I-180 now more useless than ever!
OwensRwy
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/15/indiana.steelmill.ap/index.html,
as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, LTV Steel will close its mill in
Hennepin, IL, along with mills in East Chicago, IN and Cleveland, OH. IIRC,
I-180 in IL was built pretty much specifically to serve that major steel works.
Kinda makes I-180 rather irrelevant, unless that mill is reopened, considering
Hennepin boasts a whopping population of 669, according to my 2001 RMcN. Rather
long offramp to serve that population :)
travis mason-bushman
railpax @ irc.zuh.net -- #roadgeek
sycamore
I've driven I-180 once while taking the long way home from Chicago to St. Louis.
It's merely a highway in the middle of nowhere that connects to Rt. 23(?).
--
Sycamore: "If ignorance is bliss,
then wipe the smile off my face."--RATM
Sycamoreland--http://www.sycamoreland.com
ICQ--7810696
The Cellar--Because you could use some smart talk and
humor during these crazy times
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sycamore
> I've driven I-180 once while taking the long way home from Chicago to St. Louis.
> It's merely a highway in the middle of nowhere that connects to Rt. 23(?).
My bad...isn't it Rt. 29?
Anthony Boor
MODOT propaganda was that it was building the freeway and bridge to
replace the old two-lane MO 115 bridge between Bridgeton and St.
Charles, but the real reason is that the state wanted to suck up to
McDonnel-Douglas. MO 370 gave easy access between the former Mac
world HQ and a manufacturing facility in St. Charles City.
Now, Mac does not exist anymore (eaten up by Boeing) and Boeing shut
down the St. Charles facility. However, MO 370 does provide a little
bit of rush hour relief for the I-70 Blanchette Bridge, albeit not as
much as when the Page Avenue Extension opens.
--Anthony Boor
Phoenix, AZ
Guy Olsen
It also provides a decent bypass for I-70 thru traffic using I-270.
Unfortunately, it's merge back into I-70 is a huge bottleneck -- at
least it was in August 2000, when I drove it.
IMO, Mo-370 should have been continued west of US-61 before merging
back into I-70.
Guy Olsen, PE
"My way IS the highway!!!"
PRDem3
I saw the protestors on the news in East Chicago cheering. I wasn't really
paying attention, but I though I heard that.
Craig Holl
lanes in each direction. Last year when I was on it, I think it was newly
repaved, but it was only two lanes. Somebody please tell me, to settle my
curiousity, how many lanes is it now, and was it always that way?
--
Craig Holl
Mechanical Engineer
Waukesha, WI
http://wisconsincruise.tripod.com
Michael G. Koerner
>
> About 4 or 5 years ago I was on I-180, and I seem to remember it being three
> lanes in each direction. Last year when I was on it, I think it was newly
> repaved, but it was only two lanes. Somebody please tell me, to settle my
> curiousity, how many lanes is it now, and was it always that way?
It was two lanes each way when I last drove it in 1998 (before the
repaving), except on the approaches to the 'directional-Y' interchange
near the Illinois River Bridge.
--
____________________________________________________________________________
Regards,
Michael G. Koerner
Appleton, WI
***NOTICE*** SPAMfilter in use, please remove ALL 'i's from the return
address to reply. ***NOTICE***
____________________________________________________________________________
BD
1) When did Boeing close the missile manufacturing buildings on S.R.
94 off of S.R. 370? I've been in those buildings in the past year or
so. Trust me they are well and open. In fact here is a link to a
Boeing press release regarding one of the programs that is being done
in St. Charles: http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2001/q2/news_release_010508n.htm
Also, here is a link to the map of the St. Charles campus(select the
St. Charles (tract V) map):
http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/location/maps/index.html
2) MoDOT has in its most recent press release(s) of continuing work in
St. Louis county that the (past and) next couple days they are having
periodic lane closures on S.R. 370 to install the exit tabs on the
overhead signage:
http://www.modot.state.mo.us/local/d6/pressreleases/PR01011.html
http://www.modot.state.mo.us/local/d6/pressreleases/PR01010.html
I get the impression that Missouri is really not after interstate
designation for S.R. 370 but is simply making the road MUTCD compliant
by installing exit numbers on the road. The MUTCD seems to imply that
all freeways with exits need so have the exits numbered.
cc...@yahoo.com (Anthony Boor) wrote in message news:<b47697fa.01121...@posting.google.com>...
BD
Yes, I'll agree with you that the merge from S.R. 370 to I-70 is a
pain in the butt. It's worse when you're on I-70 and want to get off
at Mid Rivers Mall Dr (Exit 222). During rush hour the 3 lanes of
I-70 are usually at a standstill and the 3 lanes dumping from S.R. 370
are wizzing by at 100 km/hr making it very difficult to get over the 2
or 3 lanes needed to get into the EXIT ONLY (2 right) lanes for Mid
Rivers Mall Dr.
