Portsmouth: OH 823 bypass news

[buildingcincinnati 1]

They haven't had public meetings on this for well over a year, and the project website hasn't been updated.  Who knows if it can even be funded.  Anyway, maybe it's not dead.  From the 3/17/06 Portsmouth Daily Times:

 

 

Bypass remains a reality

By Jeff Barron

PDT Staff Writer

Friday, March 17, 2006 10:58 PM EST

 

State officials have talked about building the Portsmouth Bypass since the 1960s.

 

The Ohio Department of Transportation says the $300 million project will eventually be completed and construction could start as early as 2008.

 

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2006/03/18/news/local_news/2news_bypass.txt

 

[seicer 9]

http://www.irontontribune.com/articles/2006/12/24/news/news062.txt

 

SLC: This is a project worth completing, as it will provide a high-speed four-lane limited-access expressway northeast of Portsmouth on new alignment. Currently, US 23-bound traffic must negotiate Lucasville and Portsmouth before either departing into Kentucky via the U.S. Grant Bridge (requiring drivers to go through downtown), or the Truck US 23 bridge which is 5 miles out-of-the-way. Many trucks that utilise the US 52 to US 23 route must also negotiate narrow streets in an urban environment through New Boston, Portsmouth and Lucasville. Savings on the former, via the bypass, US 52 and the Jesse Stuart Mem. Bridge would be 30+ minutes; savings on the latter, via the bypass, would be near equal.

 

Connecting the limited-access freeway portion north of Lucasville to the limited-access expressway east of Sciotoville will provide a seamless high-speed connection for through-motorists and trucks alike and reduce congestion, pollution and improve the condition of the neighborhoods it passes through.

 

--

 

Project receives support

 

By Mark Shaffer/The Ironton Tribune

Friday, December 22, 2006 9:37 AM CST

 

Within a decade it may take less time to get to Columbus.

 

The Portsmouth Bypass project, which has been kicked around for the

past three decades without much progress, received funding for its

first phase and is in good position for construction funds.

[buildingcincinnati 1]

From the 3/30/07 Portsmouth Daily Times:

 

 

ODOT ready for demolitions

By JEFF BARRON

Friday, March 30, 2007 11:42 PM EDT

PDT Staff Writer

 

The Ohio Department of Transportation wants to start demolishing property in Sciotoville in preparation for the Portsmouth Bypass.

 

“We have acquired 13 properties,” ODOT District 9 Public Information Officer Kathleen Fuller said. “This will be the first wave.”

 

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2007/03/31/news/local_news/1news_odot.txt

 

[seicer 9]

Bureau, ODOT debate bypass

By T.W. Allen, Portsmouth Daily Times, March 25, 2008

 

Scioto County Farm Bureau had a meeting Tuesday night at Scioto County Welcome Center, with officials invited from Ohio Department of Transportation, to talk about the Portsmouth Bypass project. The underlying theme for the meeting - what seemed to overshadow other issues, was the fact the current projected bypass route would travel through the middle of the Ken Rase farm.

 

The Portsmouth Bypass project has been in the works for a number of years. Plans have been drawn up after much consideration of the effects it would have on the area.

[seicer 9]

ODOT unveils plans

More than $15M allocated to area

By Frank Lewis, Portsmouth Daily Times, April 18, 2008

 

More than $15 million in road construction projects are slated for Scioto County, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation District 9 office.

 

Among the projects scheduled over the next year and a half will be a two-lane resurfacing project on various forest roads in Shawnee State Forest, from October 2008 to June 2009, with an estimated cost of $1,288,000.

[seicer 9]

Home bypasses future destruction

By T.W. Allen, Portsmouth Daily Times, May 17, 2008

 

Randy Rucker, a property owner in Minford, recently purchased a home on Lucasville-Minford Road that he said was slated for destruction by the Ohio Department of Transportation, as part of the Portsmouth Bypass project.

 

Solid Rock Construction has been contracted by ODOT to demolish houses that will be in the path of what one day will be the Portsmouth Bypass.

[seicer 9]

Bypass plans now are available for public review

By Ryan Scott Ottney, Portsmouth Daily Times, June 3, 2008

 

Scioto County Engineer Clyde Willis invites residents of the county to visit his office to review the state's plans for the upcoming state route 823; more commonly known as the Portsmouth Bypass.

 

The 17-mile bypass will connect U.S. 52 near the Ohio 140 exit to U.S. 23 north of the Ohio 348 intersection by the Scioto County Fairgrounds, at an expected cost of $750 million, Willis said.

[seicer 9]

First Phase Of Bypass Project Gets Funding

By Frank Lewis, Portsmouth Daily Times, April 30, 2010

 

PIKETON — District 9 of the Ohio Department of Transportation held its Legislative Day and Transportation Roundtable Thursday at the Pike County ODOT garage.

 

At that meeting, James Brushart, District 9 deputy director, gave an overview of several projects being planned for the eight counties in the District 9 region, including the Portsmouth Bypass, the Waverly South connector and the Ironton-Russell bridge.

[seicer 9]

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/TRAC%20List/Recommended-DRAFT-TRAC-List-1-17-11.pdf

Well, with the setback at ODOT, a public-private partnership could be in the works for the four-lane bypass - i.e. a toll road.

[GCrites80s 384]

Well, whatever they want to do. Rosemount Rd. makes people better drivers. Other states have stuff 10X as intense as that hill. Portsmouth will die even more without the traffic. All that will be built on the new road is one of those dry carryouts/gas stations that looks like a pole barn.

