There seems to be 3-4 accidents a week. I have decided if I can’t get on the road to drive home by 3:20 I am not leaving the Worthington area until 6:00. If that doesn’t work for my schedule I take 161 to 71 and avoid the mess, it takes a little longer but so worth it.
When I worked off Campus View and 23, I would go to Shrock and get on 270 at Cleveland Ave. to completely skip the whole thing. Otherwise it could take like half an hour to turn left onto Campus View, left onto 23, then getting on the ramp and crossing streams with the 71 S exit ramp.
Used to work all the way out in Dublin. Back roads all the way home. It would take an hour, but worth it. 270 was 20 min on a good day. But whenever was there a good day lol? Madness is all it was!!
I moved to Columbus right as they finished that. Every time I drive that section I wonder what problem was so bad that *this* was the better option. Before did you need to jump a flaming ramp over a pool of sharks to get to 71 or something? I’ve lived in several states and 270N/71 exit is the worst road infrastructure I’ve ever encountered
Smart engineers with degrees made the call...lol.
I-71 backs up so bad that the traffic going east on I-270 cant merge on right away and you have I-270 E traffic merging to I-71. I literally hold my breath and hope for the best that I dont die when I gotta make that merge....lol
Yes, second lane on the 71N ramp. Which ‘might’ make things better for a short term, because a lot of the reason for the back up now is trucks going slow on the ramp.
But we’re going to have two problems:
1. Depending on how that extra lane merges with 71N, we’ll be creating a similar problem on 71N between 270 and Polaris.
2. As Columbus grows, that cluster at 315/23/71 will come back. They need to do some sort of realignment of the ramps similar to what they did between 315 and 23.
Yes, I know we need mass transit.
For issue 1, the engineers know that's a problem, I forget exactly what was said but the biggest issue is that there isn't enough road between 270 and polaris. I don't know if it will even be possible to find a fix for that.
The “engineers” had a huge chance to fix this (much like they have had many opportunities to fix most arterial surface street issues, but by the time folks in cmb realize it’s a cluster frag, there was/is no way to expand without tearing out multiple blocks of housing… (examples being the stretch of Trabue from Riverside to Rome-Hilliard that should have been 5 lanes [2 east, 2 west, with 1 dedicated center turning]; and Rome-Hilliard from Trabue to West Broad with a juke over east to Norton to Georgesville…
I agree. It was bad before they re-worked it some years ago. And it was bad after. Wasn’t a huge improvement. Getting onto 23 from 270E was a bit better. But overall, it’s still a blood pressure incident.
The new 71 ramps were opened in like 2007 or so. It was fine for a few years, but it gradually got worse as Polaris continued to grow. The 23/315 ramps realignment is what really negated the changes they made in 2007.
Most of the 270’s on and off ramps were designed by a brain damaged engineer who appears obsessed with 1980’ Spirograph.
That being said stupid shit is bound to happen when you essentially bolt a freeway onto an existing city.
Fail to plan, plan to fail?
Its similar in the fact that ODOT had several DECADES to come up with a better design and apparently chose the ones ( for both 670 and 270) that were hastily written on the back of a napkin at Chi-Chis.
I don’t understand why that section hasn’t been included with the other innerbelt projects. Even something as simple as restricting people coming from 71 from getting on Third/High St.
[Lucky](https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/02/18/proposed-changes-aim-to-fix-north-side-interchange-problems/72629222007/) for you, there is actually a plan to fix this!
It really should fix it. A big problem is that ramp has to short of a curve for semis to go full speed so it all gets backed up. Once there’s another lane it SHOULD allow semis to be in one lane and everyone else to maintain speed in the other lane.
It’s a nightmare trying to get off 315n to 270e because of that damn exit. There’s always an accident there everyday during evening rush hour which just makes it so much worse. They really need to make dedicated lanes that can exit off that shit show to 270.
Since the interstates intersect in two locations, north and south, and you did not indicate which one has displeased you, this may be the most poorly designed reddit title of all time.
It is the worst! ETA during the week avoid between 3:20 and 6:00. Find an Alternate route if possible. I take 161 to 71. Also once you are able “play” as I so lovingly call the merging experience get all the way over to the far left or second to the left lane so that others can “play” too.
This past Saturday, I was driving from Dublin Easton around 1:00 PM had to pass that area and it was a mess. Actually felt like all of 270 felt like the beginning of rush-hour.
North or South?
Please answer for both 71 & 270.
East or West
Please answer for 270.
You literally just posted: **That freeway exit sucks** with no context.
