$700 million I-80/29 reconstruction project

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icejammer
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Post by icejammer »

Iowa OKs $400M to widen I-29/80 in Bluffs
. . . The Iowa Department of Transportation’s five-year plan, approved last week, includes funding to widen that portion of the Interstate. It also includes improvements on Interstate 29 and U.S. Highway 20 in Woodbury County and U.S. Highway 75 in Sioux County, plus many smaller projects in western Iowa.

Of the $2.6 billion designated for highways, about $1.1 billion is for the western third of Iowa, with more than $400 million going toward the Interstate project in Council Bluffs, officials said.

“Basically the thrust there in Council Bluffs is capacity,” said Don Stevens, assistant district engineer for southwest Iowa. . .

The stretch will be rebuilt under the “dual divided freeway” concept. That means eastbound and westbound motorists on Interstate 80 who don’t want to exit at South Expressway or 24th Street will be directed into three inside lanes. Those who want to take either of the exits would get into the two outside lanes.

Work won’t begin until 2014 and still will be going on in 2017 when the current roads plan expires, said Troy Jerman, southwest Iowa district engineer for the State Department of Transportation. . .
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BRoss
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Post by BRoss »

I wish they would hurry up and just begin already. But of course they are going to wait until 2014 to begin.
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Seth
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Post by Seth »

OSILayer8Support wrote:I wish they would hurry up and just begin already. But of course they are going to wait until 2014 to begin.
If the house and senate don't get their act together and pass a new transportation bill (with some provision for funding beyond the current paltry 18.4 cent gas tax), states like Iowa are going to be in a bind for paying for projects like this.  I wouldn't be surprised to see them plan for this in some way.
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Post by icejammer »

Seth wrote:If the house and senate don't get their act together and pass a new transportation bill (with some provision for funding beyond the current paltry 18.4 cent gas tax), states like Iowa are going to be in a bind for paying for projects like this.  I wouldn't be surprised to see them plan for this in some way.
It's not just passing a transportation bill, it's passing a long-term bill, not this 3-month or 6-month k-rap that Boehner and the GOP keep talking about.  Of course, with 3 million + jobs on the line, it's not hard to see the reluctance to implement a long-term bill now.
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S33
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Post by S33 »

Lol. Always the gop's fault.
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Post by jessep28 »

According to CNN, naming post offices made up something like 20% of the stuff that actually made it through Congress
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Seth
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Post by Seth »

S33 wrote:Lol. Always the gop's fault.
We've had three years of extensions of the last long-term bill, so there is plenty of blame to go around.  We'd all be better off if politicians on all sides would spend more time concerned with the betterment of their constituents and less concerned with raising campaign funds for the next election.  I'd be interested to know the ratio of hours spent rounding up money compared to that actually legislating.
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Post by ricko »

Seth wrote:
S33 wrote:Lol. Always the gop's fault.
We've had three years of extensions of the last long-term bill, so there is plenty of blame to go around.  We'd all be better off if politicians on all sides would spend more time concerned with the betterment of their constituents and less concerned with raising campaign funds for the next election.  I'd be interested to know the ratio of hours spent rounding up money compared to that actually legislating.
Elected officials on the Hill spend a considerable amount of time raising money and kissing the right a$$es. We now allow unlimited funds for "super-pacs"----any billionaire can purchase Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and presidential candidates.  It's not about the constituents any more, it's about making your patrons happy.  Regarding the highway bill in question, the Senate has passed it overwhelmingly (74-22).  It's been held up in a House conference committee----even a mundane/routine highway bill is being politicized by House Republicans who insist on attaching unrelated "riders".  God forbid we should risk passing a non-controversial bill that would put people back to work and lower the unemployment rate.  House Republicans have held the economy hostage to score political points---they've shown little interest in governing since they took over the House. It's only about defeating Obama in November.
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Post by icejammer »

S33 wrote:Lol. Always the gop's fault.
No, not at all, but in this particular instance, very much so.  Ricko stated it quite elegantly.
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Post by BRoss »

ricko wrote:
Seth wrote:
S33 wrote:Lol. Always the gop's fault.
We've had three years of extensions of the last long-term bill, so there is plenty of blame to go around.  We'd all be better off if politicians on all sides would spend more time concerned with the betterment of their constituents and less concerned with raising campaign funds for the next election.  I'd be interested to know the ratio of hours spent rounding up money compared to that actually legislating.
Elected officials on the Hill spend a considerable amount of time raising money and kissing the right a$$es. We now allow unlimited funds for "super-pacs"----any billionaire can purchase Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and presidential candidates.  It's not about the constituents any more, it's about making your patrons happy.  Regarding the highway bill in question, the Senate has passed it overwhelmingly (74-22).  It's been held up in a House conference committee----even a mundane/routine highway bill is being politicized by House Republicans who insist on attaching unrelated "riders".  God forbid we should risk passing a non-controversial bill that would put people back to work and lower the unemployment rate.  House Republicans have held the economy hostage to score political points---they've shown little interest in governing since they took over the House. It's only about defeating Obama in November.
I completely agree!
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Post by Big E »

ricko wrote:Elected officials on the Hill spend a considerable amount of time raising money and kissing the right a$$es. We now allow unlimited funds for "super-pacs"----any billionaire can purchase Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and presidential candidates.  It's not about the constituents any more, it's about making your patrons happy.
Everyone should read "Republic, Lost".  Today.

