Ohio State Route numbering schema

Started by shoptb1, January 10, 2010, 11:12:02 PM

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shoptb1

Hello all.  Does anyone know if there is/was an original numbering schema for the Ohio State Highway system?  It seems that like most other states, the lower the number of digits, the more primary the route.  However, is there any type of numbering scheme between 100-800?  Are certain ranges in certain areas of the state, or are they branched off of a parent route?   :hmmm:


TheStranger

The only one I can think of - not being an Ohio resident! - is the fact that Ohio Route 800 is a former segment of Route 8 (and thus probably got its number from its previous designation) that was orphaned when I-77 took over from Akron to Canton...
Chris Sampang

exit322

Yes, that's why Route 800 has that number.  821 in SE Ohio has that number because it's an old alignment of US 21.

shoptb1

Quote from: exit322 on January 11, 2010, 09:12:17 AM
Yes, that's why Route 800 has that number.  821 in SE Ohio has that number because it's an old alignment of US 21.

That's interesting though...I would expect an orphan of OH-8 to receive a number such as 408, 508, etc, not 800.  The 821 example that you mentioned fits that schema. 

Alps

There is definitely some clustering of routes like the 160s, though what the rationale is I couldn't tell you.  Same sort of thing in Connecticut.

shoptb1

Quote from: AlpsROADS on January 11, 2010, 11:52:59 AM
There is definitely some clustering of routes like the 160s, though what the rationale is I couldn't tell you.  Same sort of thing in Connecticut.

Yeah, it's strange because I think I get close to seeing patterns, and then I start second-guessing it.  For example, the venerable OH-315 runs north-south along the Olentangy River.  Then there's OH-317, which basically runs north-south as Hamilton Rd (for a portion of its length) about 5 miles east of OH-315.  So I'm thinking...maybe there's a pattern since OH-314 and OH-316 are also in the vicinity.  So maybe OH-319 is in there?  No, that's a 1-mile route over near Celina, OH in a completely different part of the state.  

Interestingly enough though, OH-319 happens to be in the vicinity of OH-119 and OH-219.  Maybe a pattern there?   :banghead:

TheStranger

Quote from: shoptb1 on January 11, 2010, 12:02:41 PM
Quote from: AlpsROADS on January 11, 2010, 11:52:59 AM
There is definitely some clustering of routes like the 160s, though what the rationale is I couldn't tell you.  Same sort of thing in Connecticut.

Yeah, it's strange because I think I get close to seeing patterns, and then I start second-guessing it.  For example, the venerable OH-315 runs north-south along the Olentangy River.  Then there's OH-317, which basically runs north-south as Hamilton Rd (for a portion of its length) about 5 miles east of OH-315.  So I'm thinking...maybe there's a pattern since OH-314 and OH-316 are also in the vicinity.  So maybe OH-319 is in there?  No, that's a 1-mile route over near Celina, OH in a completely different part of the state. 

Interestingly enough though, OH-319 happens to be in the vicinity of OH-119 and OH-219.  Maybe a pattern there?   :banghead:

It could be a case of multiple _types_ of clusters, something like California's hodgepodge (i.e. 236, 237, 238 all being former segments of Route 9...241, 261 and former 231 representing the Orange County foothill toll roads...52, 54, and 56 being parts of San Diego County's freeway system).  Talk about several different numbering schemes all at work!

Chris Sampang

shoptb1

I did some more digging around and I found this great web site that was updated about 9 years ago, but I'm guessing that the historical information is still accurate...nice listing of Ohio's State, US, and Interstate Routes along with a description of exactly this topic in question.  SCORE!

"Unofficial" Ohio State Highways Web Site
http://pages.prodigy.net/john.simpson/highways/ohhwys.html

Explanation of the Ohio State Highway System
http://pages.prodigy.net/john.simpson/highways/expls.html



exit322

Quote from: shoptb1 on January 11, 2010, 09:15:02 AM
Quote from: exit322 on January 11, 2010, 09:12:17 AM
Yes, that's why Route 800 has that number.  821 in SE Ohio has that number because it's an old alignment of US 21.