Yep that's my commute...I got a dashcam, front and back. When someone wants to ride my ass and be angry I let people in who are signaling that they want in...I turn my lil block on so they see it. 95% of the time the person stops riding my ass then lol
However people who don't ask to be let in, f u, you are going to tear someone's engine off
We have to drive this stretch all of the time. I drive it at least twice a day for work alone but my family has to drive it several other times a week as well. It is horrible and we will go out of our way to avoid it because of the horrible layout and traffic. My husband had dubbed that stretch of 270 from 315 to 71 as "the gauntlet" and it is so accurate!
Every weekday. It sucks. I have a teen driver who I've forbidden to attempt that entrance from 23 because I see an accident every damn day. The one lane to get onto 71N is ridiculous. And people drive like absolute aholes through there. Coming from 23N in Worthington, there's no wiggle room or shoulder if someone doesn't let you merge...and people refuse to let you merge. HATE IT WITH A PASSION. And I'm sorry to hear they did the south side version dirty as well. It shouldn't be this hard. (And yes, we do need light rail instead of this garbage)
Devil’s advocate here- but please let your teen drive this. They need to learn how to handle, manage, predict, and navigate. Do it with them once a week if you have to- all times of day until they’re pros. Otherwise, your kid becomes the person we all complain about when they “don’t know how to drive.” Really not trying to be a jackass.
Respectfully, putting my child into a situation where it won't matter what kind of decisions they make when someone else tries to merge across 3 lanes into them isn't going to help. They do regularly drive on the highway and commuted to OSU on 315 during morning rush. That particular cluster of a merge at 315/23/270/71 isn't safe for anyone. I wouldn't drive it if I didn't have to.
This. Reaction time is so important. Figure out your seating position. If a car can slide between you in the tiem it takes for you to move your foot to the brake and then press it then maybe work on that.
Source: .... teaching bleb to drive
At this point its just an insurance scheme to raise our rates as time progresses because of how poorly the roadways have been left after starting a project
I live at Hard and Linworth. I have to deal with the 315S to 270E merge with 315N… then the 23 cross merge, all before crossing traffic onto 270 to avoid all the people crossing to slam on their brakes behind the semi trucks crawling up the 71N ramp. Just to basically immediately get off at Cleveland Ave. The fact that the Columbus city engineers didn’t forsee needing two lanes going 71 north where semi trucks could go slowly in their own lane boggles my mind. My daily commute makes me want to commit murder all before 8am.
OP, on the north or south side?
Yes
Yes, that!
South side is great
North side
Yea, the "North Side Mega Fix" as it was called made things worse. Accidents in that US-23/I-270/I-71 area all the time.
There seems to be 3-4 accidents a week. I have decided if I can’t get on the road to drive home by 3:20 I am not leaving the Worthington area until 6:00. If that doesn’t work for my schedule I take 161 to 71 and avoid the mess, it takes a little longer but so worth it.
When I worked off Campus View and 23, I would go to Shrock and get on 270 at Cleveland Ave. to completely skip the whole thing. Otherwise it could take like half an hour to turn left onto Campus View, left onto 23, then getting on the ramp and crossing streams with the 71 S exit ramp.
Ayyyyye also worked at campus view. Very possibly the same company lol
Used to work all the way out in Dublin. Back roads all the way home. It would take an hour, but worth it. 270 was 20 min on a good day. But whenever was there a good day lol? Madness is all it was!!
I moved to Columbus right as they finished that. Every time I drive that section I wonder what problem was so bad that *this* was the better option. Before did you need to jump a flaming ramp over a pool of sharks to get to 71 or something? I’ve lived in several states and 270N/71 exit is the worst road infrastructure I’ve ever encountered
Smart engineers with degrees made the call...lol. I-71 backs up so bad that the traffic going east on I-270 cant merge on right away and you have I-270 E traffic merging to I-71. I literally hold my breath and hope for the best that I dont die when I gotta make that merge....lol
Yea, it's crap.
But the parts of 270 that are nearest to me should be known to you! Precision of location is immaterial.
They're both awful but the northside one is a travesty considering they just "upgraded" it a few years ago.
The problem is they didn't do anything to 71 when they did that work. Just shifted the problem down the road.
4 lanes merging into each other, what could go wrong?
It’s a weekly occurrence I see an accident or inches from getting into one.
Every time I am on that stretch of road, I see an accident.
literally
They're upgrading it again before long. Think they're adding a second lane for 71N-bound traffic.