Thanks to Citizens United and SuperPACs, democracy as we once knew it is gone.  Probably for good.  Not that it was ever, in practice, the idealized institution we were sold.

The really ironic thing is McCain-Feingold pretty much ushered in this era even though it was designed to prevent it.  McCain (circa 2000, the one I actually would have voted for) even warned that's what was happening to the bill when it was being |expletive|-raped in committee.
Stable genius.
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Post by StreetsOfOmaha »

Big E wrote:Everyone should read "Republic, Lost".  Today.
While everyone's at it, they should all also read "Why America Failed."
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Post by NovakOmaha »

Yeah, inspirational.

Try reading Ray Kroc or Sam Walton's autobiography.  The fact is that you can still start a business and succeed.  Or you can be a downer and someone who wishes America would fail.  I'm not speaking of anyone here specifically.  There are lots of opinions and if one keeps an open mind one can still be inspired.  Oh and it also takes hard work.
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Post by StreetsOfOmaha »

Wishful thinking (such as the idea that people can still be "inspired" by "keeping an open mind"...at least in America) has no power to stop the foundering of a ship that is rapidly taking on water.

Those with the intellectual wherewithal have already jumped ship or will do so in short order.
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Linkin5
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Post by Linkin5 »

This thread is about to go full retard.
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Seth
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Post by Seth »

Linkin5 wrote:This thread is about to go full retard.
Yeah, sorry for getting it started.  I'd just read an article on a major bridge reconstruction project in Missouri (the "Safe and Sound" program) describing how they're preparing for funding shortages for future portions of the project due to the quickly-draining highway trust fund.  I didn't mean to start another flame-war here.
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Linkin5
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Post by Linkin5 »

Seth wrote:
Linkin5 wrote:This thread is about to go full retard.
Yeah, sorry for getting it started.  I'd just read an article on a major bridge reconstruction project in Missouri (the "Safe and Sound" program) describing how they're preparing for funding shortages for future portions of the project due to the quickly-draining highway trust fund.  I didn't mean to start another flame-war here.
Not referring to you at all, you're like Switzerland in this place.
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Post by byrdrules »

Linkin5 wrote:This thread is about to go full retard.
Image
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Post by Omaha_Gabe »

So what is it that they are working on now? They have removed over 100 trees in the past 2 weeks along I-80 near 24th street.
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Post by S33 »

I think it was a good discussion, a discussion more of our young, brain-washed, pop-culture zombies should be having. And I don't disagree with a single thing said above, as long as everyone realizes that it doesn't matter where an elected official stands politically, they all benefit from the same self-serving practices that have infected congress for decades.

In addition, I know everyone likes to dismiss anything streets says as arrogant rhetoric, but, in this case, he isn't necessarily wrong. If there was an exact model one could use to dismantle the world's largest economy and an unrivaled standard of living, built over the last 100 years, it would read verbatim to what our congress is doing now. And they get away with it because we're all too focused on bickering back and fourth about gay marriage and abortion.
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Post by BRoss »

S33 wrote:And they get away with it because we're all too focused on bickering back and fourth about gay marriage and abortion.
Don't forget partisan BS!
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Post by S33 »

OSILayer8Support wrote:
S33 wrote:And they get away with it because we're all too focused on bickering back and fourth about gay marriage and abortion.
Don't forget partisan BS!
Yeah, kinda was I was getting at (left/right divide)... etc. This forum has been an example of that in the past.
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Post by Seth »

OSILayer8Support wrote:
S33 wrote:And they get away with it because we're all too focused on bickering back and fourth about gay marriage and abortion.
Don't forget partisan BS!
I think those two issues are excellent examples of political polarization.  While most Americans favor gay marriage and legal abortion, the extremes at each end lob them back and forth like artillery until the moderates in no-man's land feel forced to choose to side with one before being obliterated by both.
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Post by icejammer »

Omaha_Gabe wrote:So what is it that they are working on now? They have removed over 100 trees in the past 2 weeks along I-80 near 24th street.
The area of tree removal has expanded.  I think this is all in preparation for construction in 2014, as all the trees being removed would have to come out for the widening anyway.
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Post by Omaha_Gabe »

Saw the answer to my question today...


Interstate reconstruction needed to meet the growing traffic projections
Work continues to move along on the reconstruction of the interstate highway system through Council Bluffs, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Transportation said Friday.

The major focus at the present time is the construction of two new bridges, along with the necessary grading work, at the west junction of Interstate 29 and Interstate 80, said Troy Jerman, a district engineer. The purpose of this work is to line up with the new configuration of the I-29/80 stretch between the Missouri River and the east junction of those two interstate systems, he said.
“This project won’t interfere with existing traffic,” Jerman said. “We will be able to maintain traffic.”

