Interstates where at least one direction has a single lane

[jmacswimmer]

The Ohio Turnpike was fully completed by 1956 according to Wiki.  Also, Ohio 2's freeway Elyria to Port Clinton was upgraded in stages from 1967-1990.

What was the purpose of building a parallel non-tolled freeway? And were there longer plans to Toledo?  I guess I'm asking, was I-90 ever supposed to be on something other than the Turnpike?   Would that explain the single lane ramp?

I personally like OH 2 between Elyria and I-280, and while I appreciate the Ohio Turnpike's design, the best service plazas IMO, and relatively reasonable tolls (I live in PA!), I usually take OH 2 when going West.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember previously reading somewhere (trying to find it) that I-90 was originally supposed to continue further west with OH 2 - and the exit 142 connector was built once it became clear that that wasn't going to happen.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The OTIC would also likely throw a fit if the OH 2 freeway was extended.

Probably, but unless they have a legal agreement regarding competing routes like Indiana does, they can't do anything.

[zzcarp]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember previously reading somewhere (trying to find it) that I-90 was originally supposed to continue further west with OH 2 - and the exit 142 connector was built once it became clear that that wasn't going to happen.

AFAIK, I-90 was always planned to exit the turnpike at Elyria. The first map that shows both I-80/I-90 on the Turnpike and the dashed under construction I-90 eastbound was this 1962 ODOT map.

It appears that the current Exit 142 Turnpike eastbound to I-90 eastbound and westbound I-90 to westbound Turnpike connector was open in 1975 per the ODOT map. Before the connector was constructed until about 2000, OH 57 was a limited access quasi-freeway between OH 2/I-90 and the turnpike, albeit with RIRO exits too close to the interchanges. That functioned as the connector for all movements and still handles all the remaining movements. I believe they built the connector so mainline I-90 wouldn't have to go through the then cloverleaf at OH 57 and double-trumpet to the Turnpike. I also think that was the first new location exit gate constructed on the Turnpike since its opening.

I don't think ODOT back in the day would have opposed moving an interstate off the Turnpike. That 1962 map showed I-80 following the current I-480 corridor through the Cleveland suburbs. And this 1964 map shows that as well but only US 6 on the Sandusky bypass (even while showing unbuilt I-90 east of there and even never-completed interstates like I-290 in Cleveland).

Granted, ODOT maps don't show every proposal ever made, such as the proposed extension of I-80S (now I-76) from its terminus west of Akron to the Turnpike in Milan following US 224 and US 250. I'd love to see some old logs from when the Interstate system was first proposed to see if there was even discussion of using that route. But, I assert any I-90 routing over OH 2 to Toledo hasn't been seriously contemplated since they started signing Interstates.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I-90 was always designated for the Ohio Turnpike, west of Cleveland.
1946


1961


RandMcNally, 1962 (there is an I-90 shield on the turnpike, just about where it splits off today)


That said, ODOT, as recently as 1972, had thought of making Oh 2 an limited access highway all the way to Toledo.


Now, you kids are now asking, "why did Ohio want to have a freeway compete with the turnpike between Toledo & Cleveland?"
Because the Ohio Turnpike Commission & the Ohio Department of Highways were two separate entities for 35 years. Not until the 1990s and the Voinovich administration did the two start to work together (more exits along the turnpike and remember, I-73 planning in Ohio was under the Turnpike's auspices)

[jeffandnicole]

I-76 EB in Philly, going from the Schuykill Expressway to the Walt Whitman Expressway.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/QNYMe8QRVW79PSTT6

It's just for a moment, and even the sign isn't correct here. You're already on I-76 East, so you're not going "To" I-76 East.

I've always wondered if there was more significance to that "TO" than just a sign error, such as the Walt Whitman approach freeway on the PA side (DRPA owned?) not being formally I-76 or something like that....similar to that I-90 / Chicago Skyway thing.

And btw, just to be clear, there isn't a gap on I-76.

[crispy93]

I-278 gets a single lane at the Grand Central split in Queens