Oh, Ky, Tn, Al, Ms, La trip (Columbus Oh to Baton Rouge La roadie)
magyar
for his return to MTR, but I've gotten myself settled enough to catch up on
the reading and make my roadtrip report on my move from Ohio to Louisiana.
Simple routing (so to speak)
Clark Rd S to Kilbourne Rd W to North Galena Rd S to US 36/Oh 37 W to I-71 S
to Cooke Rd W to Indianola Ave (US 23) S to Northridge Rd W to Granden Rd S
to Torrence Rd W to N. High St. S to West North Broadway W to Oh 315 S to
I-71 S to I-471 S to I-275 W to I-71/75 S to I-71 S to I-265/Ky 841 CW to
I-65 S (Spent the night in Franklin, Ky) to I-24 E to I-40 W to I-65 S to
I-20/59 N&E to I-20 E to I-459 W to I-20/59 W&S to I-59 S (Spent the night
in Hattiesburg, Ms), various streets in Hattiesburg back to I-59 S to I-10 E
then turned around at MS 607 and went back on I-10 W to I-12 W to I-10 W to
Dalrymple Dr W to the LSU campus.
What I saw....
ODOT only has orange barrels out, and is in the beginning stages of
revamping the I-71/Oh 750 (Polaris) interchange (supposed to be finished in
Summer of 06)
When I left Columbus, the ramp from Oh 315 NB to OSU Medical Center (Medical
Center Dr/King Ave for those of you who maintain exit lists) had been opened
to drivers, but the ramp from the OSU Medical center to Oh 315 SB had yet to
be opened (that was done on Monday I've been told)
Saw a billboard on I-71 SB near US 35 that read, "Hell is real." Obviously,
whoever had the billboard made up has been to Michigan. :-)
I know Ohio residents (re: outside of Central Ohio) like to pick on Columbus
for being the poster child for sprawl, but Columbus is compact compared to
Cincinnati. From Kings Island in the north, to the I-71/75 south split in
Kentucky, the metro area just seems to go on forever.
I-71 in Kentucky - very smooth; I-65 - needs alot of work.
Why are the exits on I-265 between I-71 and US 60 signed metrically, but the
rest of the exit signage is done in (American) standard distance?
How soon till Kentucky finishes the job and widen I-65 to 6 lanes the entire
length through the state (and how soon for I-75 while we're at it as well)?
Best view of the Nashville skyline has to be from I-24 EB between I-65 and
I-40.
Someone tell me again why Tn 840 (would be I-840) goes so far south of
Nashville? I'd describe that section of I-65 between I-40 and 840 as Jeckel
and Hyde, with some sections looking rural and desolate while others look
like your typical edge city. Strange pattern.
Got a chuckle out of the Saturn rocket at the Alabama Welcome Center on I-65
(appropriate due to the proximity to Huntsville and the NASA center there)
Is Birmingham the only city that uses vented BGSes (they look like oversized
register covers)? And they didn't look green either.
Did the I-20/59 designation get slapped onto a grandfathered section of
highway through Meridian? That looked like something out of the NE.
And what is with the 45 MPH left-right turn combination on I-59 in Laurel as
well (it looked almost as obsolete as the Meridian section)
Is I-59, between Hattiesburg and I-10/12, very quiet? I hardly encountered
traffic going south with me on that stretch (then again, it was an early
Monday afternoon)
The Louisiana Welcome Center along I-59 was closed for repairs, so I made a
ten mile detour on I-10 east to stop at it's welcome center instead.
Can someone explain to me how Baton Rouge, whose population is 1/4 of
Columbus, Oh (I believe), can have traffic problems just as bad as Columbus.
Who did (does) the road planning around here? Maybe I can help.
Speaking of Baton Rouge, what is going on along I-10 between exits 162 and
163 (both exits service major malls), and why isn't there an easier way to
I-10 EB from the LSU campus?
So outside of the disdain between LSU and non-LSU alums within the state,
what do I need to know about Louisiana (or at least Baton Rouge)? I'm going
to be down here for 20 months at the least (though I might spend this coming
summer in the Mississippi Delta Region....we'll see how that goes)
Sandor G. - Now in Baton Rouge, La
--
"I'ma low pay daddy singin' th' high price blues."
--Corey Harris singing Woody Guthrie
Andy P. Jung
news:411ed...@newsfeed.slurp.net...
> Speaking of Baton Rouge, what is going on along I-10 between exits 162 and
> 163 (both exits service major malls), and why isn't there an easier way to
> I-10 EB from the LSU campus?