That's interesting though...I would expect an orphan of OH-8 to receive a number such as 408, 508, etc, not 800.  The 821 example that you mentioned fits that schema. 

Ohio at times seems to like to use 8xx for "renumbered old routes."  Since Route 8 was once a major route, I think the feeling was that "800" feels more major than "108" or "808."

agentsteel53

yes, an old US-33 alignment is OH-833 - there used to be a US-33 cutout there for many years after the 33 designation was realigned.
live from sunny San Diego.

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DanTheMan414

Quote from: shoptb1 on January 10, 2010, 11:12:02 PM
Hello all.  Does anyone know if there is/was an original numbering schema for the Ohio State Highway system?  It seems that like most other states, the lower the number of digits, the more primary the route.  However, is there any type of numbering scheme between 100-800?  Are certain ranges in certain areas of the state, or are they branched off of a parent route?   :hmmm:

Generally, the newer Ohio routes have been 400- and 800-series, with the last 2 digits representing a nearby route number.  OH 833 was one example, but two even more recent examples are OH 435, representing part of the former US 35 alignment around the vicinity of I-71, and OH 450, the new, signed route connecting US 50 with I-275.

thenetwork

Quote from: DanTheMan414 on January 11, 2010, 07:52:11 PM
Generally, the newer Ohio routes have been 400- and 800-series, with the last 2 digits representing a nearby route number.  OH 833 was one example, but two even more recent examples are OH 435, representing part of the former US 35 alignment around the vicinity of I-71, and OH 450, the new, signed route connecting US 50 with I-275.


Again, as someone else said, just as you thought you got the hang of the Ohio numbering scheme, they throw you a curve.

SR 421 through Lodi was numbered to reflect US-42 which traversed most of the old alignment before the US-42/US-224 Bypass was built to the north & west of Lodi. Though US 21 was about 20-25 miles east of Lodi, it is a 400-series not related to US 21.

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Generally speaking 3digit state routes that start with a 4 or 8 were former routings of US routes in Ohio (exception being SR 800 which was formerly SR 8, which got truncated in Akron, for reason unknown to me and SR 844 near Dayton and Wright-Patterson AFB)

I would have mentioned John Simpson's website, but that was already located and quoted in this thread.
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

VetteDriver16

Finally clinched Ohio 823, the US-23 bypass of Portsmouth, Ohio.  Certainly a mighty engineering challenge but a job well done nonetheless. 

NE2

pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

SkyPesos

Quoting the Ohio portion from NE2's thread here:
Quote from: NE2 on October 10, 2013, 11:56:30 PM
Ohio created a state highway department in 1911, and in December 1912 it laid out a network of numbered "inter-county highways". The legislature designated certain of these as "main market routes" in 1913. The inter-county highways (or at least some of the major ones) were signed in 1920, in what Popular Mechanics (May 1920) calls "an unusual manner" (but was really no different from other states). The main market routes do not seem to have been marked.

The inter-county highways were numbered fairly systematically. 1-30 were all over the place with some weak clustering (perhaps these roads were special somehow, such as already being improved?), but 31- were numbered by county. Essentially, a county was chosen, and all remaining roads in that county not yet numbered received the next available numbers. First were the counties containing major cities: in order, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton, Canton, Youngstown, Akron, St. Clairsville, Marion; which brought the number to 118. Then 119-186 were assigned to the remaining A and B counties in alphabetical order. But the guy laying out the numbers must have gotten bored with looking for the next county, as he then moved to clustering (the first bit was a mix of alphabetical and clustering, going Champaign-Clark-Crawford-Darke-Hancock-Hardin-Logan) with very few exceptions, most notably repetitions of Belmont County (295), Stark County (368-369), and Van Wert County (434-435). The last four numbers, 441 to 444, were assigned randomly, presumably to roads that were added late in planning.

