Official: West Dodge Expressway

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles (and Streetcars!).

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OPlaya
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Post by OPlaya »

I still stand by my cut off of Oct. 31st. It will be open by then but I'd be very surprised if it's open before Columbus Day.
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Post by eomaha »

Yeah, looking at that ramp to 680... I'm thinking they've got a considerable amount of work yet there. End of October probably is a good bet. The bridge itself looks like it could be completed within a couple of weeks.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

FYI

West Bound West Dodge Road will be closed from 114th to 120th from Monday until about Thanksgiving.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

CLOSED

As promised they Closed West Dodge Road today from 114 to 120.

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The news was there

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They kept true to form on this poject and started tearing out Dodge shortly there after

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And then...... Everyone took Blondo Street!

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Swift
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Post by Swift »

Why did everyone take Blondo? It's only closed going west, right? And if you're going west you can just take the expressway, right?
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

Why did everyone take Blondo? It's only closed going west, right? And if you're going west you can just take the expressway, right?
All the radio traffice reports were saying take blondo as an alternate to get to 120th Street. I don't think people realized to take the Expressway if they wanted 132nd street or further.
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Post by almighty_tuna »

It was no surprise to see KM3 there. Their teasers last night were quite misleading about Dodge being closed. If you didn't know what was actually occurring you'd think the whole shebang was closed down and panic would overtake the city because of "Omaha's busiest road getting shut down".... :roll:
westom
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Post by westom »

It will be nice if they temporily increased the number of eastbound lanes between 120th and 114th. That might help with the morning traffic.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

westom wrote:It will be nice if they temporily increased the number of eastbound lanes between 120th and 114th. That might help with the morning traffic.
They actually cut it down from 3 to 2 the entire section now so its backed up all day not just the morning. I was thinking if westbound was Closed, why not make one of the 3 Closed lanes an extra Left Turn lane......
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UNOstudent
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Post by UNOstudent »

i wonder why they dont get the eastbound bridge done asap before tearing up lower dodge. eastbound flat out sucks at anytime of the day b/c the lower is only 2 lanes and the upper still isnt done.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

They are scheduled to have westbound lower west dodge road closed until Thanksgiving...... However only 4 Days in to the projectthey already have the olad pavement removed, grading work going and the paving machine sitting there ready to go!
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OmahaJaysCU
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Post by OmahaJaysCU »

paving is just about done, yea, thats right i said the paving is almost done! It's been what a week and a half?
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Post by OPlaya »

I'm sure they'll reopen it completely in a few weeks.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

They paved it monday, cut the lines tuesday and had trucks driving on it today... It is 100% paved for 114th to 120th, today they were working on odds and ends. My thought is they might not open it until the EB expressway opens. Then they will have one lane in each direction on the new part of the lower dodge while they re do the old part.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

Well tomorrow is the day I picked for the opening.... not going to happen. They are so so close, it might be next week. They have a couple small sections of gaurd rail left but the lanes are painted and everything else done.
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Post by Will »

Hawkins needs to do all of the major road projects in the Omaha area
Go west young man.
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Post by MTO »

Agreed! They should build the WSO too.
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OmahaJaysCU
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Post by OmahaJaysCU »

MTO wrote:Agreed! They should build the WSO too.
And Aksarben Village and Mutual's East Campus. And heck, why not just require them to do anything in downtown.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

OmahaJaysCU wrote:
MTO wrote:Agreed! They should build the WSO too.
And Aksarben Village and Mutual's East Campus. And heck, why not just require them to do anything in downtown.
We don't have a problem with buildings in this town, The only three that come to mind are The new Federal Courthouse, The old Fed building remodel, and the slowdown. Think of all the big projects that have had no problems.... FNB, UP, Qwest Center, Durham Transplant Center, Durham Reasearch Tower.
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Post by MTO »

You are over analyzing it. We just want stuff done ASAP so we can have it now.
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OmahaJaysCU
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Post by OmahaJaysCU »

Yeah, I was just kind of joking...
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Post by Coyote »

They just announced that the Eastbound Overpass will be open sometime in October!
No date yet, but not the target date in December.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

Coyote wrote:They just announced that the Eastbound Overpass will be open sometime in October!
No date yet, but not the target date in December.
In the same news story on Bis Sports 590, they also anounced that west bound dodge will reopen tomorrow. They did in 12 days what they scheduled to do in 2 months!

