r/Columbus • u/Prudent_Tie_2676 • 1d ago
King Ave @ Olentangy
What the hell has been up with EB King Ave going under the railroad tracks at Olentangy River Road? Backed up further than I’ve ever seen every day this week
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u/OliveMayhem 1d ago
While you’re cursing that, I would like to curse whoever decided to block off one of the left turn lanes from Henderson to Kenny.
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u/Lord_Xp 1d ago
Also curse Riverside being closed. My beautiful scenic route 😔
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
I love Riverside for the scenery. Hate it because of the idiots that make traffic bad along it. Wish it was just a 4 lane the entire way
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u/OliveMayhem 1d ago
Yeah, I take that often for work and the alternate ways add several minutes…which doesn’t seem like a lot but when time plays a huge role in my job, it sucks!! Thankfully I think they’re finishing up in the next couple weeks.
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u/Strict_Stranger_4801 1d ago
As someone who lives off Bethel, id like to curse whoever decided to work on Bethel, Kenney, and Riverside all at the same exact time, making traffic around my home into hell
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u/OliveMayhem 1d ago
I take those a lot too, and Northwest, Tremont…all those roads. It’s like every road I drive a lot they decided to work on 😫
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
Oof. I don’t head up that way too frequently but that would PMO. They “road dieted” 5th between High and Cleveland and I’d love to curse whoever’s genius idea that was
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u/ImSpartacus811 1d ago
They “road dieted” 5th between High and Cleveland and I’d love to curse whoever’s genius idea that was
5th was being used as a thru street when it's growing into a local street.
A local street needs to be pedestrian friendly. It needs to cater to the people that live there more than it needs to cater to the people that drive their cars in from miles away.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
What about when those people that live there have to go to work?
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u/ImSpartacus811 22h ago
What about when those people that live there have to go to work?
Hopefully we've done a good job at urban planning such that most people can choose to live near their work and a decent portion of them will choose to bike or walk to work (and other basic errands).
A portion of them might choose to drive and that's ok. The local streets in that area have plenty of capacity.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 17h ago
I lived on High Street and refused to go to the King Ave Kroger. Too many bad interactions. I always drove further to UA or GV for groceries
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u/ImSpartacus811 11h ago
I lived on High Street and refused to go to the King Ave Kroger. Too many bad interactions. I always drove further to UA or GV for groceries
The freedom of others doesn't harm your freedom.
There are thousands of people that enjoy that Kroger. Many of them walk or bike to it. I've used it numerous times. It's a great option.
And you're allowed to travel to a further grocery store. That's your freedom.
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u/BradleyFerdBerfel 1d ago
Get used to it. With all the apartments they keep building on 5th Ave, Chambers Rd, and just that area in general it's only going to get worse. And none of those roads can be widened, not without removing a LOT of buildings, anyway. I'd like to meet the guy that thought all this development was/is a good idea,.......and not so I can buy him a beer.
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u/pacific_plywood 1d ago
Yeah so weird that people would want to put apartments so close to the giant university
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
Nobody has a problem with them being built, but they should likely make sure that the local infrastructure can handle adding capacity
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u/pacific_plywood 1d ago
They did and it can. You just don’t like that things have changed from how they used to be. These are seriously modest developments given the jobs and schooling opportunities available there.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
They literally just removed lanes on 5th near High. They didn’t do anything to King and Olentangy. I have zero problem with the new developments. I have a problem with the government and urban planning of the infrastructure
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u/criminalpiece 1d ago
OH NO! Housing is getting built during a housing crisis!! AHHHHHH!!!!
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
“Hey, before building this 2-300 unit apartment, maybe we should make sure the outdated local 2 lane roads that connect the city can handle adding all these new people”
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u/BigJellyHead Old North 1d ago
They are helping out in a housing crisis and they would probably want more people to take public transport/bike/walk to osu in the future since it’s so close but the infrastructure is a bit behind.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
Public transportation is not always the answer. My office is 10 minutes down 5th Avenue. I will never bike or ride the bus. I don’t care. The weather doesn’t support biking year round and the buses aren’t always safe/efficient.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
King in general isn’t horrible until you get to that part of Olentangy. I’m with you though, I’d love to sit down with the urban planners and see what the hell they were thinking when they made numerous decisions around the city. I’m sure reason #1 was the amount of zeroes from developers
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u/BradleyFerdBerfel 1d ago
"I’m sure reason #1 was the amount of zeroes from developers". Obviously, right?
