask and you shall receive:
EB I-80 exit ramp at 13th to shut for 8 hours beginning tonight
An Interstate 80 exit ramp in Omaha will be temporarily closed for eight hours beginning tonight for sign work.
The Nebraska Department of Roads said the eastbound I-80 exit ramp to northbound and southbound 13th Street will be closed starting at 10 o’clock tonight. The ramp is to reopen Friday at 6 a.m.

The ramp closing is due to the installation of sign structures.
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