Street Widening

[BRoss]

Here's the webpage for the project: http://www.keepomahamoving.com/projects ... -opw-54077

[Flyer14]

Omaha tax payers continue to pay for everyones favorite line, "one more lane will fix it." I am not going to say improvements aren't needed in areas, but is anyone still in belief that widening a road here and there is actually helping to ease travel times? All projections show Omaha commutes going up and up, yet they pour millions into the projects that clearly aren't working. To clarify, I don't have an idea how to fix this issue in, but I just wanted to gripe!

[TransitOriented]

Omaha tax payers continue to pay for everyones favorite line, "one more lane will fix it." I am not going to say improvements aren't needed in areas, but is anyone still in belief that widening a road here and there is actually helping to ease travel times? All projections show Omaha commutes going up and up, yet they pour millions into the projects that clearly aren't working. To clarify, I don't have an idea how to fix this issue in, but I just wanted to gripe!

These specific roads way out west should have been widened years ago. It's not a "one more lane will fix it" situation, it's more of a "now that we've annexed, we need to make this acceptable".

[djc311]

Omaha tax payers continue to pay for everyones favorite line, "one more lane will fix it." I am not going to say improvements aren't needed in areas, but is anyone still in belief that widening a road here and there is actually helping to ease travel times? All projections show Omaha commutes going up and up, yet they pour millions into the projects that clearly aren't working. To clarify, I don't have an idea how to fix this issue in, but I just wanted to gripe!

These specific roads way out west should have been widened years ago. It's not a "one more lane will fix it" situation, it's more of a "now that we've annexed, we need to make this acceptable".

I concur - it seemed like they were trying to stay ahead of the game with some of the newer roads by at least making them 3 lanes (dedicated turn lane down the center). For example 192nd has that around Pacific St. And if you look at what they did at 192nd and Dodge I'm flabbergasted at how many lanes it is. There are turn lanes and all sorts of this and that, but that's in anticipation of the future development in all of the office and other spaces right in that area.

I think any road they want to make a through road either north to south or east to west should be at least 4 lanes. Another one that's a total disaster out here is Harrison St between 180th and 156th. When they have major traffic draws such as elementary schools literally attached to these roads it ends up being a complete mess. From 180th to 156th I know of 2 Millard Public schools that touch Harrison.

I'm not a road engineer so I'm sure there's a lot more that goes into the process than "hey, traffic sucks here". But I imagine if they receive 1000 complaints a year on certain areas then it's at least investigated. Reading back through the latest news on widening 180th by Pacific and Center I saw it's not going to happen until 2024-2025 which stinks. But I guess better late than never.

[Busguy2010]

84th & Dodge Street Intersection Improvements: align the intersection of 84th and Dodge Street (not West Dodge Road) with the intersection of 84th Street and Indian Hills Drive

This should be interesting. The two streets are approx 50 feet off of each other, but I don't really see the space needed to get them to align.

Page 56 of the CIP (page 60 of the PDF) has a drawing showing the plan. I'm on my phone right now so can't post a screenshot, but it look like it veer north onto Children's green space.

Thanks!

I had no idea this was complete. I obviously very rarely find myself on 84th south of Dodge, but last night I did. Any idea when it was started and when it was completed?

[Brad]

I believe it opened within a day of thanksgiving? I first used it on Black Friday, but I think it was still closed earlier that week.

[Busguy2010]

Oh cool, so fairly fresh.

[Brad]

Oh cool, so fairly fresh.

Yeah, but one of the left turn arrow pavement markings is already mostly scraped off. Not sure how that happens so fast.

[Busguy2010]

Yeah, but one of the left turn arrow pavement markings is already mostly scraped off. Not sure how that happens so fast.

I'm not gonna lie, I took it really slow. It was night, and I was totally caught off guard. It was weird, it felt like since it was that way all my life, my engrained experience with this intersection caused there to be a "phantom" red light. Haha, like in the past, I never trusted I was going to make the second light, so it felt totally weird to just go through the intersection. It should have been the way it is now all along.

[Mjs5050ss]

For my Northerners.

It sounds like State Street will finally open back up at Blair High on Thursday 12/15.

It does look like they are getting ready to close it at 156th though.

[BRoss]

For my Northerners.

It sounds like State Street will finally open back up at Blair High on Thursday 12/15.

It does look like they are getting ready to close it at 156th though.

Does anyone know what they did here? I've seen some documents say this was going to be four lanes and others that have said three.

[Mjs5050ss]

For my Northerners.

It sounds like State Street will finally open back up at Blair High on Thursday 12/15.

It does look like they are getting ready to close it at 156th though.

Does anyone know what they did here? I've seen some documents say this was going to be four lanes and others that have said three.

