Official: West Dodge Expressway

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

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UNOstudent
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Post by UNOstudent »

i use the expy using the dodge st. ramps and agree with omaja that its poorly planned. he (or she?) hit the nail on the head when people go eastbound that want to use dodge st get over in the far left lane at 132nd and causes a huge slowdown and basicly merging to one lane as it enters lower dodge is stupid. things ive noticed on the westbound side: im willing to bet that 80+% of the cars in front of westroads are in the right two lanes to either go on the expwy or 680 therefore leaving the far left lane mostly empty except for people trying to merge on the exwy at the last moment or continue to lower dodge. once on the expwy, people from 680 always seem the need to switch lanes right away and get to the center lane and i dont know why b/c it makes its own lane. often times i let those people get over in the center lane and then pass them in the empty right lane. lastly, as people go up the hill towards 120th they dont accelerate more to maintain their speed.
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Post by the1wags »

I'd like to see them close the expressway down for a week. I'm betting you'd hear people quit crying about how horrible the design is.
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Post by omaja »

Sure, except that would do nothing to fix the fact that it IS a poor design.  :)

You're probably more likely to hear a lot more people complaining about capacity issues in the future.  Dodge has basically been restricted to four through lanes at 114th for years so right now the express lanes help, but Omaha was able to cope before they opened.  What about when the entire complex fails to adequately handle an increase in traffic (i.e. only six lanes, the tight westbound I-680 merge, the capacity-constrained eastbound I-680 split, etc.)?  

If they closed the express lanes tomorrow, you'd probably only hear the people who aren't smart enough to divert to I-680, Maple or Pacific complaining. :;):  People would just go back to whatever there commuting routine was before the express lanes opened.   That won't be so easy in the future, especially if other roads are equally as congested (and at the rate roads are being expanded in West Omaha, that seems very probable).

The whole express idea is lopsided: it is fine at the western end--for now, anyway--they just screwed up the eastern interchange with I-680 and local Dodge.  What are they going to do, add another set of bridges to the north and south of the existing ones?  That would go over real well, I'm sure. :?
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Post by StreetsOfOmaha »

Eos wrote:If you ask me, they really ought to look at putting more E-85 fuel stations along this route.  We need to expand the use and stop relying on so much oil from the middle east.
Haha.  It almost seems like you have a hidden agenda.  Oh, wait, it's really poorly hidden.

Anyway, I guess I agree, but it doesn't have much to do with this discussion.
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Big E
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Post by Big E »

Merchants weigh Dodge expressway's impact

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1 ... id=2345773
OWH wrote:"We've watched our business drop like a rock," said Pete Zekauskas, co-owner with Mike Shullman of Russell Speeder's Car Wash at 118th Street and West Dodge Road.

"When one of the bridges went up, we lost 20 percent of our volume, and when the other came we lost another 20 percent. That threw us in the red immediately, and now we are trying to wiggle our way out of this," Zekauskas said.

And he's not the only one.
Since I obviously have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll shut up and let everyone else spin this.

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Brad
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Post by Brad »

Who cares... Move.

I would rather inconvience 1% of the population to make life more convent for the other 99% of the population!

Besides a overpriced car wash, that is out of the way is not a very good judge.  Not with all the Bucky's and fantasy's building all those big new stores with HUGE car washes all over the place.

And as far as your last comment.... The reason people argue with you all the time is because you are so arrogant.
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Big E
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Post by Big E »

Brad wrote:Who cares... Move.

I would rather inconvience 1% of the population to make life more convent for the other 99% of the population!

Besides a overpriced car wash, that is out of the way is not a very good judge.  Not with all the Bucky's and fantasy's building all those big new stores with HUGE car washes all over the place.

And as far as your last comment.... The reason people argue with you all the time is because you are so arrogant.
The reason people argue with me all the time is because I'm usually the voice of dissent. If I were just arrogant and people agreed with me, no one would say anything.  If you're a smart |expletive| and people agree with you, you're funny.  If you're a smart |expletive| and people don't agree with you, you're arrogant, apparently.  I call it the Coulter-Maher Paradox.  And I can live with it.

And I don't necessarily disagree with you about the 1% vs 99% thing.  But I did want to point out that there were several (including myself) that thought the expressway would be bad for businesses, and we were summarily dismissed.  This article provides at least some evidence that proves us at least not wrong.  Time will tell.  Would it have been better if I had just said "nanner nanner" and put a smiley up there?  Would I still be arrogant if you were on the "bad for business" side of the argument?

