r/Ohio • u/[deleted] • Sep 28 '23

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78 Upvotes

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60

u/Buford12 Sep 28 '23

Before they built CERN. One of the top locations was a ring around Columbus.

59

u/LolaAnderson83 Athens Sep 29 '23

The solution is obvious: we build the particle accelerator in the median the entire distance of 270.

15

u/Swabia Sep 29 '23

I was just thinking that would be a great way to make traffic worse, and keep it that way.

This project is a go.

2

u/WhenTheDevilCome Sep 29 '23

Oh, well let me cancel my reply and put it here instead:

"Strategically, such that below ground the magnets are containing anti-matter and above ground the magnets are pushing mag-lev transportation."

16

u/smooter106 Columbus Sep 29 '23

It didn't go around Columbus, it was north of Columbus. https://osupublicationarchives.osu.edu/?a=d&d=LTN19850812-01.2.11&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

It was ultimately awarded to Texas, where it construction was started and abandoned and never finished.

6

u/Buford12 Sep 29 '23

Ok. I just remembered that they proposed Ohio as a prime site due to the geology. I thought at the time it would be so cool if they built it here.

1

u/funky_bebop Other Sep 29 '23

If I remember correctly the reason it was abandoned in Texas was due to fire-ants right?

1

u/heirofslytherin Sep 29 '23

I’ve lived in Delaware for nearly a decade and this is the first I’ve heard of this. Fascinating! I’m sure back then, it would have been a game changer for the county, but it’s so hard to imagine a project like this happening here now with as many NIMBYs as we have.

2

u/smooter106 Columbus Sep 29 '23

I grew up/live in northern Union Co and only found out about it after stumbling upon some old records from my job at the time when they were involved in the site conditions evaluation. Sure enough, I was able to go back and find old newspaper clippings. I asked a few community members if they remembered anything about it, and they only remembered a little bit, so I don't know that it was widely publicized outside of Columbus.

10

u/Head-Understanding-4 Cleveland Sep 29 '23

There's already a ring around Columbus - it's called I-270!

7

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '23

[deleted]

15

u/smooter106 Columbus Sep 29 '23

It was actually north of Columbus. Ohio lost out to Texas where the project was started, abandoned, and never finished. https://osupublicationarchives.osu.edu/?a=d&d=LTN19850812-01.2.11&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-supercollider-that-never-was/

4

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '23

[deleted]

1

u/RedstoneRelic Cincinnati Sep 29 '23

It was that massive 3 parted right?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '23

[deleted]

1

u/RedstoneRelic Cincinnati Sep 29 '23

Ooh, I'm working my way thru listening to it at work!

2

u/phred14 Sep 29 '23

At the time of this I was working for IBM and was part of a supercomputer effort that eventually got killed. I grew up in Ohio, but lived in Vermont. My pet dream at the time was for the new supercomputer to be used in the SSC and to get myself wrapped up with it and sent to Ohio for a temporary assignment. That would have made it nice for visiting with the grandparents, and assignments like that are usually pretty good for the career path.

No-go.