From Blair High it looks like 3 with the addition of 2 sets of traffic lights (the first on State)

[BRoss]

From Blair High it looks like 3 with the addition of 2 sets of traffic lights (the first on State)

Thanks, I was thinking three was more likely what they were doing but you never know. They made Harrison four lanes west of 204th for about a 1/3 of a mile.

[BRoss]

Came across a report detailing safety improvements for a few intersections - 120th & L; Millard Ave & Q; 144th & Q.

http://www.keepomahamoving.com/applicat ... Report.pdf

120th and L.jpg

144th and Q.JPG

Millard Ave and Q.jpg

[almighty_tuna]

xkcd bringing it as always.

[Coyote]

Improvements planned for stretch of road by Lake Zorinsky, public open house scheduled

Roadway improvements are coming to a stretch of road by Lake Zorinsky. Anyone interested in learning more can attend a public open house about the project Thursday, March 2nd. It's what the City of Omaha calls a pre-construction meeting. Hawkins Construction is under contract for the work at 168th Street between West Center Road and Q Street. The open house is scheduled to last from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. A presentation will take place at 6:30. If you're interested in attending, the meeting will take place at Hope Presbyterian Church.

[Coyote]

168th Street widening project set to begin Monday



Those who live along 168th Street between Q and West Center will need to find an alternate route beginning Monday.

[almighty_tuna]

Kills me that every time there is a road closure for infra upgrade local TV interviews someone who minorly inconvenienced as though there is some modicum of outrage. Would be great to see a station go back for a follow-up interview where "area woman" raves that 168th is way better than it used to be.

Though I will gripe to say it's a shame that the Parks department didn't take advantage of the closure to upgrade facilities in that immediate area since access will be closed. A kayak launch and better crossing opportunities would've been wonderful.

[Louie]

Kills me that every time there is a road closure for infra upgrade local TV interviews someone who minorly inconvenienced as though there is some modicum of outrage. Would be great to see a station go back for a follow-up interview where "area woman" raves that 168th is way better than it used to be.

It's an easy story for them.

[BRoss]

Kills me that every time there is a road closure for infra upgrade local TV interviews someone who minorly inconvenienced as though there is some modicum of outrage. Would be great to see a station go back for a follow-up interview where "area woman" raves that 168th is way better than it used to be.

Outrage sells, unfortunately.

[Mjs5050ss]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but does the City and/or County have any place to request road projects i.e. adding a stoplight, adding a turning lane, etc?

[Athomsfere]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but does the City and/or County have any place to request road projects i.e. adding a stoplight, adding a turning lane, etc?

For the most part those are based of ADTs, projected ADTs and what the traffic engineer thinks is justified.

I think you can also reach out to the city/ traffic engineer. But the few results I've seen in the news have mostly been the engineer(s) saying "the current infrastructure meets our capacity needs".

[BRoss]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but does the City and/or County have any place to request road projects i.e. adding a stoplight, adding a turning lane, etc?

You could trying making a report on https://OmahaHotline.com

[Brad]

108th Street between Blondo and Dodge:

[ita]

Omaha City Council approves study to look at widening West Maple Road

As the city of Omaha keeps expanding, West Maple Road could as well, to six lanes.

The city council greenlights another big traffic study stretching from I-680 to Highway 275.

The city will spend about 551,000 to see if the road needs more room.
...
The city council approved the traffic study stretching for miles from I-680 to Highway 275.

It's a partnership with N-DOT and the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency.

They'll look at changes based on traffic, freight and transit needs.

Along with pedestrian and bike connectivity to include the trail network along West Maple.

[almighty_tuna]

Wow, including trail upgrades potentially? Baby steps...

[Dusty]

Anytime we have congestion the traffic study always gives the same solution. Widen roads! We all know what happens....we just fill up the lanes with more cars. If they do anything with bike infrastructure, they should be putting in a protected bike lane (like I posted on NW Radial thread.)

[TransitOriented]

Half million for a study. As someone who used to drive this road regularly, it just "needs" 3 lanes between 144th and 90th. For the rest of West Maple, if there's an issue, it's due to light timings. Bike trail would be fantastic, make it wide.

[Mjs5050ss]

Half million for a study. As someone who used to drive this road regularly, it just "needs" 3 lanes between 144th and 90th. For the rest of West Maple, if there's an issue, it's due to light timings. Bike trail would be fantastic, make it wide.

Agreed that light timing is the bigger issue. The lights are never timed to consistently move traffic. All lights must be on timing sensors and not able to react to changing traffic patterns. I usually beat rush hour on my way to work and am right in the middle of it on my way home. It never fails, I get stuck at the same lights every day.