[Citizen2012 0]

I checked the news and other links and it appears that ODOT may be moving forward on this project this year.  The TRAC spreadsheet seems to indicate otherwise.  I also saw that some lawyers had contacted affected property owners for seminars, etc.  Does anyone know what is going on?

[GCrites80s 384]

So apparently they have started construction on this thing.

[seicer 9]

Nothing is proposed until 2015: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D09/Documents/D9%20STIP%202017-2017.pdf. Is there a visual of work?

[GCrites80s 384]

Someone showed a picture staging area filling up with culvert and dumpsters on AARoads

[seicer 9]

Interesting - I didn't see that when I rolled by the site a few months ago. It must be very recent.

[jmecklenborg 512]

What a disgusting waste of money. 

[GCrites80s 384]

Especially since the main reason for the project, the two Russian steel mills along the Ohio, never materialized.

[seicer 9]

I am assuming since this is a public-private partnership, tolls will be levied? Or how is that financing working out for this?

[jmecklenborg 512]

No, there won't be tolls.  A private company will be contracted to maintain the road.  We've got a new sheriff in town!

[taestell 726]

New highway construction progressing

 

By achieving P3, the construction timetable of the project was accelerated by 17 years and will be completed all at once, rather than three phases and subject to the availability of funding.

 

Because why would we let a lack of "availability of funding" delay a highway project?

[GCrites80s 384]

^ Page not loading in typical P-town fashion

[seicer 9]

http://portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/5602/bypass-construction-well-underway

 

Will the Portsmouth Daily Times finally hire an editor? Like with Frank Lewis, this author relies far too much on quotes to complete basic information and there are run-on sentences and sentences that just end and begin with no reason. And then there is this:

 

"ODOT in conjunction with PGG have taken the project to social media, Facebook and Instagram accounts have been setup. Though those accounts pictures and information are shared."

 

Wow! Social media! And there is no link to said social media accounts...

[GCrites80s 384]

That paper's budget must be tiny.

[jmecklenborg 512]

Somehow the cost of the project jumped to $634 million.  No controversy, of course.  Expected to open in late 2018. 

 

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/25369/bypass-is-ahead-of-schedule

[KJP 7,718]

Wow, a 50% increase over the cost ODOT estimated in 2016. And yet no conservative, anti-tax groups have raised a stink nor will they. Road projects always get a pass.

[unusualfire 1]

"As has been highly publicized in the past, the new four-lane, limited-access freeway is the first-ever public/private road enterprise in Ohio. Fuller said had the state decided to build the $634 million project on its own, it most likely would have been built in phases stretching over 15 to 25 years. The unique funding mechanism used cut that time to three-and-a-half years."

 

Is this going to be towed? Or the state has been duked of 200+ million to get it done earlier???

[taestell 726]

No, this road was originally going to be built as a "public private partnership" (P3) but it was not going to be tolled. I don't quite understand the logic of using a P3 to build an ordinary, non-tolled road, but I assumed it was a way to funnel money toward Kasich's campaign donors. That plan fell apart for whatever reason, and now will just be built by ODOT as a non-tolled road.

[ink 59]

^Where did you hear that? I believe the private entity is still involved.

 

The benefit is that the state can make payments over many years instead of coming up with the entire amount at once.

[StapHanger 250]

^I think they've stuck to the same P3 plan. The money is coming from the state (no tolls), but a private consortium has been financing, designing, and building the thing and will maintain it for 35 years or so. Not sure how the payments from the state are calculated- the contract references some kind of model. 

[GCrites80s 384]

Maybe the contractors think the P3 is going to go bankrupt so they raised the price.

[Enginerd 324]

According to federal highway...

 

<i>“$646.3 million (total cost including preconstruction activities, design, construction, and financing)”</i>

 

Idk if the 400 million number has been spouted off to be purposefully misleading but this sounds like a truer cost.

[taestell 726]

^Where did you hear that? I believe the private entity is still involved.

 

Sorry, I misread the sentence, "Fuller said had the state decided to build the $634 million project on its own" as "Fuller said the state had decided to build the $634 million project on its own."  It's still a P3.

[taestell 726]

The Portsmouth Bypass (now called the Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway) is now complete! ODOT brags that this project is "the largest in ODOT history"!

 

 

[thebillshark 89]

We’ll soon see if this road brings much anticipated prosperity to Portsmouth... by diverting travelers away from Portsmouth. 

[BigDipper 80 180]

Is there any freeway in this state not named or sub-titled the Veterans Memorial Highway? Even the 70/75 Crossroads of America is officially named the ridiculous-sounding "Freedom Veterans Crossroads".

Edited December 13, 2018 by BigDipper 80

[taestell 726]

4 hours ago, thebillshark said:

We’ll soon see if this road brings much anticipated prosperity to Portsmouth... by diverting travelers away from Portsmouth. 

 

But, but... ODOT's spox insists that this project is bring prosperity and wealth to Southern Ohio!

 

 

He also seems to think that anyone criticizing this infrastructure boondoggle is attacking the people who live in Southern Ohio ... ???

 

 

[GCrites80s 384]

I bet eventually a dry carryout that looks like a pole barn and sells chicken will open. It will have a big conspicuous blank wall where the beer would be if the area wasn't dry.

[jmecklenborg 512]

Just now, GCrites80s said:

I bet eventually a dry carryout that looks like a pole barn and sells chicken will open. It will have a big conspicuous blank wall where the beer would be if the area wasn't dry.

 

And it'll be owned by an Indian family. 

[taestell 726]

I just got around to watching the drone video and it looks like they had to blast through a lot of terrain to build this thing. No wonder it was so expensive to build.

[jmecklenborg 512]

I was told that they chose to build directly through the hills in order to avoid eminent domain battles and "impacting" area residents.