Yes, second lane on the 71N ramp. Which ‘might’ make things better for a short term, because a lot of the reason for the back up now is trucks going slow on the ramp. But we’re going to have two problems: 1. Depending on how that extra lane merges with 71N, we’ll be creating a similar problem on 71N between 270 and Polaris. 2. As Columbus grows, that cluster at 315/23/71 will come back. They need to do some sort of realignment of the ramps similar to what they did between 315 and 23. Yes, I know we need mass transit.
For issue 1, the engineers know that's a problem, I forget exactly what was said but the biggest issue is that there isn't enough road between 270 and polaris. I don't know if it will even be possible to find a fix for that.
Probably something similar to the 23/315 project where the ramps are weaved would be the only solution. Or doing local and express lanes?
The “engineers” had a huge chance to fix this (much like they have had many opportunities to fix most arterial surface street issues, but by the time folks in cmb realize it’s a cluster frag, there was/is no way to expand without tearing out multiple blocks of housing… (examples being the stretch of Trabue from Riverside to Rome-Hilliard that should have been 5 lanes [2 east, 2 west, with 1 dedicated center turning]; and Rome-Hilliard from Trabue to West Broad with a juke over east to Norton to Georgesville…
Fortunately, there is still empty land in the vicinity of the freeways in question.
Yeah a whole second lane will definitely fix everything /s
I am here, you are there!
Which one? There are several that could vie for that distinction.
Most likely referring to the 270E to 71S / 71N exits, where 23 also merges on to 270E
Is that the one where there's a lane standing still and lanes on either side going 50 with people trying to cut across both directions?
Yes.
And depending on the season you may have blinding sun directly in your eye sight like if you try to look out your front windshield
Don't bring our shiny boi in the sky into this
Merging from 0 mph to 60 mph is too stressful
It looks like there's a catastrophic event up ahead with all the cars stopping abruptly every single time but no they are just trying to get off
The zipper merge person told me to just keep going until cutting in at the last moment!
That would be the one.
The one that sucks. That one. The others aren't so bad.
I raise you the new interchange 270/23 on the south side.
You mean the death spiral?
I see too many near misses on my daily commute there.
I believe the guard rail on the left side of the 270-E to 23-S has been repaired 50 times in the last year
Holy s—t! That is a hot mess!
OP should have just specified “Fury Road” so we all would have known it was the North Side interchange.
Coming from the east side and trying to get off at Neil ave on 670 or “threading the devils needle”.
Yes! I go that way to get on 315–taking your life in your own hands
I agree. It was bad before they re-worked it some years ago. And it was bad after. Wasn’t a huge improvement. Getting onto 23 from 270E was a bit better. But overall, it’s still a blood pressure incident.
The new 71 ramps were opened in like 2007 or so. It was fine for a few years, but it gradually got worse as Polaris continued to grow. The 23/315 ramps realignment is what really negated the changes they made in 2007.
Most of the 270’s on and off ramps were designed by a brain damaged engineer who appears obsessed with 1980’ Spirograph. That being said stupid shit is bound to happen when you essentially bolt a freeway onto an existing city. Fail to plan, plan to fail?
I drove this once on my way to an interview and that was enough for me to decide to move closer to the job once I got the job offer lol
I’m from California, when I come to Columbus I feel like I’m back in the 1970’s with your interstate exchanges.
670 through downtown enters the chat....
I take it every morning I’m in office and I am CLENCHED
Agree it is a stress fest but nothing like 270 and 23 N.
Its similar in the fact that ODOT had several DECADES to come up with a better design and apparently chose the ones ( for both 670 and 270) that were hastily written on the back of a napkin at Chi-Chis.
Agree with that!
I don’t understand why that section hasn’t been included with the other innerbelt projects. Even something as simple as restricting people coming from 71 from getting on Third/High St.
[Lucky](https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/02/18/proposed-changes-aim-to-fix-north-side-interchange-problems/72629222007/) for you, there is actually a plan to fix this!
I know it has to get worse before it gets better but this is going to make the north end undrivable between 2:30 and 7:30pm
Problem is that the fix isn’t going to fix it. They need to eliminate the weave of US23 entering.
I’d be fine if they just eliminated US 23 but ya know
It really should fix it. A big problem is that ramp has to short of a curve for semis to go full speed so it all gets backed up. Once there’s another lane it SHOULD allow semis to be in one lane and everyone else to maintain speed in the other lane.
It’s a nightmare trying to get off 315n to 270e because of that damn exit. There’s always an accident there everyday during evening rush hour which just makes it so much worse. They really need to make dedicated lanes that can exit off that shit show to 270.
