Road Warrior

Construction advisories beyond metro Toledo

The holiday travel story in Friday's Blade covered the major construction issues in and near Toledo for Memorial Day weekend, but for those going a bit farther, here are a few more tips.

The biggest potential hassle appears to be on southbound I-75 in Saginaw, Michigan. It's closed between the two I-675 interchanges for reconstruction. MDOT advises travelers headed home from the Upper Peninsula or other points north of Grayling to use U.S. 127 instead. I-75 south of the Bay City area is likely to be a parking lot Monday afternoon, based on the heavy traffic I have seen up there on holiday weekends.

I have used U.S. 127 via Lansing and Jackson, and U.S. 223 across Lenawee County, for trips like this, but if planning to go this way, remember that U.S. 23 will be jammed up at U.S. 223 on Monday.

In Ohio, lanes are closed on I-75 through Dayton, which could be troublesome during peak hours. A work zone through Lima has a reduced speed limit but two lanes are open both ways. On several other Interstates in Ohio, be aware of split-lane traffic in which the left lane is crossed over to the highway's opposite side to maintain two lanes each way during major construction. This pattern is set up on I-90 east of Cleveland, among other places.

Besides the work zone in Fulton County, the Ohio Turnpike could be congested near Fremont, where one of three lanes is closed in both directions for a reconstruction project. Backups should not be as bad as in Fulton County, but there could be delays at peak times.

Dead ends that aren't

"So you make a right on Sherwood, and take that until it dead-ends at River, and make a left...."

Where did this use of the term "dead end" come from? It seems to be a Midwestern, if not strictly Toledo, vernacular. But it's wrong. A street ending at a "T" intersection is not a dead end. If anything, it's a "live" end.

The picture here, from the Swanton area, shows what a dead end really is. It's a road that ends with no intersection, no turnaround -- it just stops. Even a cul-de-sac isn't truly a dead end.

I'm probably not going to bring a dead end to the term's misuse, but really, if there's an intersection, it's not a dead end.

Can anyone tell me how this particular usage ever got started?

Steam trips just a part of NS's big birthday party

The upcoming steam-train tour that Norfolk Southern has arranged — starting with a ferry trip from Fort Wayne to Bellevue, Ohio on Friday and employee excursions out of Bellevue on Saturday and Sunday — is only part of the company’s plan to celebrate its 30th corporate anniversary. As was featured on a Blade Sunday Magazine page this spring, NS arranged for 20 of its new diesel locomotives to be painted in the colors of historic railroads that make up most of its corporate ancestry.

During the first week of July, all 20 of them plus an engine in standard Norfolk Southern paint (but celebratory numbers) were on exhibit at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, N.C. Despite stultifying heat in North Carolina — comparable to what Toledoans endured that same week — the event attracted thousands of railroad enthusiasts, some from hundreds of miles away, to photograph the special engines both under the broiling sun and by floodlight at night. The engines were often arranged so that railroads from the three main branches of Norfolk Southern's corporate family tree -- Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western, and Conrail -- were posed together, such as this grouping of New York Central, Pennsylvania, and their merger successor Penn Central. Yes, even Penn Central, which when it filed for bankruptcy in 1970 represented the largest business failure in United States history, has been recognized in the program.

By that week’s end, most of the Heritage Fleet had been returned to regular service — all except for a handful that had been sent directly from a factory in Muncie, Ind., to Spencer without first having gone to a Norfolk Southern shop for computer programming and other post-manufacture set-up. Well, there was one other exception: NS 8100, the Nickel Plate Road engine, which was sent to the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society facility near Fort Wayne to be teamed up with Nickel Plate 765, the star of the steam-train tour. The NKP-decorated diesel will be tucked in behind the steam engine for all of its stops except the final swing to St. Louis, for which a Wabash-painted engine will get the honors. The steam engine is expected to do all the work; the diesel will be there “just in case.”

Two other Heritage Fleet members — the ones painted for the Reading and the Lehigh Valley — brought a trainload of coal north from West Virginia last week to the Detroit Edison power plant in River Rouge, Mich. The train passed through Toledo and Monroe with the loads on the morning of July 10, then returned from Michigan with the empty coal cars on the afternoon of July 12.

After the empty train arrived in Bellevue, Ohio, it was diverted from its planned route back to West Virginia and instead was sent to Chicago for delivery to the BNSF Railway, which was to take the coal cars for loading in Wyoming instead! The two special NS engines stayed with that train as far as Lincoln, Neb., where they were assigned to a different train destined for a rail yard near Billings, Mont. There’s a decent chance that train’s arrival will be the first time a locomotive dressed for either the Reading or the Lehigh Valley has been seen in the Billings area; as of this writing, that's expected to happen sometime Thursday.

