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Submitted By: Indiana DOT in partnership with the Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio DOTs.  Source: http://www.corridors.dot.gov/i70.htm

Corridors of the Future Funding
$3 million in Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) funds for a study to evaluate the feasibility of constructing truck-only lanes along I-70; $2 million in Interstate Maintenance Discretionary (IMD) funds for supplemental environmental work in Missouri to evaluate the impacts of dedicated truck lanes.

Project Description
This project proposes dedicated and segregated truck lanes along I-70 from the Interstate 435 beltway on the eastern part of Kansas City, Missouri to the Preble County Ohio/West Virginia border near Bridgeport, Ohio/Wheeling, West Virginia.

The concept proposes adding four dedicated truck lanes to the existing infrastructure, two in each direction, with at least one interchange per county providing access to the truck lanes and includes, conceptually, truck staging areas. These lanes present the opportunity to pilot size and weight increases on a facility dedicated to trucks. The dedicated truck lanes are seen as a way to reduce congestion, improve safety, and offset the maintenance costs of general purpose lanes.

The volume of freight movement along I-70 states is growing. Current truck volumes are such that truck traffic is 21.5 percent in urban areas and 28 percent in the rural sections. The proposed corridor and changes in size and weight have the potential to attract freight movement from other parallel routes (Interstate 80 and Interstate 40), as well as other major north/south interstates. These options make I-70 a reasonable candidate for a tolled facility.

Status
On January 16th, 2009 the I-70 Corridors Of The Future Development Agreement was signed by each of the states involved and the FHWA. The agreement will provide and clarify the initial requirements and expectations between the approving agencies on how to develop, operate and maintain the facility. At this stage no formal design standard has been selected and agreed upon for the I-70 dedicated truck lane corridor. Next steps include a joint feasibility study to test the dedicated truck lane concept, freight market analysis to quantify demand for this route, and completion of an Environmental Impact Study. For more information see the project web site: http://www.in.gov/indot/files/I-70CorridorsOfTheFuture1of4.pdf (PDF 4.6MB). A unique video prepared by the Missouri DOT on how the truck lanes could operate can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTUf3qZQvf4.

Corridor Statistics
The I-70 corridor throughout the four states is over 750 miles with approximately 240 miles traversing through urban areas. Currently, the average daily traffic throughout the entire corridor is over 45,000 with a maximum over 250,000. Average daily truck traffic is over 11,000 with a maximum over 26,000. Among the 240 mile urban segment, over 53 percent is currently under heavy congestion. Without any further improvement to the corridor, the projected 2035 average daily traffic will be over 100,000 which includes over 25,000 trucks. By 2035, 97 percent urban segments will be under heavy congestion. Congestion for non-urban segments will increase from the current 16 percent to over 87 percent.

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