To be blunt, I don't expect people to suddenly start agreeing with me - if ever.  Frankly, I don't care if they do or not.  But I do get a little burnt out on the rose-tinted "everything being done in Omaha is just freaking perfect and if you disagree you suck" attitude around here.  I've said it before: the biggest cheerleaders should also be the biggest critics.

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Post by Stargazer »

I don't recall anyone questioning that businesses would be affected... it may take some time yet before we see the area become a ghetto however. :)

That said, from the same article...
Lola Denniston, owner of Lola's Deli at 113th and Davenport Streets, said her business, which recently moved from 84th and F Streets, is busy during the lunch hour and she has the expressway to thank.

"Before, it was just so congested people didn't want to be down here," Denniston said. "Now with the overpass, there is less people in the area and it has become a food hub. If you work on Dodge this is where you come for food during your lunch break, without having to fight the traffic."
Na Ly, owner of Tommy's Nails near 117th Street and West Dodge Road, said his business hasn't been affected.

"We have the same clientele, so we are not concerned at all," Ly said. "I think the overpass is a good thing for those people who live out west."
Even the Russell Speeder's co-owner summarizing...
Zekauskas also sees benefits to the expressway. It's good for Omaha, he said.

"It gets commuters home faster and provides infrastructure for growth.

"You can get in and out of the car wash with virtually no delay. All these business can be accessed easier than in a decade."

I'm sure there will be a big shake out over the new few years.  But in the absence of restaurants/retailers which depended on spontaneous stops from 'passers by' will come other restaurants/services which will succeed in catering to a more localized clientele.  Even with the expressway, 114th and Dodge still sees more traffic than say, a 90th and West Center... yet I don't see that area withering on the vine.
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Big E
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Post by Big E »

I'm sure he's thrilled that there's no line at his business anymore.  :)

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Brad
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Post by Brad »

I work a few blocks from 114th and Dodge, I eat lunch in the 114th and Dodge are most days.

I can tell you all the restaurants are much busier during lunch.  Also the BP gas station on the corner of 114th seems to have much more cars during the rush hour probably because people can actually get to it.
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Post by TitosBuritoBarn »

I was down there today and took a walk around the block while my car was serviced at the Nissan dealer. I see very little reason for what's there right now to fail from a lack of traffic. Surely the passer bys on 120th and 114th are enough to keep most of the area businesses open that rely on them. Whatever does fail should most likely become quality land for tearing down and building shiny new office buildings or condos on. That bland strip mall between Russel Speeder and the Super 8 has "wrecking ball" written all over it.
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Post by Coyote »

Concrete Poured At 114th, West Dodge
KETV wrote:An important part of the construction of the lower portion of the West Dodge Expressway was completed on Tuesday. Crews poured concrete in the intersection of 114th Street. Traffic in the westbound lanes was shut down for much of the day while the project was completed.
They are putting finishing touches to this project. Just a small stretch of wetsbound Dodge after 114th needs to be done. It also looks like they are starting to put up the traffic lights now at this intersection. I hope to see some landscaping going in soon.

There was a huge backup at 5:00 pm this evening on southbound 120th - cars trying to get out of Miracle Hills Plaza almost had no room to turn. Same thing on 114th southbound onto Dodge. Not what I was expecting at all.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

I hope they are not done, they never repaved the concrete right in the middle of the intersection, but hopefully they can do that now little by little while having more lanes open.
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Post by Coyote »

I would have to think that the intersection would be the hardest or last to finish because as you say you have to have multiple lanes on both sides to reroute traffic. It is getting real close to closure though.
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Post by pseudoprometheus »

Personally, I just can't wait until they fix the part of the Big Papio Trail that they had to tear up.  I haven't been by there for some time, but I'm pretty sure they still divert you onto a dirt trail (with rocks and random construction debris, making a flat bike tire more likely), and then onto the nearby street's sidewalk (broken glass, broken concrete, cars zooming around the curve, etc).  Where the trail was before, is now mostly mud.