Not sure how many millions of dollars were just spent to redo 120th and Maple, now we have a study to change it again.

Figure out how to move the cars with the roads we already have. Enforce texting and driving (my pet peeve), Teach people how to merge onto the expressway (especially at 680 and the mess of the 120th/132nd intersection), and keep the off-ramps from backing up.

[Renovator2559]

Half million for a study. As someone who used to drive this road regularly, it just "needs" 3 lanes between 144th and 90th. For the rest of West Maple, if there's an issue, it's due to light timings. Bike trail would be fantastic, make it wide.

Agreed that light timing is the bigger issue. The lights are never timed to consistently move traffic. All lights must be on timing sensors and not able to react to changing traffic patterns. I usually beat rush hour on my way to work and am right in the middle of it on my way home. It never fails, I get stuck at the same lights every day.

Not sure how many millions of dollars were just spent to redo 120th and Maple, now we have a study to change it again.

Figure out how to move the cars with the roads we already have. Enforce texting and driving (my pet peeve), Teach people how to merge onto the expressway (especially at 680 and the mess of the 120th/132nd intersection), and keep the off-ramps from backing up.

Its a myth that we simply need to add more lanes to aliviate traffic. Texas and Florida are notorious for doing just that, and traffic only eases temporarily, before everyone realizes they can clog up the streets again, via induced demand.

Even in the Bahamas a small city built with American standards, has traffic congestion everywhere, people don't walk despite confortable weather. Its the way cities are built on car dependency with no transit that is one of the factors of traffic congestion.
As long as we continue to build West Omaha suburbs with only family zoning and spraw, we will continue to have traffic congestion that will get worse.
We need to study how Germans build their suburbs, walkable communities with groceries and amenities in the local neighborhoods.
Once we create walkable suburbs, we can deploy better transit (preferably light rail) to link up the walkable suburbs to the overall city transit network.

[TransitOriented]

Half million for a study. As someone who used to drive this road regularly, it just "needs" 3 lanes between 144th and 90th. For the rest of West Maple, if there's an issue, it's due to light timings. Bike trail would be fantastic, make it wide.

Agreed that light timing is the bigger issue. The lights are never timed to consistently move traffic. All lights must be on timing sensors and not able to react to changing traffic patterns. I usually beat rush hour on my way to work and am right in the middle of it on my way home. It never fails, I get stuck at the same lights every day.

Not sure how many millions of dollars were just spent to redo 120th and Maple, now we have a study to change it again.

Figure out how to move the cars with the roads we already have. Enforce texting and driving (my pet peeve), Teach people how to merge onto the expressway (especially at 680 and the mess of the 120th/132nd intersection), and keep the off-ramps from backing up.

Its a myth that we simply need to add more lanes to aliviate traffic. Texas and Florida are notorious for doing just that, and traffic only eases temporarily, before everyone realizes they can clog up the streets again, via induced demand.

Even in the Bahamas a small city built with American standards, has traffic congestion everywhere, people don't walk despite confortable weather. Its the way cities are built on car dependency with no transit that is one of the factors of traffic congestion.
As long as we continue to build West Omaha suburbs with only family zoning and spraw, we will continue to have traffic congestion that will get worse.
We need to study how Germans build their suburbs, walkable communities with groceries and amenities in the local neighborhoods.
Once we create walkable suburbs, we can deploy better transit (preferably light rail) to link up the walkable suburbs to the overall city transit network.

Your comment makes sense for 168th and higher Maple, but the 90th to 144th corridor is pretty much fully built. We've already failed. What's your proposal to alleviate traffic on Maple?

[ita]

I used to work up at the North Business Park, so I did spend some time on the Maple expressway during different times of the day. It's been a few years, but for those who use it frequently, is it like grid lock during rush hour? I know I used to get stuck in the nasty intersection by Lanoha, but otherwise Maple was heavy during peak times, but not "it's adding 20-30 mins to my commute" kind of traffic. It seemed like the north/south roads is where traffic would build up. I feel like Center is way worse with as many lights you could potentially get stuck at. Maple always seemed like a breeze, comparably.

[Renovator2559]

Half million for a study. As someone who used to drive this road regularly, it just "needs" 3 lanes between 144th and 90th. For the rest of West Maple, if there's an issue, it's due to light timings. Bike trail would be fantastic, make it wide.

Agreed that light timing is the bigger issue. The lights are never timed to consistently move traffic. All lights must be on timing sensors and not able to react to changing traffic patterns. I usually beat rush hour on my way to work and am right in the middle of it on my way home. It never fails, I get stuck at the same lights every day.

Not sure how many millions of dollars were just spent to redo 120th and Maple, now we have a study to change it again.