Whether you’re out looking for the steam train or not during its imminent tour, be aware of the route it will take, because the trips are likely to attract a lot of spectators and undoubtedly a few train chasers. The route from Fort Wayne to Bellevue closely follows State Rt. 613 between the Ohio/Indiana border and McComb, Ohio, so there will likely be a parade of photographers chasing the train on that highway as it heads east Friday morning. Similarly, State Rt. 4 runs close to the train’s route this weekend between Bellevue and Bucyrus, so traffic may get interesting at times, especially near Attica, Ohio. Especially problematic are conflicts between photographers who are trying to get ahead of the train for their next shot and videographers who desire “pacing” shots from their moving vehicles; this may especially be an issue along Route 613 near Oakwood, Ohio on Friday.

If all that weren’t enough, Norfolk Southern’s business train ran an employee-appreciation special from Toledo to Bellevue Tuesday morning. I’m sure that train , powered by the company’s four 1950s-vintage “F unit” diesels, turned a few heads in East Toledo, Oak Harbor, Fremont, and Clyde along the way.

For whom the barrel tolls

Springtime is an especially busy time for construction on the Ohio Turnpike. The toll road typically schedules its full-time resurfacing zones between early April and mid-to-late June, as well as after Labor Day, to avoid causing major traffic jams during the peak summer driving season. Turnpike maintenance crews also do a lot of lesser repair work on a day-to-day basis this time of year, perhaps catching up on any winter-related damage -- though there shouldn't have been much of that this year, right? -- along with periodic crack sealing, guardrail repairs, and other housekeeping.

The cumulative effect of work zone after work zone can be rather aggravating for turnpike travelers, especially in the resurfacing areas where lane closings are left in place all day even though the work is done at night. Perhaps most annoying to the reader who wrote to complain about the daytime inactivity in the work zones is the 50-mph speed limit the Turnpike posts in its work areas, which is in effect whether work is actually being done or not. When half the turnpike is seemingly afflicted with work zones, he wrote, the main benefit one expects to get for one's tolls -- a faster trip than can be had on U.S. 20 or Route 2 -- goes away.

If the Turnpike were to follow ODOT's standard practice, which is to reduce the speed limit by 10 mph in most work areas, then its 70-mph limit would reduce to 60 in work areas. That's probably too fast when work is going on. And turnpike spokesman Lauren Hakos observed that the time difference to get through a 10-mile work zone at 50 mph is just 3.4 minutes longer than traveling 10 miles at 70. She also confirmed our reader's report that there seemed to be a lot of state troopers in the work zones enforcing the 50-mph limit, noting a recent work-zone truck crash on the toll road in Sandusky County that killed a Turnpike maintenance worker and injured two others.

In light of that crash, in particular, it's a tough time to suggest that the Turnpike overdoes it on work-zone safety. But I also get why my correspondent is annoyed. While an extra 3.4 minutes may not seem like much time, 50 mph feels like plodding on a high-speed road like the Turnpike, and a speed that low seems really unnecessary when nobody's actually out there doing anything. Ms. Hakos explained that the nighttime projects are scheduled that way because it allows the contractors to shut down an additional lane during their work hours without severely backing up traffic. Adding another work shift during the day would increase the contractors' costs, she surmised, and the day crew wouldn't be as efficient since it wouldn't be able to work on as much of the road without the additional lane closing.

The spokesman also defended the Turnpike's practice of leaving resurfacing zones up full-time, rather than setting them up and taking them down for each work shift as ODOT now does on many comparable projects. Set-up and take-down would add cost and extend the time needed to get the work done, Ms. Hakos said.

I'll concede, the construction set-ups on the Ohio Turnpike could be worse. Twenty-two years have not softened my memory of one of the most brutal work zones I have ever encountered, on I-90 in northern Illinois. For the entire 50-or-so miles between the Tri-State Tollway and Rockford, I-90 was reduced to one lane each way for pavement patching when a friend and I drove it on a Sunday evening in June, 1990. The only exception to the single-file traffic was at tollgates. It was a mad dash at each plaza for motorists to get into what they thought would be the fastest tollgate lanes, with a particular goal of getting ahead of the heavy trucks that jammed up the works for the miles and miles in between. Paying tolls was especially galling when the level of service being provided to motorists was so spectacularly lousy.