However, it'll be really cool to ride on the trail once it's paved because then you go under the expressways and Dodge itself, and hear all the traffic going over.  Can't wait.  :D
... wait, what?
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Post by Stargazer »

However, it'll be really cool to ride on the trail once it's paved because then you go under the expressways and Dodge itself, and hear all the traffic going over.  Can't wait.
Yeah, just think, it'll probably be just as loud, almost sound as impressive and what the downtown guys get to hear under 480... heh heh.
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Post by Coyote »

Expressway Patchwork
Structural ingegrity intact

WOWT wrote:For 11 months now, the West Dodge Expressway has been part of the metro motoring landscape. But more work is needed. The unexpected job surfaced when cracks were noticed. Those cracks weren't supposed to happen. The Nebraska Department of Roads is looking at so-called diaphragms and 84 of them have concrete that is either cracked or missing. The diaphragms are used to hold girders in place during construction.
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Post by Brad »

Its been cracked since they built it as in before it opened, I don't know why it took this long for the news to catch on, the workers have been talking about it for a year now.  You can see the missing chunks when you are sitting at 114th and Dodge.  Oh well, at least its not on important parts.
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Post by UNOstudent »

http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/8176787.html

Dodge Gets Louder:

You don't need to be a traffic engineer to see that more vehicles are traveling on West Dodge since the expressway opened. For some who live along that stretch, the noise level has increased and they want something done.

Neighbors around 162nd street have trouble hearing one another above the sound of passing traffic on nearby West Dodge.

Amy Valadez says since the expressway opened a few miles to the east, traffic volume has jumped in numbers and decibels.

She says, "When we come out here, we have to shout. So, pretty much if anybody comes out here they're not here for long."

Buying homes near a busy roadway, many of the neighbors expected to live with traffic noise but the speed limit on West Dodge is 65, so more trucks and motorcycles are going faster and they have pushed the sound well into the neighborhood.

Homeowner Russ Montgomery says, "It's in the back yards, in the front, upstairs, in bedrooms, inside houses -- everywhere."

Sound barriers now help reduce traffic noise for neighborhoods along Interstate 680 but state engineers say a wall along West Dodge wouldn't cut the required five decibels needed to make it worth taxpayers' money.

District Engineer Tim Weander says, "We understand the concern. It's just, we will not expend the funds to build a noise wall that will not do any good."

That's not the answer the homeowners wanted to hear but they vow not to give up trying to make state engineers listen to their concerns.

In 2004 approximately 28,000 cars and trucks traveled through 168th and West Dodge each day. Two years later, that number had jumped to nearly 43,000.
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Post by Coyote »

I don't know what she is talking about. My brother lives on 161st just south of Dodge. We were out on the patio the other evening and I didn't notice an elevation in noise. Not enough that I couldn't hear the conversations on the next table.
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Post by Uffda »

I caught this on TV the other night (same video they have online) --- unfortunately for them traffic has increased from 28000 cars a day to 43,000 a day.
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Post by Big E »

Unfortunately?

Did someone come in after 2004 and say "I'm sure this is the first you've heard of any of this, but we're going to be building this thing called 'Dodge Street' by your house and there will be these things called 'cars' crawling all over it.  Sorry no one had mentioned this or pointed it out to you before."

Don't move by a highway and then complain about the highway.

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Brad
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Post by Brad »

Big E wrote:Don't move by a highway and then complain about the highway.
You can say that about a lot of people and things not to move by in this town.  Just like don't move next to a big empty field on a major intersection if you don't want to live by a comerical development....
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Post by MTO »

Or by train tracks... but some people have to learn the hard way I guess..
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Post by Coyote »

Signal installation at 114th and West Dodge on for tonight
Omaha World Herald wrote:As the final major construction for the West Dodge Expressway project, traffic signals will be installed tonight at the intersection of 114th Street and West Dodge. The completion of the intersection is the last major part of the expressway project. The original completion date set by the Nebraska Roads Department was December 2008. Hawkins Construction Co. is the contractor. Work yet to be completed includes permanent pavement markings, bridge staining and landscaping. Landscaping will consist of adding decorative pavers and stone, and building terrace walls.
Wasn't landscaping supposed to also consist of plants and trees?
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Post by RoadWarrior »

Once the construction at 114th and Dodge is a somewhat distant memory, wouldn't it be great if the 90th and Dodge intersection was rebuilt similar to the intersections on the Expressway (132nd, 156th, 168th, etc.)?  Dropping Dodge below 90th would not only help traffic flow, but it would also get rid of that slippery hill on the east side of 90th that's problematic during rainy and winter weather.  If the traffic engineers can figure out how to build the West Dodge Expressway, surely they can figure out how to shoehorn in an overpass at 90th and Dodge.
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Big E
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Post by Big E »

Just what the guys at 80Dodge are hoping for.

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Post by Brad »

I don't think there are any plans for this.  The west Dodge Expressway was meant to be an "extension of I680 to Fremont.
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Post by omaja »

Somehow I think building an elevated expressway is just a tiny bit easier than excavating at an open intersection.  