Figure out how to move the cars with the roads we already have. Enforce texting and driving (my pet peeve), Teach people how to merge onto the expressway (especially at 680 and the mess of the 120th/132nd intersection), and keep the off-ramps from backing up.

Its a myth that we simply need to add more lanes to aliviate traffic. Texas and Florida are notorious for doing just that, and traffic only eases temporarily, before everyone realizes they can clog up the streets again, via induced demand.

Even in the Bahamas a small city built with American standards, has traffic congestion everywhere, people don't walk despite confortable weather. Its the way cities are built on car dependency with no transit that is one of the factors of traffic congestion.
As long as we continue to build West Omaha suburbs with only family zoning and spraw, we will continue to have traffic congestion that will get worse.
We need to study how Germans build their suburbs, walkable communities with groceries and amenities in the local neighborhoods.
Once we create walkable suburbs, we can deploy better transit (preferably light rail) to link up the walkable suburbs to the overall city transit network.

Your comment makes sense for 168th and higher Maple, but the 90th to 144th corridor is pretty much fully built. We've already failed. What's your proposal to alleviate traffic on Maple?

These problems can be fixed slowly over time, if new suburbs are reconfigured to be in gridlike streets, that are narrow, to evenly distribute traffic just like old Omaha neighborhoods. Also build bike trails.

Build more mixed used development walkable neighborhoods and eventually connecting them via rail (people are biased against busses)

As walkable suburbs are built, narrow the main arteries streets to include either bike lanes or rail because this is less expensive in the long run than maintaining asphalt.

Here's one example of how EU suburbs are built to be more engaging and less traffic prone than US suburbs. Of course the only thing I don't agree with in this video made by Europian, is suggesting that suburbia was created to appeal to "white nationalist, christian conservative" as that's simply not the case and that's just propaganda speak.

[TransitOriented]

How do you propose to alleviate traffic on Maple between 90th and 144th? You keep talking about new neighborhoods at 190th.

[Renovator2559]

How do you propose to alleviate traffic on Maple between 90th and 144th? You keep talking about new neighborhoods at 190th.

Its not fully developed, there are some pockets. One such project is the Heartwood Preserve, it's a walkable neighborhood.

Also by building the outer suburbs better, we can have so that the traffic problem doesn't grow as bad.

Also if zoning laws are eased to allow multifamily homes and the like. Some of those low tax paying strip malls could be demolished and turned into denser housing or mixed used.

[Renovator2559]

Does anyone know what kind of development pattern Gretna is building? They are considered to be a blank slate. I went there today and I was shocked at how wide the roads are and the right turning lanes are spread out with a painted "median" of almost a lane in size.
Is Gretna learning in becoming better than the existing WO suburbs?

[Brad]

Does anyone know what kind of development pattern Gretna is building? They are considered to be a blank slate. I went there today and I was shocked at how wide the roads are and the right turning lanes are spread out with a painted "median" of almost a lane in size.
Is Gretna learning in becoming better than the existing WO suburbs?

What roads? I'm fairly certain both Highway 370 and Highway 6 are both designed and maintained by the NDOT and not the City of Gretna.

[Renovator2559]

Does anyone know what kind of development pattern Gretna is building? They are considered to be a blank slate. I went there today and I was shocked at how wide the roads are and the right turning lanes are spread out with a painted "median" of almost a lane in size.
Is Gretna learning in becoming better than the existing WO suburbs?

What roads? I'm fairly certain both Highway 370 and Highway 6 are both designed and maintained by the NDOT and not the City of Gretna.

I believe that was street 191, as for 370 yeah I see what you are saying, it should be at that dpecification as per NDOT.

The question is, around in Gretna, is Gretna repeating the same as the other WO suburbs or are they building their streets differently or the same?

[TransitOriented]

How do you propose to alleviate traffic on Maple between 90th and 144th? You keep talking about new neighborhoods at 190th.

Its not fully developed, there are some pockets. One such project is the Heartwood Preserve, it's a walkable neighborhood.

Also by building the outer suburbs better, we can have so that the traffic problem doesn't grow as bad.

Also if zoning laws are eased to allow multifamily homes and the like. Some of those low tax paying strip malls could be demolished and turned into denser housing or mixed used.

Heartwood Preserve is nowhere near Maple. You're basically calling for the demolition of all housing for miles along Maple and rebuilding it all.

[BRoss]

I believe that was street 191

I'm guessing you mean 192nd. To the north, Sarpy County is in the process of paving all the roads and connecting 192nd to 180th - https://www.connectsarpy.com/updates/west-sarpy.

They are also paving 204th & Capehart - https://www.connectsarpy.com/updates/204th-capehart.