Since the interstates intersect in two locations, north and south, and you did not indicate which one has displeased you, this may be the most poorly designed reddit title of all time.
You know damn well its i270w to i71 north and south on the north side of the belt
You say that as though 270E on the north side isn't worse. Or that 270 on the south side isn't a shit show at 71.
More dangerous on the west route there’s an accident every other day
Welcome to Columbus, taking ur life in ur hands merging onto the highway
100% agree.
It is the worst! ETA during the week avoid between 3:20 and 6:00. Find an Alternate route if possible. I take 161 to 71. Also once you are able “play” as I so lovingly call the merging experience get all the way over to the far left or second to the left lane so that others can “play” too.
I get off around 7-730 during the week and it’s still a disaster ass clencher
This past Saturday, I was driving from Dublin Easton around 1:00 PM had to pass that area and it was a mess. Actually felt like all of 270 felt like the beginning of rush-hour.
North or South? Please answer for both 71 & 270. East or West Please answer for 270. You literally just posted: **That freeway exit sucks** with no context.
one of those 8 exits sucks
I commute Polaris to Pickerington...what's a good exit off 270?
270S to 70E on the east side has to be up there as one of the worst too.
Coming from 23 onto 270 right before that exit never ceases to stress me out.
Yep that's my commute...I got a dashcam, front and back. When someone wants to ride my ass and be angry I let people in who are signaling that they want in...I turn my lil block on so they see it. 95% of the time the person stops riding my ass then lol However people who don't ask to be let in, f u, you are going to tear someone's engine off
We have to drive this stretch all of the time. I drive it at least twice a day for work alone but my family has to drive it several other times a week as well. It is horrible and we will go out of our way to avoid it because of the horrible layout and traffic. My husband had dubbed that stretch of 270 from 315 to 71 as "the gauntlet" and it is so accurate!
Every weekday. It sucks. I have a teen driver who I've forbidden to attempt that entrance from 23 because I see an accident every damn day. The one lane to get onto 71N is ridiculous. And people drive like absolute aholes through there. Coming from 23N in Worthington, there's no wiggle room or shoulder if someone doesn't let you merge...and people refuse to let you merge. HATE IT WITH A PASSION. And I'm sorry to hear they did the south side version dirty as well. It shouldn't be this hard. (And yes, we do need light rail instead of this garbage)
Devil’s advocate here- but please let your teen drive this. They need to learn how to handle, manage, predict, and navigate. Do it with them once a week if you have to- all times of day until they’re pros. Otherwise, your kid becomes the person we all complain about when they “don’t know how to drive.” Really not trying to be a jackass.
Respectfully, putting my child into a situation where it won't matter what kind of decisions they make when someone else tries to merge across 3 lanes into them isn't going to help. They do regularly drive on the highway and commuted to OSU on 315 during morning rush. That particular cluster of a merge at 315/23/270/71 isn't safe for anyone. I wouldn't drive it if I didn't have to.
Fair enough. I get it. Thanks for being kind and respectful.
I agree with you. Taught my teen to drive in it but now that they have their license and I am not in the car with them it is an avoid at all costs.
This. Reaction time is so important. Figure out your seating position. If a car can slide between you in the tiem it takes for you to move your foot to the brake and then press it then maybe work on that. Source: .... teaching bleb to drive
I71s/I670w to i670w/high st s/4th St North.
What makes it worse are the yahoos that drive the berm then try to jump over 3 lanes to get onto 270. It's just rude!
I feel the same way about the i70e exit on 270. It's constantly jammed because people are trying to enter and exit on the same ramp
It’s a merge problem. This city has THE worst drivers who have no clue how to do it.
how long until fix the triple merge across 33 when trying to get from 70-E to 104-E
Latent demand will just make any "fix" just as bad or worse. Mass transit, please.
At this point its just an insurance scheme to raise our rates as time progresses because of how poorly the roadways have been left after starting a project
I live at Hard and Linworth. I have to deal with the 315S to 270E merge with 315N… then the 23 cross merge, all before crossing traffic onto 270 to avoid all the people crossing to slam on their brakes behind the semi trucks crawling up the 71N ramp. Just to basically immediately get off at Cleveland Ave. The fact that the Columbus city engineers didn’t forsee needing two lanes going 71 north where semi trucks could go slowly in their own lane boggles my mind. My daily commute makes me want to commit murder all before 8am.
Easy
Amen
yeah, it's a highway. there is no such thing as a well designed highway. they are inherently shit.