I would hope the city wouldn't be dumb enough to allow for that just to make a person's Fremont-to-Downtown commute 2 minutes faster.
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Post by Hellenistic Kshatriya »

It's an interesting thought.  You've got tons of lanes right there right now...  WB has... 6, EB 6 as well.  Cut it down to three through and put them in the middle, might have room for on/off ramps.  It'd be quite a change but I think it'd be doable.  Not necessarily feasible.. but doable, sure.
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Post by Big E »

omaja wrote:I would hope the city wouldn't be dumb enough to allow for that just to make a person's Fremont-to-Downtown commute 2 minutes faster.
LOL...  don't pull me in this one.  I don't even go that way unless I'm having sushi on the way home.  They'd have to excavate from 90th to 20th or so to make my life easier!

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Post by omaja »

Exactly.  If we're going that far, might as well just go ahead and bulldoze everything along Dodge and make the never-built West Expressway from whenever they built I-480. :;):

Building the expressway was to connect Dodge to I-680.  Building this would really not accomplish a whole lot at all.  Cars would just back up at 84th instead of 90th.  Oh wait, let's build another overpass there.  72nd and Dodge?  Stack interchange, baby! :)
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Post by Swift »

Nah, they should tunnel under Dodge from Memorial to Saddle Creek or even Turner Park...then narrow the lanes of Old Dodge and give Dundee Theater back it's sidewalk.
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Post by RoadWarrior »

omaja wrote:Exactly.  If we're going that far, might as well just go ahead and bulldoze everything along Dodge and make the never-built West Expressway from whenever they built I-480. :;):

Building the expressway was to connect Dodge to I-680.  Building this would really not accomplish a whole lot at all.  Cars would just back up at 84th instead of 90th.  Oh wait, let's build another overpass there.  72nd and Dodge?  Stack interchange, baby! :)
Nah, let's just stick with the 90th & Dodge intersection.  The 84th and 72nd intersections don't have the hill problem.  Yeah, there's a hill on Dodge between 72nd and UNO, but I haven't seen it cause as many problems as the one just east of 90th.
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Post by omaja »

After driving on Dodge daily for four years, I'm not sure I quite see the hill as much of a problem.  Sure, it can be a bit slippery during rain, and snow can be troublesome, but 90th doesn't sit on the only hill that Dodge traverses.  And I would say that it isn't even as dangerous as, say, the hills sloping down to Saddle Creek.  But I recall something about heated pavement or something of the sort is installed along that stretch of Dodge leading up to 90th.  It would be a neat little thing to do, but the only problem is that Dodge further east is (and will be) severely limited with regard to expansion anyway.  The hill doesn't seem like such a major issue that it would warrant reworking the intersection into an interchange.  I wouldn't be so skeptical if better care were taken of Dodge and Omaha's other streets.  That money would do well to have Dodge east of 90th resurfaced and maintained better.  The concrete from 84th past 72nd is an embarrassment, and the asphalt starting around UNO is a rough, uneven ride all the way to downtown.

It's an interesting thing to ponder, but I don't see any overwhelmingly positive outcomes or improvements for what seems like a great deal of work.
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Post by Brad »

Remember the Hill from 87th to 90th has De-Icers... That don't work.
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Post by UNOstudent »

they are re-striping the eastbound lanes so that the lower dodge lanes merge instead of the upper dodge lanes.
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Post by Brad »

WOWT just did a story on the Expressway

It was expected there would be 60,000 cars in the year 2020.... There are already 70,000 cars a day using it now.
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Post by omaja »

Anyone could have seen that coming... although, your numbers are a little off: 65,000 cars by 2013, now up to 76,000 daily.

A quick solution to 150th and Boys Town interchanges: close them during rush hours.

The genius who decided that only two express lanes should continue east onto US-6/Dodge should be fired.  And the merging (which apparently is being remedied) of the express lanes was absolute idiocy from day one; equally, having to exit from westbound Dodge to access the express lanes is counter-intuitive at best.  They got the western express/local split correct but managed to royally screw up the eastern part.  You don't need to be an engineer to figure out that flaws abound... but it's shocking that no one caught them in the design phase.

I will continue to be tickled pink as congestion in Omaha becomes worse and worse, and NDOR comes up with inadequate solutions which really don't do a whole lot, and yet manage to make things worse.  It just makes for a nice, fuzzy, cringing feeling inside. :;):
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Post by Big E »

omaja wrote:It just makes for a nice, fuzzy, cringing feeling inside. :;):
That's called a "tax increase".

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