>
One way frontage roads are being built between Exit 162 - Bluebonnet Blvd
and Exit 163 - Siegen Lane and a new exit is being built for Picardy Ave.
http://www.dotd.state.la.us/construc/descrip.asp?project=450-10-0111
and
http://www.dotd.state.la.us/press/pressrelease.asp?nRelease=374 (check out
the pdf map of the project)
> So outside of the disdain between LSU and non-LSU alums within the state,
> what do I need to know about Louisiana (or at least Baton Rouge)? I'm
going
> to be down here for 20 months at the least (though I might spend this
coming
> summer in the Mississippi Delta Region....we'll see how that goes)
B.R. nightlife?
--
Andy P. Jung
Metairie, Louisiana U.S.A.
http://www.JungWorld.com/
To reply via e-mail, please visit my web site.
Froggie
> highway through Meridian? That looked like something out of the NE.
Yes and no. "Tom Bailey Drive" was built in the early to mid-50s as a center
city bypass for US 11/80. Was built as 4-lanes divided, but had at-grade
intersections except for a cloverleaf at 22nd Ave (MS 145 South). I-20/59 was
completed on either end of this through-Meridian section by the early '70s. I
don't have the specific timeline, but Tom Bailey Drive was upgraded through town
to accommodate I-20/59 sometime in the mid or late '70s, with the at-grades
closed off, the other interchanges built, and the cloverleaf at 22nd/145 South
converted to a 6-ramp par-clo. Due to space constraints, MDOT had to go with
the narrow inside shoulder, although the outside shoulder is standard-width
(except for the bridges on either end that were built under the early Interstate
bridges-don't-need-shoulders-standard).
> And what is with the 45 MPH left-right turn combination on I-59 in Laurel as
> well (it looked almost as obsolete as the Meridian section)
40 MPH actually. Is even more out of standard than the Meridian segment.
Mid-range plan to straighten and realign the curve, but is still in the study
phase.
> Is I-59, between Hattiesburg and I-10/12, very quiet? I hardly encountered
> traffic going south with me on that stretch (then again, it was an early
> Monday afternoon)
There's actually less traffic on the Meridian-to-Laurel segment. The section
you refer to averages roughly 13-14K ADT, while Meridian-to-Laurel averages
about 10-11K ADT (and roughly 24K ADT between Laurel and Hattiesburg).
Froggie | Virginia Beach, VA | http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/
magyar
news:PIETc.20465$Yf6.9060@lakeread03...
state,
> > what do I need to know about Louisiana (or at least Baton Rouge)? I'm
> going
> > to be down here for 20 months at the least (though I might spend this
> coming
> > summer in the Mississippi Delta Region....we'll see how that goes)
>
> B.R. nightlife?
I was thinking of roadgeeky things here in Louisiana, but I'm all ears if
you have suggestions on B.R. nightlife as well.
>
> --
> Andy P. Jung
> Metairie, Louisiana U.S.A.
> http://www.JungWorld.com/
>
> To reply via e-mail, please visit my web site.
Sandor G
Justin Priola
> for his return to MTR, but I've gotten myself settled enough to catch up on
> the reading and make my roadtrip report on my move from Ohio to Louisiana.
<snip>
>
> The Louisiana Welcome Center along I-59 was closed for repairs, so I made a
> ten mile detour on I-10 east to stop at it's welcome center instead.
> Can someone explain to me how Baton Rouge, whose population is 1/4 of
> Columbus, Oh (I believe), can have traffic problems just as bad as Columbus.
Absence of a decent freeway bypass, namely. Factor in I-10's role as
a transcontinental trucking corridor, aging freeway facilities, and
lopsided suburban growth to the E and SE following the freeways, and
you begin to see why traffic conditions suck in B.R.
The state has ideas for a northern bypass, which is in the study
stages.
IMO a southern bypass would be better since it would link to both I-10
and I-12.
> Who did (does) the road planning around here? Maybe I can help.
The city-parish government, I believe. The East Baton Rouge Parish
government and the Baton Rouge city government are combined in a setup
unique in this state. (This isn't like N.O. though, where the city
and parish are one and the same.)
> Speaking of Baton Rouge, what is going on along I-10 between exits 162 and
> 163 (both exits service major malls), and why isn't there an easier way to
> I-10 EB from the LSU campus?
The Picardy Ave. extension, involving construction of service roads
and 'Texas-style' on and offramps between Bluebonnet and Siegen Lane.
To get to 10 EB from LSU, use Stanford Avenue which becomes Acadian
Thruway at Perkins Road. You can access 10 at its interchange with
Acadian Thruway just north of Perkins.
I agree, the Darylmple exit is screwed up as it doesn't provide all
the movements to/from the interstate, esp. considering this is the
most direct (and most scenic) approach to LSU.
>
> So outside of the disdain between LSU and non-LSU alums within the state,
> what do I need to know about Louisiana (or at least Baton Rouge)? I'm going
> to be down here for 20 months at the least (though I might spend this coming
> summer in the Mississippi Delta Region....we'll see how that goes)
>
Baton Rouge is noted for three things: the universities (LSU and
Southern), the petrochemical industry, and the seat of state
government. (Somewhat like Columbus, home to a major university and
the state capital, but much larger by far than B.R.) Though not as
interesting as New Orleans, it's certainly not the boondocks.
