Ohio State Route 1 -- Circa 1960s

[thenetwork]

What is the history of Ohio State Route 1?

I ask that because in the 1960's era maps, it was listed as a Cleveland to Cincinnati route, and looked like it was the recommended high-speed route connecting completed freeway sections between Cleveland and Cincy.

Was it actually a signed route (even though it was pretty much multiplexed it's entire route), and when was it officially a commissioned route?

I have never seen any evidence of the route (including noticeable blank spaces on BGSs back in the day), and I consider it the most elusive route in Ohio.

Any help would be appreciated.

[agentsteel53]

here is a late 1950s photo with 1 signed as a temporary route ... I'm afraid that's all the help I can give.

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=OH19263061t300011.jpg&search=1

[thenetwork]

here is a late 1950s photo with 1 signed as a temporary route ... I'm afraid that's all the help I can give.

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=OH19263061t300011.jpg&search=1

WOW!  That looks like a completely different alignment of OH-1 than the one I'm familiar with.

That photo puts SR-1 following SR-306 North of Aurora and SR-82 West of Aurora.

The alignment I've always seen is from Cleveland, SR-1 multiplexing with US-21 South toward Akron, following SR-18 from Akron west toward Medina, then picking up what was the Northern Terminus of I-71 south towards Columbus.  This Aurora photo is nearly 30 miles east of the aforementioned alignment.

I'm looking at an old 1955 RMN road atlas, and there is no sign of a SR-1 anywhere in Ohio...yet.

At least ODOT wasn't kidding when SR-1 was Temporary in Aurora!!!

And the Ohio Turnpike trailblazer is about the only thing looking out of place in that picture, as many of those originals are still in play -- 50-some years later!!!

[ctsignguy]

OK, a quickie on Ohio 1...

it was intended as a multiple lane highway running from Cincinnati all the way to Ashtabula County on its way to Erie PA....when ODOT signed it as "Temp 1" back in the late 50s-early 60s, they just placed them on all sorts of routes that were semi-close to the planned path   (Ohio 1 was projected to follow what is now I-71 from Cincy all the way to where I-271 jumps off and swings around the eastern Cleveland suburbs, then shoot northeast along what is now I-90...

I used to have a map of Ashtabula County when i lived up there in the 1980s where I-90 was also marked as 'State Highway 1'

with the advent of the Interstate system and the completion of many of the major routes, the need for Ohio 1 ended rather quickly and it was gone by 1967

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

OK, a quickie on Ohio 1...

it was intended as a multiple lane highway running from Cincinnati all the way to Ashtabula County on its way to Erie PA....when ODOT signed it as "Temp 1" back in the late 50s-early 60s, they just placed them on all sorts of routes that were semi-close to the planned path   (Ohio 1 was projected to follow what is now I-71 from Cincy all the way to where I-271 jumps off and swings around the eastern Cleveland suburbs, then shoot northeast along what is now I-90...

I used to have a map of Ashtabula County when i lived up there in the 1980s where I-90 was also marked as 'State Highway 1'

with the advent of the Interstate system and the completion of many of the major routes, the need for Ohio 1 ended rather quickly and it was gone by 1967

I believe (but have no substantial evidence) that "Ohio 1" would have been Ohio Turnpike extension 2 (had the Federal Interstate System never came to pass). After the current Ohio Turnpike was completed, the OTC had started planning for a route starting north of Cincy, west and north of Columbus, staying south and east of Cleveland, onto Ashtabula and Conneaut.  This sort-of became I-71/271/90 in the interstate system and sort of bellied the maps of Ohio 1 in the 1960s.
My only evidence (and it's circumstancial at best)...
http://www.roadfan.com/1954map.jpg

[NE2]

Sorry if this is too much of a bump. TIGER shows I-71 in Wayne County as the Conneaut-Cincinnati Highway; this is near the double trumpet at I-76/US 224, which may have been planned when it was a toll project. See also Google Books and Google News (also try freeway instead of highway).

As for the routing of SR 1, see historic ODOT maps.

[thenetwork]

Sorry if this is too much of a bump. TIGER shows I-71 in Wayne County as the Conneaut-Cincinnati Highway; this is near the double trumpet at I-76/US 224, which may have been planned when it was a toll project. See also Google Books and Google News (also try freeway instead of highway).

As for the routing of SR 1, see historic ODOT maps.

In this article, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PYgTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zQAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4971,59195&dq=cincinnati+conneaut+highway&hl=en, it mentions ODOT breaking ground on the first section in Wayne County. 

Without any map resource here, would this "new stretch" be what is now the 4-lane divided highway portion of US-42 between W. Salem and the SR-302/SR-604 intersections?  Or was this the first section of I-71?  If the latter, it seemed odd that they were building a 4 mile long freeway with no exits in the middle of nowhere as the first section.

[NE2]

Current I-71 in Wayne County (and in fact all the way from Columbus to SR 18 near Medina) is shown as under construction on the 1958-59 ODOT maps and complete in 1961. US 42 is already four-lane in the 1940s.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Doing the google newspaper archive search on the Conneaut-Cincinnati Freeway also brings up this article from the Youngstown Vindicator.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7XE_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jVQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2700,4611574&dq=cincinnati+conneaut+highway&hl=en

[NE2]

Doing the google newspaper archive search on the Conneaut-Cincinnati Freeway also brings up this article from the Youngstown Vindicator.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7XE_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=jVQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2700,4611574&dq=cincinnati+conneaut+highway&hl=en

That's nice for the description of the change in plans.


The 1961 ODOT map shows the following interchanges, with today's exit numbers and the mileages on the 1954 planning map:
*(begins at or near Shepherd Lane) 13 0
*SR 126 14 2
*I-275 16
*Cin-Day Road 21 5 (obviously this was moved north)
*Tylersville Road 22
*SR 63 29
*SR 122 32 19
*SR 123 36
*SR 73 38
*SR 725 44
*(proposed crossing of SR 741 in 1954 ~45) 32
*(ends at or near Dixie Drive) 47

*(begins at Hudson Street) 112
*SR 161 117
*US 36-SR 37 131
*SR 61 140
*SR 95 151 139
*SR 97 165
*SR 13 169
*US 30 176 163
*US 250 186 175
*SR 301 196
*(SR 539) 198
*SR 76 204
*US 224 209 199
*SR 18 218

*SR 44 200 270
*Vrooman Road 205
*SR 528 212
*SR 534 218 287
*SR 45 223
*(proposed interchange at SR 46 in 1954, later built at SR 11) 228 297
*SR 84-90 235
*SR 7 241 310

The mileages definitely agree (within a margin of error) on the I-71 and I-90 segments.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

If you follow the articles (on the Cincinnati-Conneaut Freeway search), you might find the switch over from a turnpike commission project to an Dept. of Highways (DOT) project.

[vtk]

Some of the cheaper brands of present-day maps still show a stray OH 1 marker along its 1960's route.

Who here knew that, from 1924 to 1926, OH 1 followed the National Road?

[NE2]

Who here knew that, from 1924 to 1926, OH 1 followed the National Road?

It did as early as 1923.