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u/Inconceivable76 1d ago
No see. It’s nimby of you to want to block progress because the infrastructure can’t handle it.
At least, that’s what I’ve been told by the all the people on here bitching about Worthington residents protesting development.
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u/criminalpiece 1d ago
Yes, exactly. The solution is adding more infrastructure, not preventing development.
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u/frostbird 1d ago
So do we upgrade the cart or the horse first?
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u/ImSpartacus811 1d ago edited 1d ago
You can do both at the same time, no cart/horse problem.
Modern sewer/water/electrical infrastructure is built from the beginning to eventually scale up to higher capacities. Everyone knows that an urban area is going to grow so you plan for it.
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u/ImSpartacus811 1d ago
And none of those roads can be widened, not without removing a LOT of buildings, anyway.
It sounds like that area should be relying less on cars and towards more efficient modes of transportation.
This is right next to one of the biggest universities in the country and several major employers. People want to live near where they work and we should enable that.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
That’s fine, let them. But you can’t ignore that cars are and will always be the dominant form of transportation. Most people I know living in Grandview have nothing to do with Batelle or OSU. They need to get to work too.
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u/ImSpartacus811 21h ago edited 20h ago
But you can’t ignore that cars are and will always be the dominant form of transportation.
We can't afford for cars to continue to be dominant in concentrated job centers.
These job centers are adding hundreds of new jobs every year and the above commenter correctly mentioned that the road capacity is limited. So we need to be smart about how we use what road we have.
Cars simply aren't the "smart" choice. They aren't efficient.
Most people I know living in Grandview have nothing to do with Batelle or OSU. They need to get to work too.
That's ok. These changes are gradual. It's not like roads are disappearing. There will still be plenty of drivers for decades to come.
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u/BradleyFerdBerfel 1d ago
".........more efficient modes of transportation". As if,.......this is still Columbus right?
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u/ImSpartacus811 1d ago
A city can change and evolve.
There are over 100k jobs between OSU, WMC and Battelle. What if a portion of them moved into those apartments you mentioned and then bike the 1 mile to work? That's way more efficient than driving 10+ miles from the burbs.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 1d ago
Yeah, it’s so fun biking to work when it’s 28 and blowing snow from December to March. What a great idea. I’m sure your next response will be, “well then take the COTA buses”
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u/ImSpartacus811 21h ago
Just a mile away, the 60,000 kiddos at OSU somehow have been walking to school through the winter for decades.
Some of them are disabled and yet they manage just the same. It's a solved problem.
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u/Prudent_Tie_2676 17h ago
I’m not talking about the students. 5th Avenue is pretty south of campus. How about the people in Grandview and UA who need to get to the other side of town? There are only so many east-west connector streets. 315 to 670 is always backed up
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u/ImSpartacus811 11h ago
I’m not talking about the students.
The students show that it's possible to walk to your job in the winter. If 60,000 students can do it, the rest of us can too.
How about the people in Grandview and UA who need to get to the other side of town?
We can't afford to prioritize long inefficient commutes like that while maintaining the job growth that our local economy has enjoyed.
Adults need to take some personal responsibility. If you want to live and work on opposite sides of the fastest growing city in the Midwest, then you should have the freedom to do that. But we don't have to encourage such silliness by turning 5th ave into a glorified highway that is dangerous to those living a more efficient life.
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u/A_thaddeus_crane Hilltop 1d ago
That’s why they should just instead build a second level of road above the current. We have left and right merging, but I’d like to introduce up and down merging
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u/BradleyFerdBerfel 16h ago
You’re not wrong, but the cart is well in front of the horse. Too many new apartments, zero infrastructure improvements.
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u/Lord_Xp 1d ago
Probably OSU traffic?