As far as the expressway date, they were "cleaning" off tools and stuff today at lunch, it it should be soon.
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Post by Coyote »

Hawkins should be getting a few good bonuses. They are doing a great job on this project.
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Post by eomaha »

World Herald: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2256142
Hawkins Construction Co. said Thursday that it plans to have the three-lane bridge ready to open no later than Oct. 20
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Post by Will »

WOWT says that it will open on Wednesday
http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/4322397.html

I cant wait to drive on this
:D
Go west young man.
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Post by OPlaya »

I thought it said the next meaning Oct. 18th?
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Post by omahahawk »

further confirmation

Commuting on West Dodge Road will get a lot easier Wednesday when the eastbound expressway bridge opens.

A specific time has not been set, but the opening will be in late afternoon, the Nebraska Roads Department said.

Eastbound expressway to open Wednesday


http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=163 ... rnd=274373
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Post by Coyote »

Getting Around: Courtesy helps at I-680, Dodge
Omaha World Herald wrote:Drivers heading from southbound Interstate 680 onto westbound West Dodge Road can face a tough time merging. Drivers from southbound I-680 have to merge over one lane to reach another ramp that takes them to westbound West Dodge. Drivers have the equivalent of about two blocks to merge. If they don't, they will end up on the elevated expressway. He said the ramps will work best if drivers follow the 45 mph speed limit. He also said drivers should show courtesy and let other motorists merge.
Plus, if you are heading Northbound I-680 and want to take the Expressway West you have to be in the right lane otherwise if you can't merge you end up on West Dodge. I don't know if this exchange could have been planned better, but it is the only complaints I have heard so far. Just show a little courtesy.
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Post by Stargazer »

From well before the expressway opened, I was worried about this... there should have been two dedicated lanes going onto the expressway here.

Anyone else take this route every day?  I do, and I've noticed it starting to look just like it did BEFORE the expressway opened, when everyone was backed up, merging onto Dodge Street... backed up almost to all the way to 680.   I don't know if any kind of modification is even feasible... but as traffic flows rise in the years to come, I'm sure it will continue to get much worse.
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Post by almighty_tuna »

Stargazer wrote:From well before the expressway opened, I was worried about this... there should have been two dedicated lanes going onto the expressway here.

Anyone else take this route every day?  I do, and I've noticed it starting to look just like it did BEFORE the expressway opened, when everyone was backed up, merging onto Dodge Street... backed up almost to all the way to 680.   I don't know if any kind of modification is even feasible... but as traffic flows rise in the years to come, I'm sure it will continue to get much worse.
I think its not as bad as it could be where 680 merges.  I drive that nearly every day and the problem seems to be caused more by morons who choose not to merge until they run out of road.  Everyone has to slam on the brakes so they don't get into an accident, backing things up behind them.  Of course, that causes the impatient among us to try and get ahead in that right lane thus completing the vicious cycle.  There's plenty of time to merge if people can put their egos aside and be OK with not shooting ahead and forcing their way into traffic.
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Post by Stargazer »

You're right... that's worse (although in this case, we didn't JUST complete a hundred+ million dollar 'solution').  You know what is compounding the problem there, don't you?  It's that West Center exit which continues on to 680... idiots try to use that as a shortcut, and it ends up backing up traffic still further.  I wrote NDOR... and suggested that they close off that access road after the exit to get to west bound West Center (because it is in fact not needed at all).  They agreed that this was a major contributor to the problem, acknowledged a big problem in this area, and claimed they are looking for solutions.

Of course the L to I-80 merge is another mess.  How do the 'big cities' handle these situations?  We're obviously doing something wrong here.
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Post by the1wags »

I was looking at that exact west center ramp thing yesterday Jeff, there is no reason for it to hook back up to "mainline" 680 after the WB center ramp. Yeah L street needs fixed too.

Regarding West Dodge, the long term (and more dollars) fix is a bridge. Where NB 680 to Dodge comes around the ramp and splits, left side going to WDR and the right side over the SB 680 to WDR on a new bridge. No more merging the two together. Or drivers who think might help out too. :lol:
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

I drive the I680 - Dodge - Expressway 2 times a day 5 days a week.

