69 Highway

Transportation topics in KC
Post Reply
User avatar
FlippantCitizen
Western Auto Lofts
Western Auto Lofts
Posts: 573
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:29 pm
Location: Chicago

69 Highway

Post by FlippantCitizen »

Searched and went back 10 or so pages. Didn't see a thread for 69 Highway. Does anyone know what traffic jams this article is referring to? I've driven 69 from it's I-35 juntion to 159th street to visit family frequently since moving here. Sometimes at rush hour. Yes there are cars on the road but traffic is always moving. Can't think of a single time I've been in stop and go traffic on 69 which is not true for some other metro highways. My sample is limited though, does anyone think 69 needs expansion??

https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-06-15/ex ... out-equity
User avatar
normalthings
Mark Twain Tower
Mark Twain Tower
Posts: 8018
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:52 pm

Re: 69 Highway

Post by normalthings »

There does not exist in this metro, maybe nation, a highway that needs to be expanded
User avatar
DaveKCMO
Ambassador
Posts: 20039
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:22 pm
Location: Crossroads
Contact:

Re: 69 Highway

Post by DaveKCMO »

I love that the equity conversation is focused on tolls and not the added pollution and private property acquisition that will result. There are even environmental bullets being touted!
User avatar
alejandro46
Alameda Tower
Alameda Tower
Posts: 1350
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:24 pm
Location: King in the North(Land)

Re: 69 Highway

Post by alejandro46 »

There are so many better uses for $600M than to expand this highway. I get Sharice is trying to bring home the bacon, but this ain't it.
flyingember
Mark Twain Tower
Mark Twain Tower
Posts: 9862
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:54 am

Re: 69 Highway

Post by flyingember »

The only traffic jams on 69 Hwy are caused by the merge onto I-35 shoving six lanes of traffic into three.

It's self created, basically.

Adding lanes to the south is going to slow down traffic.
User avatar
FlippantCitizen
Western Auto Lofts
Western Auto Lofts
Posts: 573
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:29 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: 69 Highway

Post by FlippantCitizen »

A previous article I read on the highway funds Davids secured seemed to suggest more money to the I-35 I-435 K-10 junction and far less to 69. Where will the money even come from for this? Seems like the usage of optional toll lanes would be minimal given the already low level of delays especially since the article said the toll lane would only be south from 103rd. This blows my mind frankly, what a waste if it comes to pass.
herrfrank
Western Auto Lofts
Western Auto Lofts
Posts: 637
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2013 2:12 pm

Re: 69 Highway

Post by herrfrank »

One cheap improvement to US69 would be to add a connection from southbound BV Pkwy (Metcalf Cutoff) to northbound US69, alleviating neighborhood cut-through traffic around 119th from the shopping districts near the Metcalf corridor. The ramp should be steeply banked and take up just a smidge of land south of the existing subdivision. This was planned as I recall when this roadway was expanded in the 1980s, not sure why it didn't get built.

A study would reveal that a significant number of shoppers would use this return -- Costco traffic in particular. Something similar already exists elsewhere in the metro -- the connection from southbound I-35 to northbound I-29 in Gladstone.
flyingember
Mark Twain Tower
Mark Twain Tower
Posts: 9862
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:54 am

Re: 69 Highway

Post by flyingember »

herrfrank wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 11:59 am Something similar already exists elsewhere in the metro -- the connection from southbound I-35 to northbound I-29 in Gladstone.
That ramp is in KCMO.

That’s another freeway where HOV lanes would be smart. 29 to/from the airport could be used by the bus too
User avatar
Highlander
City Center Square
City Center Square
Posts: 10168
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 1:40 pm
Location: Houston

Re: 69 Highway

Post by Highlander »

flyingember wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:51 pm
herrfrank wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 11:59 am Something similar already exists elsewhere in the metro -- the connection from southbound I-35 to northbound I-29 in Gladstone.
That ramp is in KCMO.

That’s another freeway where HOV lanes would be smart. 29 to/from the airport could be used by the bus too
I'm not a big HOV lane fan. I sat in Houston traffic for years watching HOV lanes (and toll lanes for that matter) go practically unused. Just adding additional lanes would be more practical. As for US69, the toll lane is a bad idea. My guess it will sit there practically unused for years before some grudgingly start to use it but it will do little to alleviate the issue which as you state is more of a back up from the I-35/I-69 merge.