In 1922 or 1923 almost the whole system was renumbered, although the shield shape remained the same. Except for the probably coincidental retention of 91, only 1, 2, 4, 7, 15, and 18 kept their old numbers at least partially. The first ten routes also had name plates above the shields:
1 National Road
2 Chicago-Buffalo Road
3 C.C.C. Highway
4 Scioto Trail
5 Lincoln Highway
6 Dixie Highway
7 Ohio River Road
8 Cleveland-Marietta Road
9 Wayne Highway?
10 Harding Highway
11 was also cross-state, but then clustering began: 12-18 near Cleveland, 19-22 near Columbus, 23 through Toledo, 24-28 near Cincinnati, and 29 to 42 or so as the rest of the first pass. The second pass went until 79 and the third to 161, then 162 and 163 were rather randomly placed, 164 to 224 formed a final pass, and 225 to 232 were other minor connections that had perhaps been forgotten. There was one meaningful exception: 104 was an alternate to 4 between Columbus and Portsmouth. 102 was similarly an alternate to 2 bypassing Toledo, but fit the clustering.

Maps and logs:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112
http://web.archive.org/web/20081218121105/http://pages.prodigy.net/john.simpson/highways/ohhwys.html
I didn't know that the first 10 original state routes had names attached to it. Well, I know about OH 2, 3 and 7, which still exist in large pieces today. OH 4 is also intriguing, based on what I got from the timeline on Wikipedia. It did used to follow the Scioto River, then from Columbus to Sandusky northward. It still have the Sandusky-Marion route today, though south of there, looks nothing like the Scioto Trail route because of US 23. A lot of those original numbers also got eaten up by US routes, so they get reused on less important routes (*cough* current OH 5)
Quote
1912 — Route ran from Sandusky to Columbus
1924 — Route extended south from Columbus on former SH 5, following current US 23 alignment from Portsmouth to Waldo, and current SR 423 from Waldo to Marion.[6]
1926 — Alignment from Portsmouth to Marion certified as US 23; SR 4 realigned south of Marion to its current southern terminus in Cincinnati, replacing the former SR 6 from Cincinnati to Middletown, the former SR 52 from Middletown to 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Milford Center, and the former SR 38 from Marysville to Marion.[6]
As for the rest of the routes, it's clearly clustered, and it looks like as you said, it's done in multiple rounds. One of the most evident ranges is the 122-133 range in southwest Ohio.

frankenroad

Quote from: SkyPesos on June 23, 2021, 07:29:11 PM

As for the rest of the routes, it's clearly clustered, and it looks like as you said, it's done in multiple rounds. One of the most evident ranges is the 122-133 range in southwest Ohio.

Another notable cluster in SW Ohio is the routes in the range 741-749, although a couple routes in that range are NOT in SW Ohio, six of the 74x series are located in the four southwesternmost counties (Hamilton, Clermont, Warren, & Butler).
2di's clinched: 44, 66, 68, 71, 72, 74, 78, 83, 84(east), 86(east), 88(east), 96

Highways I've lived on M-43, M-185, US-127

paulthemapguy

All I know is that the numbers in the 400s and 800s are former alignments or branches of other routes.  Numbers in this range are named after what route used to be there or what route it's the alternate of (4xx or 8xx is the new/old SRxx)...except I don't know where SR 814's name came from.  Also, for some reason, they decided to give the old SR4 alignment the number SR444 instead of SR404. (Then SR844 is a branch of SR444.)
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Quote from: paulthemapguy on October 14, 2021, 02:28:15 PM
All I know is that the numbers in the 400s and 800s are former alignments or branches of other routes.  Numbers in this range are named after what route used to be there or what route it's the alternate of (4xx or 8xx is the new/old SRxx)...except I don't know where SR 814's name came from.  Also, for some reason, they decided to give the old SR4 alignment the number SR444 instead of SR404. (Then SR844 is a branch of SR444.)

814 & 850 are the only 800 series routes not to be attached to a parent (not sure how one would count 807 & 872 as they are bridges to WVa)
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

paulthemapguy

Quote from: Hot Rod Hootenanny on October 14, 2021, 11:38:31 PM
Quote from: paulthemapguy on October 14, 2021, 02:28:15 PM
All I know is that the numbers in the 400s and 800s are former alignments or branches of other routes.  Numbers in this range are named after what route used to be there or what route it's the alternate of (4xx or 8xx is the new/old SRxx)...except I don't know where SR 814's name came from.  Also, for some reason, they decided to give the old SR4 alignment the number SR444 instead of SR404. (Then SR844 is a branch of SR444.)