1.  Its a product of its own success.  (no one is ever on Maple anymore.)
2.  Only time I run in to big problems is when someone stupid is driving and trying to change lanes.
3.  Its still 10000 times better than before!
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Post by Stargazer »

Well I drive it 5 days a week as well... and it is 10000 times better than it was before... about 3 days of the week.  Unfortunately, at least 2 days of the week, it is almost as bad as before.  All I'm saying is... we just got done spending MILLIONS to build a solution, which appears to be very temporary... and the dumb drivers aren't going to go away.


I think it might actually help a LITTLE... if they forced everyone down to a single lane right after they get off of northbound 680 (or at least immediately after the exit to eastbound Dodge...  ie if everyone is forced down to a single lane going back over 680 around that curve... the only merge which these dummies would be required to think about.. would be the one from southbound 680 (those people going down onto 'lower' Dodge, can make a quick jog off to that exit when it arrives.   From my experience, it's not the southbound 680 people who are slowing things down... it's the northbound 680 people who are waiting until the last minute to merge into the center lane.

Oh, and I've personally already seen 3 accidents at the lower Dodge/expressway bridge split... one fellow who rammed straight into the barricade.
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Post by Uffda »

I am usually one of the southbound I 680 drivers that is wanting to head west on the expressway -- i havent noticed too many problems but there has a been a couple of times especially around 515-600 where had to almost come to a stop when trying to merge into that center lane to head west.

The part I have never liked is having to look left and UP and BACK to see who is coming over the bridge from the east when coming off of south bound 680
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Post by DTO Luv »

Ah I don't miss driving. :)
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Post by omaja »

While the I-680 merge before the westbound express lanes is a pain, there are quite a few other glaring mistakes with the design of the expressway and the I-680 interchange... the biggest one being that ALL eastbound express traffic continuing on Dodge is reduced to one lane after the I-680/Dodge split.  That is completely asinine! The mainline express traffic shouldn't merge with lower Dodge... Dodge should merge with the expressway.  Not only is it a complete waste of capacity, but it is just about as counter-intuitive as left-handed exits to have the faster-moving traffic merge with slower traffic on the left.  Everybody thinks that they need to be in the left lane before 132nd Street if they are continuing on Dodge, which makes passing anyone a real chore (to say the least)... and people in Omaha are, at best, terrible at following the driving etiquette of driving right and passing left anyway.  Heading westbound on Dodge is the opposite: it is difficult to do anything when the left lane continues to lower Dodge and everyone wants to exit to the express lanes.

Not to mention, there is no room to expand the bridges in the future.  Now that's what I call forward thinking!  How many years do they actually project six lanes to be adequate (especially considering the festering mess they've created with I-680 interchange)?  They built the ugly thing and didn't really think too much about what will happen when one lane isn't enough for I-680 heading to the westbound expressway, or when two lanes isn't enough from westbound Dodge to the westbound express lanes, or when one lane isn't enough for the eastbound express lanes continuing on Dodge.  If we have to build something as unsightly as an elevated expressway, it should at the very least anticipate future traffic growth.  It doesn't really look like what we have now will do that.  Sure, it works okay right now, but what about in five years?  Ten?  The whole thing will have to be redone again.

Whew!  That felt good to express some of my frustrations with this whole thing.  Driving it twice daily can really give you thought about how mediocre the whole expressway and I-680 interchange really are. Granted, some of the issues wouldn't exist if people knew how to drive, but the NDOR engineers should have known better and compensated for inevitable idiocy.

The mess that West Dodge Road and I-680 is now:
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What it should have been:
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What they should really do:
Remove the loops and all the subpar work in the current setup, it would make everything a lot more efficient.
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Post by DTO Luv »

So when are we going to build another elevated expressway on top of this one. :;):
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Post by Big E »

I can't believe I missed that article...  and my opportunity for a great big "I told you so".  This thing can be a headache even for me, and I'm always going against 95% of traffic during non-peak hours.  For a society that has NO idea how to merge, that little stretch is scarier than the Dodge Street Suicide Lane.

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