I would have preferred that S.R. 370 merged into I-70 past O'Fallon.
I would have had S.R. 370 cross over Route C (TO Mid Rivers Mall
Drive) and S.R. 79 and Possibly Route P before easing back to I-70.
I-70 is also in dire need of extra lanes east of the U.S. 40/61
interchange.
John L. Hardy
managers there was that Hennepin is LTV's most attractive facility & it is
very likely someone will buy it & reopen it . . .
Hennepin is a steel processing facility & no steel is actually melted there.
Slabs are (were) cast & rolled into hot bands at Cleveland or Indiana Harbor &
shipped to Hennepin for pickling (acid bath to remove oxidation), cold rolling
to finished gauge & galvanizing. Almost all the steel processed there comes
from Indiana Harbor (East Chicago IN).
I think Hennepin was originally built by Youngstown Sheet & Tube, which also
owned Indiana Harbor. YS&T was folded into LTV through a series of mergers in
the '70s & early '80s. I have heard YS&T's original plan had been to make
Hennepin a fully integrated mill
(steel would have been melted & hot rolled there as well as finished).
However, after all the mergers more steel making capacity would have been
redundant so those plans were scrapped after the finishing end of Hennepin had
already been built. Had Hennepin been fully integrated it would have been a
much larger facility and I suppose it got its own Interstate in anticipation
that it would be a larger mill . . .
Anthony Boor
> <snip>
> Yes, I'll agree with you that the merge from S.R. 370 to I-70 is a
> pain in the butt. It's worse when you're on I-70 and want to get off
> at Mid Rivers Mall Dr (Exit 222). During rush hour the 3 lanes of
> I-70 are usually at a standstill and the 3 lanes dumping from S.R. 370
> are wizzing by at 100 km/hr making it very difficult to get over the 2
> or 3 lanes needed to get into the EXIT ONLY (2 right) lanes for Mid
> Rivers Mall Dr.
100 km/hr? Who do you think you are, Michael Koerner? Anyway the
reason WB 70 traffic is hell at that point is because the traffic from
wb 370 to wb 70 is trying to squeeze in. Three wb 70 lanes plus three
wb 370 lanes make six lanes, the two right ones exit off for Rte C,
then the remaining right fourth lane ends and traffic must merge left.
So all six lanes, sans the exiting traffic at Mid Rivers, has to
squeeze back down to three.
>
> I would have preferred that S.R. 370 merged into I-70 past O'Fallon.
> I would have had S.R. 370 cross over Route C (TO Mid Rivers Mall
> Drive) and S.R. 79 and Possibly Route P before easing back to I-70.
> I-70 is also in dire need of extra lanes east of the U.S. 40/61
> interchange.
>
> > It also provides a decent bypass for I-70 thru traffic using I-270.
> > Unfortunately, it's merge back into I-70 is a huge bottleneck -- at
> > least it was in August 2000, when I drove it.
> >
> > IMO, Mo-370 should have been continued west of US-61 before merging
> > back into I-70.
> >
> > Guy Olsen, PE
> >
You both are probably right; however, the Page Avenue Extension's full
completion will probably take enough traffic off of 70. But still,
even with that, 70 needs more lanes.
--Anthony Boor
Phoenix, AZ
Anthony Boor
>
> 1) When did Boeing close the missile manufacturing buildings on S.R.
> 94 off of S.R. 370? I've been in those buildings in the past year or
> so. Trust me they are well and open. In fact here is a link to a
> Boeing press release regarding one of the programs that is being done
> in St. Charles: http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2001/q2/news_release_010508n.htm
> Also, here is a link to the map of the St. Charles campus(select the
> St. Charles (tract V) map):
> http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/location/maps/index.html
Well I was told my someone that the St. Charles facilities were
closed, but I'll take your word for it. Still, I think the road was
built more to pander to MAC than as a bypass.
>
> 2) MoDOT has in its most recent press release(s) of continuing work in
> St. Louis county that the (past and) next couple days they are having
> periodic lane closures on S.R. 370 to install the exit tabs on the
> overhead signage:
> http://www.modot.state.mo.us/local/d6/pressreleases/PR01011.html
> http://www.modot.state.mo.us/local/d6/pressreleases/PR01010.html
>
> I get the impression that Missouri is really not after interstate
> designation for S.R. 370 but is simply making the road MUTCD compliant
> by installing exit numbers on the road. The MUTCD seems to imply that
> all freeways with exits need so have the exits numbered.
True, as long as AASHTO wants to make them use I-870 instead of I-370
for it.
--Anthony Boor
Phoenix, AZ