Again from my experience in Houston, adding lanes to a highway is simply a license to sprawl. When I arrived in Houston, I-10 west had just been revamped to include new lanes. The traffic was actually manageable for a while after the lane additions but given the highway new access, west Houston sprawled out of control and within a few years and stoppages on I-10 were worse than they were before the lane additions. There was actually a proposal to run a light rail system from the burb of Katy to downtown in the middle of I-10 but that was rejected in favor of new lanes.
User avatar
FangKC
City Hall
City Hall
Posts: 18141
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:02 pm
Location: Old Northeast -- Indian Mound

Re: 69 Highway

Post by FangKC »

I lived in Phoenix before they put in all the secondary freeways that exist now--or the light rail line. At the time only I-10/I-17 went through Phoenix. I got tired of sitting in traffic, and moved closer to work, and in a location where I didn't have to take a freeway. If there was a backup, I had multiple surface streets I could take to get home.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Phoen ... 12.0740373

Since that time, the Phoenix Metro has sprawled even more. Yet just 15 minutes from Downtown are still agricultural fields that haven't been developed. Those fields should have been developed 40 years ago. Why weren't they? Because South Phoenix has traditionally been Latino neighborhoods. White people would rather drive an hour to and from work each way to avoid living there. Humans are dumb asses.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Phoen ... 12.0740373
Last edited by FangKC on Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
brewcrew1000
Hotel President
Hotel President
Posts: 3104
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:10 am
Location: Broadway/Gilham according to google maps

Re: 69 Highway

Post by brewcrew1000 »

Most of the backups are caused cause people dont know how to merge or let people in on 135th and 151st
User avatar
Highlander
City Center Square
City Center Square
Posts: 10168
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 1:40 pm
Location: Houston

Re: 69 Highway

Post by Highlander »

FangKC wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:04 pm I lived in Phoenix before they put in all the secondary freeways that exist now--or the light rail line. At the time only I-10/I-17 went through Phoenix. I got tired of sitting in traffic, and moved closer to work, and in a location where I didn't have to take a freeway. If there was a backup, I had multiple surface streets I could take to get home.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Phoen ... 12.0740373

Since that time, the Phoenix Metro has sprawled even more. Yet just 15 minutes from Downtown are still agricultural fields that haven't been developed. Those fields should have been developed 40 years ago. Why weren't they? Because South Phoenix has traditionally been Latino neighborhoods. White people would rather drive an hour to and from work each way to avoid living there. Humans are dumb asses.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Phoen ... 12.0740373
I'm curious. Was the section of I-10 at the Japanese Garden (roughly between 3rd and 5th) always a tunnel or did they enclose the freeway at a later date to create land above it?
Last edited by Highlander on Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
brewcrew1000
Hotel President
Hotel President
Posts: 3104
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:10 am
Location: Broadway/Gilham according to google maps

Re: 69 Highway

Post by brewcrew1000 »

That land in South phoenix is native american land so they cannot develop on it. I think it's the Gila River Reservation, there are plenty of casinos that are on the edge of that land though
User avatar
FangKC
City Hall
City Hall
Posts: 18141
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:02 pm
Location: Old Northeast -- Indian Mound

Re: 69 Highway

Post by FangKC »

I'm not talking about that land. That reservation is south of South Mountain. I'm talking about agricultural land between downtown Phoenix and South Mountain.
User avatar
FangKC
City Hall
City Hall
Posts: 18141
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:02 pm
Location: Old Northeast -- Indian Mound

Re: 69 Highway

Post by FangKC »

Highlander wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:14 pm I'm curious I-10 in Phoenix per the maps you provided. Was the section of I-10 at the Japanese Garden (roughly between 3rd and 5th) always a tunnel or did they enclose the freeway at a later date to create land above it?
That cap wasn't originally over I-10. It opened around 1990. The park on top of it was built later.
Sani
Strip mall
Strip mall
Posts: 273
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:22 pm
Location: Shawnee

Re: 69 Highway

Post by Sani »

Road Guy Rob on YouTube has a good video about why it took Phoenix so long to build its freeways and why they ended up having to fund their own beltways (Loop 101, etc.) rather than get three-digit interstates like most metro areas.

I think a lot of the issues currently seen with 69 could be mitigated by rebuilding the College Boulevard and 435 interchanges with a flyover ramp from NB 69 to WB 435, which is in the plan, and adding auxiliary lanes between exits -- for example, on NB 69 between 135th Street and Blue Valley Parkway.
Post Reply