Why is US 33 northbound (In Ohio) a 4 lane road

[TempoNick]

Even up until the '80s people we lumping Portsmouth into Columbus like it was almost part of the metro;

Long history of people migrating from Southern Ohio, WV and KY to Columbus for work and for a better life. Even today, the biggest destination for outmigration from WV and KY is Ohio and not to the South. Columbus TV stations were the defacto Ohio affiliates down there so there was always the cultural connection as well. If you wanted to hear Ohio news and sports, you would get more of it from a Columbus station than from one of the WV stations.

[hbelkins]

OH 32's controls at US 23 are Cincinnati and Jackson. How much northbound traffic on US 23 uses OH 32 to travel to Cincinnati vs. using US 52 along the river west from Portsmouth?

[seicer]

I think a lot more now that the OH 823 bypass shortens that time significantly. Through traffic would either take OH 73 to OH 32 or the Rosemont Hill bypass to US 23 to OH 32.

[TempoNick]

I drove US 52 a couple of Christmases ago from Cincinnati to Portsmouth just to be able to take Ohio 823 (on the way back from South Dakota!). It's a nice scenic drive and I got to see places I've never seen before like Maysville, Kentucky, but it's not a very efficient way to get back and forth between Cincinnati and Portsmouth. Is there anything on the Kentucky side comparable to Ohio 32?

[seicer]

I drove US 52 a couple of Christmases ago from Cincinnati to Portsmouth just to be able to take Ohio 823 (on the way back from South Dakota!). It's a nice scenic drive and I got to see places I've never seen before like Maysville, Kentucky, but it's not a very efficient way to get back and forth between Cincinnati and Portsmouth. Is there anything on the Kentucky side comparable to Ohio 32?

The AA Highway is a fast (55 MPH) corridor between Interstate 275 and US 23 at Lloyd and KY 1/7 at Grayson. Minimal traffic lights.

[TempoNick]

That's what I was thinking of, but I didn't know if it was four laned all the way out to Portsmouth. Do you have to go very far south to pick it up?

[TempoNick]

To get back to the subject of this thread, US 33 in the northwestern part of the state is of no use to people as a freeway unless you are going to and from Fort Wayne and South Bend. That kick to the West I-75 takes makes it worthless going into Columbus for anybody who lives within Ohio, for the most part.

There's potential for it to be a good way to Chicago, but there is going to need to be a lot of work done for that to happen. Is there enough population up there to justify four laning US 33?  Between Fort Wayne, South Bend and everything in between it there's probably a million people plus. I don't know the answer. Or maybe it's just something needed as an alternate route to avoid I-65 and I-70 congestion from Chicago.

For the average lay person, I wonder if they go through the effort to use any of these alternate routes. If I'm somebody who isn't a road geek and I'm traveling, I'm thinking I stick to the interstates. These kinds of roads deserve special signage. I don't know how you do it since most of them are a mishmash of controlled access and at grade intersections, but there's got to be a way.

[GCrites]

I drove US 52 a couple of Christmases ago from Cincinnati to Portsmouth just to be able to take Ohio 823 (on the way back from South Dakota!). It's a nice scenic drive and I got to see places I've never seen before like Maysville, Kentucky, but it's not a very efficient way to get back and forth between Cincinnati and Portsmouth.

People I knew from Cincinnati used OH-73 to get to OH-32 to get to Cincy from Portsmouth. There's plenty of other ways to take (such as 52 or even OH-125) but that was fastest.

[skluth]

For the average lay person, I wonder if they go through the effort to use any of these alternate routes. If I'm somebody who isn't a road geek and I'm traveling, I'm thinking I stick to the interstates. These kinds of roads deserve special signage. I don't know how you do it since most of them are a mishmash of controlled access and at grade intersections, but there's got to be a way.

You don't need to be a road geek to use alternative routes. Google Maps among others often offer a couple alternatives and sometimes it will offer quicker ways that drivers may not consider, especially if you're not a road geek and don't think about using anything but interstates. It's pretty common for St Louisans to drive to Dallas. My friends usually took I-44 and I-35. Google Maps gave me two preferred routes – I-44 to US 69 and US 67 to I-30 – which my friends never considered; both are cheaper (fewer tolls) and quicker.

I do get your point about some drivers shouldn't take some of these suggestions. My ex in-laws were driving from Tidewater to Muncie to visit family about 15 years ago. I directed them to take I-64 to US 35 to I-70 (They knew how to get to Muncie from I-70.) They somehow missed the exit. They noticed on the map they could take US 23 to US 35 in Chillicothe and got mad at me (one more reason they didn't like their son-in-law) because the speed limit on US 23 is molasses.

Getting back to the topic, I think a four-lane connection from Huntsville to I-75 at either Botkins or especially Beaverdam would pull a lot of traffic heading from Columbus and points southeast to Fort Wayne and Chicago as it avoids both the toll roads and the heavily-trafficked I-65/ I-70 corridor. It might also push Indiana add more limited access sections to US 30 from Fort Wayne to Valpo. This would more than justify the current four lanes from Huntsville to Columbus. Make that connection at Mount Cory and you have a legit alternative for the Toledo-Columbus corridor.

[TempoNick]

Getting back to the topic, I think a four-lane connection from Huntsville to I-75 at either Botkins or especially Beaverdam would pull a lot of traffic heading from Columbus and points southeast to Fort Wayne and Chicago as it avoids both the toll roads and the heavily-trafficked I-65/ I-70 corridor. It might also push Indiana add more limited access sections to US 30 from Fort Wayne to Valpo. This would more than justify the current four lanes from Huntsville to Columbus. Make that connection at Mount Cory and you have a legit alternative for the Toledo-Columbus corridor.

Just for fun, I ran the mileage between Huntsville, Ohio, where I used to exit from US 33 to Ohio 117 to get to Lima and then US 30:

1. US 33 > Ohio 117 > I-75 > Bluelick Road > Ohio 65 > Ohio 115 > US 30 > Fort Wayne City Hall (the way I used to go): 106 miles/1:54
2. US 33 > Ohio 117 > Phillips Road, etc. > US 30 @ Beaverdam > Fort Wayne City Hall: 98.9 miles/1:48
3. US 33 > Ohio 117 > Thayer Road > US 30 > Fort Wayne City Hall: 95.3 miles/1:42

4. US 33 > Ohio 117 > Ohio 235 @ Ada > US 30 > Fort Wayne City Hall: 104 miles/1:51

5. US 33 > I-75 @ Wapak > Bluelick Road > Ohio 65 > Ohio 115 > US 30 > Fort Wayne City Hall: 108 miles/1:55
6. US 33 > I-75 @ Wapak > US 30 @ Beaverdam > Fort Wayne City Hall: 117 miles/2 hours
7. US 33 > Fort Wayne City Hall: 92.4 miles/1:47 hours

#7 doesn't work because you have 60 miles of road to four-lane to the Indiana border.

#6 is the easiest solution because you only have to four-lane about 20 miles of road from Indian Lake to I-75, whereas most of the other options involve four-laning roughly 30 miles. But I still think you lose too many miles with this route--It's a whopping 22 miles more than #3. I think too many people are going to use the two-lane roads to avoid the extra 22 miles.

#4 I think is the answer because it also solves the Toledo-Columbus problem, four laning it all the way to I-75. It's only 10 miles more going to Columbus City Hall this way than using US 23 to Delaware, with no stops or traffic lights. The caveat is whether or not this 10 miles is a big deal to truckers or not.

I hate tearing up more farmland though.