I-80 Between I-480 And I-29

[mrsticka]

When I-80 was built back in the 50's and 60's they made it only 4 lanes (2 east, 2 west) between I-480 and I-29. Why was this? Why didn't they build as 6 lanes (3 east, 3 west) or even 8 (4 east, 4 west)? I'd think that part of town was high traffic area even back then.

They waited until the 2010's to do it.

[Busguy2010]

My guess is there weren't very many people alive here, and especially not very many people driving here (or in the US in general) and whoever was making the decisions back then didn't think there'd ever be enough people to justify the investment. I'd say that was a fair assumption.

But then the standard of living skyrocketed very quickly in America in some cities. I'd have to say Omaha specifically is at least 30 years behind some of the biggest cities in a plethora of (even the most basic) aspects.

Difference between Omaha and a lot of larger cities along I-80 is simply fewer people = less regard = fewer allocations.

[mrsticka]

I was born in 1984. At the time, Omaha's population was 300,000. I guess it was half of that back in the 60's when they were building the interstate.

[damonhynes]

I'm going to take a guess and say that it went to 3-3 around 1976-78, and it was a big deal.

(For the longest time, the only spot nationwide on I-80 that was only one through lane was at the I-480/JFK interchange.)

[Brad]

I thought until it was rebuilt in the 90's, it actually got down to 1 lane each way. Like it may have been the only place on I-80 where it got to 1 lane.

[mrsticka]

Here's how the I-80/I-480/US 75 interchange looked in 1982–



Here's how they originally built it–



How I think they should've built it–



Colors are as follows:
Brown–1 lane
Green–2 lanes
Red–3 lanes
Purple–4 lanes

[Fort Calhoun]

I 80 was a one lane exit ramp at the I 80-35 interchange in west Des Moines for many years and still is a one lane exit ramp in Illinois at the intersection with I 280

[mrsticka]

I-80 does bypass a lot of the cities it serves, but Omaha isn't one of them. I-80 goes through it, but it does bypass downtown.