814 & 850 are the only 800 series routes not to be attached to a parent (not sure how one would count 807 & 872 as they are bridges to WVa)

This is pure conjecture, but:
807 connects to OH-7, and 872 connects OH-7 and WV-2, numbered in honor of both routes because 807 was already taken.
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

coolkevs

#20
Quote

Another notable cluster in SW Ohio is the routes in the range 741-749, although a couple routes in that range are NOT in SW Ohio, six of the 74x series are located in the four southwesternmost counties (Hamilton, Clermont, Warren, & Butler).

And then there's 732 in Butler/Preble County. You would think it would connect to 32 - nah!
12x series also in SW Ohio - maybe dedicated to 127?? My old stomping grounds of Hamilton used to have the 127 shields as a state route in a couple of places on the MLK part. Also remember funky 128 state sign as well. 127-130 all right there in Hamilton

SkyPesos

Quote from: coolkevs on October 15, 2021, 12:06:20 AM
My old stomping grounds of Hamilton used to have the 127 shields as a state route in a couple of places on the MLK part.
US-SR shield mixups are nothing extraordinary in Ohio. If I took a picture of each one in the state I found so far, I think my phone storage would be full at this point.

I'm still deciding whether the 120s cluster with US 127 included was intentional or purely a coincidence, as Ohio's state routes system came before the US routes system, and the first southern terminus of US 127 was in Toledo (using what is now US 223 to get there).

paulthemapguy

Quote from: SkyPesos on October 15, 2021, 12:08:41 AM
Quote from: coolkevs on October 15, 2021, 12:06:20 AM
My old stomping grounds of Hamilton used to have the 127 shields as a state route in a couple of places on the MLK part.
US-SR shield mixups are nothing extraordinary in Ohio. If I took a picture of each one in the state I found so far, I think my phone storage would be full at this point.

I'm still deciding whether the 120s cluster with US 127 included was intentional or purely a coincidence, as Ohio's state routes system came before the US routes system, and the first southern terminus of US 127 was in Toledo (using what is now US 223 to get there).

I'm assuming it's coincidental, given the cluster of 110's to the north and the cluster of 130's just to the east.
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

frankenroad

Quote from: coolkevs on October 15, 2021, 12:06:20 AM
Quote

Another notable cluster in SW Ohio is the routes in the range 741-749, although a couple routes in that range are NOT in SW Ohio, six of the 74x series are located in the four southwesternmost counties (Hamilton, Clermont, Warren, & Butler).

And then there's 732 in Butler/Preble County. You would think it would connect to 32 - nah!
12x series also in SW Ohio - maybe dedicated to 127?? My old stomping grounds of Hamilton used to have the 127 shields as a state route in a couple of places on the MLK part. Also remember funky 128 state sign as well. 127-130 all right there in Hamilton

But 732 does connect to 73, so maybe that's the origin.  OH-732 existed when OH-32 was still OH-74.

I live on US-127 in Hamilton County - and there is an errant OH-127 sign near me.  Ohio sucks at getting the distinction between state and US routes right in its signage.
2di's clinched: 44, 66, 68, 71, 72, 74, 78, 83, 84(east), 86(east), 88(east), 96

Highways I've lived on M-43, M-185, US-127

Mapmikey

By 1909 Ohio State Highways had letter designations, starting at 'A' in each county.  Haven't found anything to show a full list of these...only ones that were worked on or petitioned for work - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435062331913&view=1up&seq=17&skin=2021.  Prior reports did not mention route designations but state aid as a concept goes back to 1905.

Here is the original explanation of the number system, followed by the list of 444 original intercounty routes and 16 main market routes - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435061960373&view=1up&seq=176&skin=2021

By 1915 there were 490 intercounty routes and 22 main market routes.

The entire list of 490 routes starts on page 12 of this document - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435063488415&view=1up&seq=16&skin=2021

Following this list is a description of the main market routes, which are roman numeraled.

Following that is a county by county breakdown of both kinds of routes.

I found a different document that says Ohio started posting routes during 1919, on telephone poles.  See page 296 here - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015021264240&view=1up&seq=302&skin=2021



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