IA: I-80/I-29 changes in Council Bluffs

[mvak36]

I saw this online today but I guess the changes have been in place since last week:http://councilbluffsinterstate.iowadot.gov/construct/dual-divided-freeway/

ALERT: Interstate Exit Numbers Changing in Council Bluffs

On the evening of Tuesday, August 14th, 2018, weather permitting, Iowa DOT maintenance will be changing exit number signing for the 24th Street and South Expressway exits as shown in the video. 24th Street, Exit 1b, will be changed to Exit 50 (however it will still be Exit 1b on Eastbound I-80) and South Expressway, Exit 3, will be changed to Exit 49. This change is designated to follow I-29 mileage for the final design of the dual-divided freeway. The outside lanes of the dual-divided freeway will be designated I-29/I-80 local and will follow the I-29 mileage in the ultimate design of the system.

I am not sure how the Iowa I-80 and Iowa I-29 files will need to be updated with these new waypoints, but I wanted to let you guys know.

Twitter Post that shows a picture of the new exit numbers: https://twitter.com/CBInterstate/status/1030137275613675520/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5E417689608638316546&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fcouncilbluffsinterstate.com%2F

[rickmastfan67]

Just also want to mention that US-6 will also need to be updated since it's following I-80 in this area.

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On a side note, it also seems that I-29 in this area can seriously use a re-centering run between exits 47 & 56.

[the_spui_ninja]

So basically does this mean that I-80 and I-29 are split now? I go through this area frequently and am still not sure what the heck they're doing.

[rickmastfan67]

So basically does this mean that I-80 and I-29 are split now? I go through this area frequently and am still not sure what the heck they're doing.

As far as I can tell, not yet.

Here's an easy way to explain this.  They are creating their own 'mini 401' there.  lol.

[mvak36]

So basically does this mean that I-80 and I-29 are split now? I go through this area frequently and am still not sure what the heck they're doing.

No, I believe they are building I-80/I-29 Local and I-80/I-29 Express lanes. I-80/I-29 Local is used for traffic to/from the S Expressway and S 24th St exits. The express lanes bypass the traffic from both of these exits.

This video explains it better than I did: http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/j7imhtr08h?popover=true

[the_spui_ninja]

Oh, OK. So based on that video, it looks like I-29 is only on the "local" lanes while I-80 is on both the "local" and "express" lanes? Does that seem right?

[rickmastfan67]

Oh, OK. So based on that video, it looks like I-29 is only on the "local" lanes while I-80 is on both the "local" and "express" lanes? Does that seem right?

The way they signage looks in the videos on the DOT site, yes.

As far as I can tell why they are doing this, is to be able to have separate milemarkers for each set of lanes to help emergency crews to the correct lanes in case of a major wreck.

[the_spui_ninja]

Oh, OK. So based on that video, it looks like I-29 is only on the "local" lanes while I-80 is on both the "local" and "express" lanes? Does that seem right?

The way they signage looks in the videos on the DOT site, yes.

As far as I can tell why they are doing this, is to be able to have separate milemarkers for each set of lanes to help emergency crews to the correct lanes in case of a major wreck.

That makes sense.

Does this mean I-29 and I-80 concurrency would be separated when this is all done?

[si404]

If I-80 is on both sets of lanes, then no as they are concurrent on the outer lanes.

If I-80 is on the inner lanes only, then yes the concurrency has ceased to exist - have starred (closed exits) or hidden points on the inner-lane road at the outer-lane-only exits, but have the point off by the last digit to break the concurrency - its how it's done at Bologna (A14/RA1), Eindhoven (A2/N2), Barcelona (AP7/B30), Paris (A6a/A6b), etc.

[Highway63]

When it's all said and done, traffic on I-80 will have to "exit" onto I-29 at either end of the multiplex to access the 24th Street exit and the South Expressway exit (old IA 192) - except that WB 80 will have a dedicated "Exit 3" to get to South Expressway because mainline I-29 won't join the local lanes until just after that.

I-29 will be the outer lanes only, which will also be signed as "Local 80". At either end traffic can either rejoin I-80 or follow I-29.

These updates have been submitted BTW.