The bridge project is also a time-consuming project because it won’t be completed until next year, he said.
Behind the scenes, negotiations are underway for the relocation of numerous railroad tracks to make room for the new interstate system, Jerman said. One of the removals will involve the tracks for the Council Bluffs Energy Center Railway, or CBEC, behind the Lewis Central School campus. Removal of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks along the South Expressway by the Manawa power Shopping Center is also planned. These lines will be moved to new routes to continue their daily destinations.

Track relocation will allow construction of three lanes in each direction for I-29 south of its east junction with I-80 and past the interchange with U.S. Highway 275, also known as Veterans Memorial Highway. That segment of the interstate will be slightly east of its current location. Ramps at the Highway 275/I-29 interchange will be redesigned, as will numerous ramps at the I-29/I-80 junction.

Eventually, there will be six lanes – three local and three express lanes – in each direction on the I-29/80 stretch between their two junctions as part of the overall reconstruction.


http://www.southwestiowanews.com/counci ... f887a.html
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Post by Omaha_Gabe »

It looks like Segment 2 is coming along very nice and quick! There have been between 8-14 cranes on any given day and the it appears most of the supports for one new bridge are nearly complete

Image

Segment 2....

http://www.iowadot.gov/councilbluffs/im ... t2_row.pdf
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Post by Brad »

Omaha_Gabe wrote:It looks like Segment 2 is coming along very nice and quick! There have been between 8-14 cranes on any given day and the it appears most of the supports for one new bridge are nearly complete
That interchange is way bigger than the old one.  I can't believe how far to the south it extends now.
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Post by Jason4225 »

Brad wrote:That interchange is way bigger than the old one.  I can't believe how far to the south it extends now.
I drive this stretch multiple times a day and I have been thinking the same thing. Then again, 12 lanes will take up quite a bit more real estate. It will be much more convenient when this is completed. They still have a lot of work to do to complete this section by the end of the year. Hopefully the weather cooperates and they can continue to make progress during the winter months.
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Post by jag42 »

I have yet to see a 3-D rendering of what the western I-29/80 split will look like....has anyone seen one?

Also, at the eastern I-29/80 split, what is that huge hill they built in the middle of it?
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Post by skinzfan23 »

Here is a rendering of what the bridge pylons are going to look like. Other renderings can be found on the Iowa DOT's website.

Image

http://www.iowadot.gov/councilbluffs/Aesthetics.asp
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Post by icejammer »

The Iowa DOT's 5-yr transportation plan was release last week and includes slightly over $440 million over the next 5 yrs on this project, with the vast majority being bridge replacement, grade and pave and right-of-way.

http://www.iowadot.gov/program_manageme ... YrProg.pdf

The DOT's website for this project still stinks though, if you're trying to find any new information about the project.
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Post by icejammer »

Crossing the Ts: Work continues on interstate reconstruction
Work continues on reconstruction of the Interstate 29-80 corridor from the Missouri River east to the South Expressway to create a dual, divided freeway. . . .
 
The dual, divided freeway will, when completed, physically separate through traffic on I-80 from traffic on I-29 and traffic destined for Council Bluffs. This will be done by constructing four separate three-lane roadways – two for traffic in each direction, with the 12 lanes total covering a total width of 258 feet. . . .
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Post by almighty_tuna »

No way around it; that's going to be a huge roadway.
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Post by guitarguy »

I still laugh that Omaha starts planning road widening at even the slightest hint of congestion and in NYC they just tell you. Screw you buddy.. its only ever going to be 4 lanes.. deal with it.
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Post by MTO »

We have the room.
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Post by cdub »

MTO wrote:We have the room.
But not the money.
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Post by Brad »

I am still a bit surprised that they aren't going to include at least two loops on 24th street.  Do they not do that in Iowa?  Similar to what Nebraska has done for 84th, 72nd, 60th, and 42nd.
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Re: $700 million I-80/29 reconstruction project

Post by Brad »

$2 billion interstate project revving up in Council Bluffs

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140122/N ... 29689/1685" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Andrew J. Nelson / World-Herald staff writer wrote:
The rebuilding of the Bluffs freeway system is the biggest project in the Iowa Department of Transportation's history, and the department wants to speed up the work.

The department has signed off on $120 million in projects over the past five years in Council Bluffs. Now it hopes to spend that amount every year for the next decade to update the Interstate system to accommodate growing traffic counts.
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Re: $700 million I-80/29 reconstruction project

Post by Jason4225 »

I'm glad to hear they are trying to speed this project up. It may be a little overkill, but an upgrade is severely needed. I drive this stretch anywhere from 2-4 times per day. I have been surprised on the amount of work they have done over the winter. It will be interesting to see how traffic flow is affected during the construction.
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Council Bluffs to Revamp Interstate-80

Post by drsunu1994 »

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140122/NEWS/140129689" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Thought this is pretty cool. Hopefully it starts jogging omahans' minds, to possibly get a new interstate city loop from Bellevue towards West O
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