(Besides, N.O. is not that far away, a 1.5 hour or 90 mile drive.)
The State Capitol (the Art Deco skyscraper on the north side of
downtown, just in front of the huge ExxonMobil refinery complex -
welcome to La.) is a must-see IMO, also the Old State Capitol is nice.
On the LSU campus somewhere is the cage of Mike the Tiger (don't
remember where that is exactly). I couldn't tell you about nightlife
but I presume it mirrors that of most other college towns.
A word of warning: I don't know what gas prices are like in Ohio (that
is, what you are used to paying), but gas in the B.R. area is going to
be 10 to 15 cents more expensive than elsewhere in the state.....a
result of EPA 'non-attainment' status which means that motorists will
be forced to pay more for cleaner brands of gas (like in Chicago).
Justin Priola
---
to send an e-mail, replace msn.com in the above address with uno.edu
Justin Priola
> for his return to MTR, but I've gotten myself settled enough to catch up on
> the reading and make my roadtrip report on my move from Ohio to Louisiana.
<snip>
>
> The Louisiana Welcome Center along I-59 was closed for repairs, so I made a
> ten mile detour on I-10 east to stop at it's welcome center instead.
> Can someone explain to me how Baton Rouge, whose population is 1/4 of
> Columbus, Oh (I believe), can have traffic problems just as bad as Columbus.
Absence of a decent freeway bypass, namely. Factor in I-10's role as
a transcontinental trucking corridor, aging freeway facilities, and
lopsided suburban growth to the E and SE following the freeways, and
you begin to see why traffic conditions suck in B.R.
The state has ideas for a northern bypass, which is in the study
stages.
IMO a southern bypass would be better since it would link to both I-10
and I-12.
> Who did (does) the road planning around here? Maybe I can help.
The city-parish government, I believe. The East Baton Rouge Parish
government and the Baton Rouge city government are combined in a setup
unique in this state. (This isn't like N.O. though, where the city
and parish are one and the same.)
> Speaking of Baton Rouge, what is going on along I-10 between exits 162 and
> 163 (both exits service major malls), and why isn't there an easier way to
> I-10 EB from the LSU campus?
The Picardy Ave. extension, involving construction of service roads
and 'Texas-style' on and offramps between Bluebonnet and Siegen Lane.
To get to 10 EB from LSU, use Stanford Avenue which becomes Acadian
Thruway at Perkins Road. You can access 10 at its interchange with
Acadian Thruway just north of Perkins.
I agree, the Darylmple exit is screwed up as it doesn't provide all
the movements to/from the interstate, esp. considering this is the
most direct (and most scenic) approach to LSU.
>
> So outside of the disdain between LSU and non-LSU alums within the state,
> what do I need to know about Louisiana (or at least Baton Rouge)? I'm going
> to be down here for 20 months at the least (though I might spend this coming
> summer in the Mississippi Delta Region....we'll see how that goes)
>
Baton Rouge is noted for three things: the universities (LSU and
Sir Hailstone of Moronica
TN-840 is eventually going to be this "mega-bypass" that will connect
Columbia, Lebanon, Murfreesboro, and who knows where else around
Nashville. T-DOT has a web site for TN-840, and they mention an eventual
"North Leg". T-DOT mentions the first purpose was for eastern Nashville
residents to have a express route to Saturn Parkway and the Saturn plant.
The Rocket at the AL welcome center is because of the Space Center and
Arsenal at Huntsville. Basically those two programs put Huntsville on
the map, as the pre-war Huntsville was (from what my grandmother told
me) was a small town.
I seem to remember from when I was a wee lad that Alabama liked those
vented black BGS's, and still found around Birmingham. Indiana used to
have one on I-65 SB at what is now the I-865 East split near Zionsville.
Perhaps a line of thinking among highway engineers was that if it was
vented then when a storm came along it would not fall over? I dunno.
Sherman Cahal
> Saw a billboard on I-71 SB near US 35 that read, "Hell is real." Obviously,
> whoever had the billboard made up has been to Michigan. :-)
> I know Ohio residents (re: outside of Central Ohio) like to pick on Columbus
> for being the poster child for sprawl, but Columbus is compact compared to
> Cincinnati. From Kings Island in the north, to the I-71/75 south split in
> Kentucky, the metro area just seems to go on forever.
Appearantly you have not been much on the east side of C-bus. There is
sprawl in Columbus and it is quite bad, but not nearly as much as
Cinci. If you want _compact_, look at Lexington!
> I-71 in Kentucky - very smooth; I-65 - needs alot of work.
