Current and Planned Major Projects

Historically, local authorities have considered improvements to US 35 in the Central Business District separate from improvements across Dayton's east side. The July 2004 recommendations from the MVRPC propose the following complete rebuild of this stretch to be done more or less concurrently with the bigger (and in my opinion more necessary) improvements to the east. The following changes were proposed:

• eliminate the left-hand exit westbound at Ludlow/Perry Streets
• the left-hand eastbound merge off of Main/Patterson/Brown streets, and
• Improve the interchanges at Keowee and Wayne Streets

The original Long Range Plan didn't anticipate these changes happening until after 2030. MVRPC's sudden bullishness on doing the whole stretch from 75 to 675 at once may have something to do with the estimated cost, which came to around $350 million. I would have thought the figure for everything they proposed would have been much higher. Read the Executive Summary PDF for the details.

Congestion on US 35 east of Dayton's business district has been a long-standing problem because the highway narrows from six lanes to four at Steve Whalen Boulevard. Traffic backups occur nightly at this point. An additional backup occurs nightly at Woodman Drive as traffic from Wright-Patterson AFB and the Delphi Kettering plant attempt to enter US 35 eastbound more or less at the same time.

The MVRPC recognized these as problems starting with their 2001 report, and tried to get funding from the 2003 TRAC for designing an expanded 35. Predictably, they failed. The MVRPC salvoed back by getting just about all their wish list on the Governor's 2003 Transportation Plan. Incredibly, a bridge rehabilitation project from I-75 to Steve Whalen Boulevard that also involved a reconstruction of the SWB interchange (more below) got funded for a 2006 start. Widening from SWB to I-675 was one of the MVRPC's 2004 TRAC applications, with construction to start in 2009 had funding been approved.

In July of 2004, the MVRPC released their detailed recommendations for fixing US 35 in eastern Montgomery County, which exceeded even what I thought they were going to be. The total sticker shock of $350 million as explained above may explain the sudden burst of aggressiveness on the part of local authorities.

Before we get into the details, I would first like to go ballistic over one of the state-proposed fixes. The Governor's 2003 plan included a proposal to add ramp metering to all US 35 exits in east Dayton. All I can say about the person who slipped this in is: "WHAT were they SMOKING?" For the incredibly low, low price of $100,000 ODOT will convert Woodman Drive, Smithville Road, and Keowee Street into parking lots four hours out of every day and still wonder why US 35 is congested! I dare anyone to drive I-35W in Minneapolis or (better yet) I-494 in Bloomington MN, look me in the eye afterwards, and tell me that ramp metering works. It DOESN'T. It shoves the problem of congestion off the freeway and onto the side streets feeding it without solving the underlying demand and capacity issues. [NOTE: the 2004 MVRPC Recommended Alternative makes no mention of ramp metering. They've either come to their senses or are assuming for purposes of the report that it's already going to be in place when construction starts]

Now that I've vented, any widening of US 35 across Dayton's east side must take the existing interchanges and bridges into account, some of which were not designed with a freeway wider than four lanes total in mind. Some of the things ODOT will have to worry about, from west to east, are:

Steve Whalen Boulevard interchange

The governor's 2003 highway plan included an odd sub-bullet concerning interchange modifications at this location. The design of the SWB interchange (a Flyover/2) made sense if it was going to be part of an expressway across Dayton's East side. Since SWB is actually a connector highway between two minor surface streets, it is grossly overdesigned for its purpose. If I had to guess, they're going to rebuild it as something more appropriate and much easier to maintain -- like a diamond (look at the map at the bottom of the 2004 TRAC application) or a folded diamond (look at the last page of the 2004 Recommende Alternative and squint). A shame really, because I thought the money would have been better spent extending SWB north to Stanley Avenue and south to Wilmington Pike so it could fulfill its intended destiny.

Linden Avenue bridge

This bridge is actually already designed to handle six lanes. It will have to be widened to accomodate two more.

Smithville Road interchange

The overpass is an older bridge design with a supporting pier in the median. You might be able to fit two more travel lanes under it without rebuilding the bridge, but there would be no shoulder room and absolutely no margin for error with regards to traffic on 35. I'm afraid this bridge will have to be rebuilt. The 2004 Recommended Alternative agrees, and recommends rebuilding this exit into a tight diamond with wide exit ramps to accomodate multiple turn lanes. This will add maybe an extra 100 feet for traffic between the interchange signals and Linden Avenue, which I'm not convinced would solve the existing southbound traffic backups here. I continue to believe a SPUI would have been a better choice for an interchange rebuild.

Railroad bridge

Halfway between Smithville Road and Woodman Drive. Two 2-lane bridges carry the 35 RoW over a bike path and the railroad spur to the Delphi Kettering plant. Both bridges will need to be widened.

Woodman Drive interchange

This exit has almost the exact same issues that the Smithville Road exit has, in that the overpass will need to be rebuilt to accomodate a wider highway and the south ramps are too close to Linden Avenue. The 2004 Recommended Alternative rebuilds the exit as a tight diamond with extra lanes on Woodman, which basically moves both ramps on the south side of the interchange about 100 feet closer to 35. My belief that a SPUI would work better continues, but I'm just a hacker with an odd hobby...

Spinning Road bridge

In addition to the issues described at the railroad bridge a mile previously, there is only an 11.5 foot clearance between the US 35 bridge decks and the surface of Spinning Road. The bridges bear scars from numerous trucks who were too tall to make it under. The 2004 Recommended Alternative would widen the spans and increase the vertical clearance.

There is a disagreement between the written summary and the graphic on the last page concerning placement of an auxilliary lane between Dayton-Xenia Road and Woodman Drive. The written words say it will be westbound, yet the graphic indicates it will be eastbound. Both are needed.

I-675

The biggest surprise for me upon reading the 2004 Recommended Alternative was the advocacy of a flyover ramp from northbound 675 to westbound 35. This would eliminate the need for a C/D system on westbound 35 through this interchange. I would have thought the southbound 675 to eastbound 35 movement had the traffic to justify converting it into a flyover, but I just use the interchange several times a week and don't have access to the traffic density statistics the MVRPC's consultants did. The flyover (in conjunction with the massive proposed widening) would make it easier for traffic from Centerville and Bellbrook to get downtown -- if an extra through lane was being added to I-675 between OH 725 and US 35 (hint: none are planned).

The MVRPC recommendation for converting US 35 from Beavercreek to Xenia into a limited-access highway. I have much more detailed commentary over here on the proposal and the public inputs which went into it.

Given the penalty points the TRAC seems to apply to Miami Valley projects in general and US 35 projects in particular, I do not expect this project to be built in my lifetime.