But I'd like to see the Ohio Turnpike set up a work/no-work speed limit differential for its work areas, as many other states have done. How about 60 mph when no work is occurring, and 50 (or even 45) when a work zone is active? Some states, including our neighbors in Indiana, activate flashing lights on the work-zone signs when workers are present, so there's no doubt which speed limit is in effect. I'm all about strict enforcement when workers are truly being protected, too, but 50 is silly when there is nothing going on, or if traffic is separated from the work area by one or more rows of stout concrete barriers, not just orange barrels. Setting speed limits is always a compromise between convenience and safety; if safety were the only consideration, then we probably shouldn't be allowed to go faster than 25 mph anywhere.

As long as the Turnpike's work zone policies stay as they are, the best advice is to be sure to check the Road Warrior column and the Turnpike's Web site for construction zone information, and don't plan on making 70-mph time all the way. I mention the Web site because my column isn't really set up to do day-to-day updates on maintenance zones -- nor is the Turnpike particularly aggressive about publicizing them.

BY THE WAY: There's a new full-time work zone starting up Saturday (May 5) on the Turnpike near Cleveland. Between Mileposts 164.8 and 170.1, reconstruction of the westbound lanes will reduce traffic to two lanes each way. Westbound traffic will be split through the work area, with the left lane crossing over to the eastbound side. This zone will be similar to the westbound reconstruction that occurred near Fremont last year. The eastbound side will be re-done in that Fremont-area zone starting on Tuesday (May 8).

Amtrak derailed near Jackson, Michigan

An Amtrak train headed from Detroit to Chicago has derailed at about 8 a.m. after colliding with a truck east of Jackson, Michigan. A passenger on board says he does not believe there are serious injuries on board. He does not know the truck driver's fate. The track is pretty badly torn up, according to the passenger -- so expect Amtrak service to Detroit to be suspended for at least the rest of the day.

UPDATE: Area media are reporting that the truck driver was not seriously hurt, nor was the engineer, who must have had a scary ride. The engine landed on its side after the crash; the cafe car behind the engine was jackknifed by the impact and partially overturned. The passenger I spoke with was in the first coach behind the cafe, which derailed but remained upright. He said he was dozing off when he was awakened by a jolt from the collision.

I'm told the truck was stuck on the track when the collision occurred. Investigators will have to determine if the driver is at fault for that.

Toledoblade.com's on-going news-service coverage of the accident can be found here.

 

MDOT gets green light to finish unbuilt ramp at Ambassador Bridge

The Michigan Department of Transportation has made a bit of headway in its ongoing legal wrangling with the Detroit International Bridge Company, owner of the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

MDOT announced Wednesday that the Federal Highway Administration has given it the go-ahead to build an elevated ramp that will allow trucks coming into Detroit from Canada to bypass neighborhood streets to reach freeways at the bridge's base. The ramp had been delayed because of DIBC's failure to convey land needed to build it to the state; the land transfer occurred in December.

MDOT says it now will award an expedited contract to build the ramp, with work expected to start in February and slated for completion by the Memorial Day weekend.

Litigation concerning other portions of the unfinished Gateway project continues, MDOT said.

"I want to thank the Federal Highway Administration’s Michigan Division for the flexibility to allow MDOT to move forward while we continue to work through the courts to ensure the bridge company meets all of the terms it agreed to in the contract," said State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle. "We look forward to the bridge company completing its part of the Gateway project as promised to improve the flow of passenger vehicle and commercial traffic at the border and improve the quality of life for the residents of southwest Detroit."

Don't plan on taking I-75 to Ohio 15 from Findlay Thursday morning

The I-75 southbound exit ramp to State Rt. 15 and U.S. 68 south of Findlay will be closed for about 3-1/2 hours Thursday morning for pavement grinding, the Ohio Department of Transportation announced.
The rough-pavement repair is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. and be done by 11:30 a.m.
No detour route will be posted. Those travelling from the Toledo area to Columbus or other central Ohio points should consider using U.S. 23 via Fostoria as an alternative route. Taking State Rt. 235 to U.S. 30 to U.S. 23 in Upper Sandusky is another option.

Heading for MIS this weekend?

The Michigan Department of Transportation says it will suspend construction projects Thursday morning on most routes leading toward Michigan International Speedway in advance of this weekend's racing there, but there's at least one noteworthy exception.

On-going construction along U.S. 223 in Lenawee County includes two culvert replacements that require alternating single-lane traffic, governed by traffic signals, east of Blissfield. Motorists should allow extra time to get through the area this weekend or, better yet, use M-50 instead to get from the Toledo area to MIS.

Work on other routes leading to the race track, including M-50, will resume on June 21.