> Why are the exits on I-265 between I-71 and US 60 signed metrically, but the
> rest of the exit signage is done in (American) standard distance?
> How soon till Kentucky finishes the job and widen I-65 to 6 lanes the entire
> length through the state (and how soon for I-75 while we're at it as well)?
I-71 was hellish the last time, at least they did some work to the
road.
The I-265 metric signage (dually signed with US equivelents) was done
as a 'project' that has obviously failed. Newer signs around the state
and in the metro area do not show metric equivelents (thankfully).
Russell Miller
Hash: SHA1
In article <b42b38b6.04081...@posting.google.com>, Sherman Cahal wrote:
>
> Appearantly you have not been much on the east side of C-bus. There is
> sprawl in Columbus and it is quite bad, but not nearly as much as
> Cinci. If you want _compact_, look at Lexington!
>
Portland is pretty compact too, for obvious reasons... It kinda sprawls
within its bounds, but outside of them, it's like night and day. No
development whatsoever allowed.
- --Russell
- --
Russell Miller - President, Duskglow Consulting, LLC
rmi...@duskglow.com - http://www.duskglow.com
Le Mars, IA - +1 712 546 5886
Official NANAE SPEWS Puppet extraordinaire
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQFBIUHlURTA4VCI9OARAkCLAJ9aQH6sQWq/P3Z+doAbEkuuxjRb4gCdGg3V
wNgLxHCC2z98iyeRsWzMXsg=
=W4rt
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
magyar
news:b42b38b6.04081...@posting.google.com...
> "magyar" <roa...@copper.net> wrote in message
news:<411ed...@newsfeed.slurp.net>...
>
> > Saw a billboard on I-71 SB near US 35 that read, "Hell is real."
Obviously,
> > whoever had the billboard made up has been to Michigan. :-)
> > I know Ohio residents (re: outside of Central Ohio) like to pick on
Columbus
> > for being the poster child for sprawl, but Columbus is compact compared
to
> > Cincinnati. From Kings Island in the north, to the I-71/75 south split
in
> > Kentucky, the metro area just seems to go on forever.
>
> Appearantly you have not been much on the east side of C-bus. There is
> sprawl in Columbus and it is quite bad, but not nearly as much as
> Cinci. If you want _compact_, look at Lexington!
What? You make the roadie from Lexington to Columbus on a regular basis?
Come on Sherman, up until last week, I lived in Columbus.
270 to the south, Rome-Hilliard to the west, Polaris to the north, and the
Franklin-Licking/Fairfield Co. line to the east appear to be the limits of
the "contiguous built-up area" of Columbus as of now (and other than for the
northern part, has been so for awhile now). If you want to discuss the
density of that "built up region" so be it, but there is a reason why the
Cincinnati metro area has a larger population than Columbus's metro region
(as much as liked to think otherwise)
Sandor G
Larry Harvilla
Obviously erected by a lifelong Ohio resident, as a means of warning
motorists that they're traveling through it.
--
Larry Harvilla
E-mail: roads AT phatpage DOT org
also visit: http://www.phatpage.org/
Highways section in progress.
Pete Jenior
"magyar" <roa...@copper.net> wrote in message
> I know Ohio residents (re: outside of Central Ohio) like to pick on
Columbus
> for being the poster child for sprawl, but Columbus is compact compared to
> Cincinnati. From Kings Island in the north, to the I-71/75 south split in
> Kentucky, the metro area just seems to go on forever.
Well, yes and no. There is major sprawl north of town, but there is even
more over towards I-75. A lot of what I-71 passes through, though, is old
and not really suburban.
-Pete
Sherman Cahal
Comon Sandor, now you know better than to proclaim yourself (and
Roadfan) the all-knowing deity of highways in Ohio and C-Bus. I have
made the trip from Ashland to C-Bus and from Lexington to C-Bus well
over a hundred times, most in the past 6 years. I have several friends
now residing in the sprawling city, so I often make the trip up there
to visit them. Just because I do not post trip reports everywhere I go
does not mean I do not travel.
Magyar
news:b42b38b6.04081...@posting.google.com...
> "magyar" <roa...@copper.net> wrote in message
news:<41218...@newsfeed.slurp.net>...
> > "Sherman Cahal" <she...@cahaltech.com> wrote in message
> > news:b42b38b6.04081...@posting.google.com...
> > > "magyar" <roa...@copper.net> wrote in message
> > news:<411ed...@newsfeed.slurp.net>...
> > > Appearantly you have not been much on the east side of C-bus. There is
What does my website and deities have to do with this discussion?
I do find hard to believe you that you drove from Kentucky to Columbus on
average of 3 times per every 2 months over the last six years.
Otherwise, I'll take it you have no comment (or knowledge) concerning the
population of Columbus/Franklin Co. by itself or in reference to the other
cities in Ohio.