Ohio expressways

[bzakharin]

My fiancee who is from the Cleveland area has always remarked how foreign NJ's road system is because of the prevalence of expressways (also jughandles) which according to her do not exist in Ohio ("no wonder your driving age is 17"). Last week we took the "scenic" route to the Akron-Canton Airport (thanks to my GPS), which included a short stretch of US 62. To her surprise, it was very close to a typical New Jersey expressway, with traffic lights and left turns, minus the jughandles (curiously, other similarities to NJ cropped up on that trip too, including similar gas prices, up to 40 cents below Cleveland metro, and the presence of Rite Aid pharmacies). How common are these types of roads in Ohio really? Any jughandles? Wikipedia seems to think so, but offers no examples.

[vtk]

Ohio designated several "Macro-Corridors" a few decades ago, which are intended to complement the Interstates, but need not be built to Interstate standards.  They are similar to the Appalacian Development corridors in minimum design standard, except those allow direct property access while the Macros don't. 

Check out portions of US 30 west of Canton, or US 23 (and OH 15) between Waldo and Findlay: these are solid examples of expressways, though some stretches of those are also fully grade separated freeways.  Several more examples exist, and then there are a few 2-lane expressways around the state as well ("Ohio Super-2s").

[bzakharin]

Thanks. Wow! A full unsignalized at-grade intersection on an expressway without so mush as a left turn lane (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.797514,-81.668163,3a,75y,256.25h,63.17t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4MQ7GzFmLvCxwMvY0fgeXw!2e0). Never thought I'd see that.

[Brandon]

Thanks. Wow! A full unsignalized at-grade intersection on an expressway without so mush as a left turn lane (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.797514,-81.668163,3a,75y,256.25h,63.17t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4MQ7GzFmLvCxwMvY0fgeXw!2e0). Never thought I'd see that.

There's a lot of unsignalized ones out there.  Just not really enough traffic on the crossroad to warrant a signal.  Sometimes they have turn lanes, and sometimes they don't.

[JREwing78]

Thanks. Wow! A full unsignalized at-grade intersection on an expressway without so mush as a left turn lane (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.797514,-81.668163,3a,75y,256.25h,63.17t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4MQ7GzFmLvCxwMvY0fgeXw!2e0). Never thought I'd see that.

There's a lot of unsignalized ones out there.  Just not really enough traffic on the crossroad to warrant a signal.  Sometimes they have turn lanes, and sometimes they don't.

I wouldn't call it an expressway. There's a lot of driveway and side road access, with turn lanes only at major intersections. The stretches of US 30 around Sandusky are more typical "expressway" examples.

[vtk]

Thanks. Wow! A full unsignalized at-grade intersection on an expressway without so mush as a left turn lane (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.797514,-81.668163,3a,75y,256.25h,63.17t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4MQ7GzFmLvCxwMvY0fgeXw!2e0). Never thought I'd see that.

There's a lot of unsignalized ones out there.  Just not really enough traffic on the crossroad to warrant a signal.  Sometimes they have turn lanes, and sometimes they don't.

I wouldn't call it an expressway. There's a lot of driveway and side road access, with turn lanes only at major intersections. The stretches of US 30 around Sandusky are more typical "expressway" examples.

You mean Upper Sandusky, but yeah.  Or between Mansfield and Wooster.  Or between Indiana and I-75.

[Bitmapped]

Expressways (more commonly referred to as divided highways in Ohio) are very common throughout the state.  There are easily over 1000 miles of them with major segments on US 20, US 23, S 24, US 30, US 50, US 62, US 33, US 35, SR 15, SR 25, and SR 32.  Pull out an ODOT map and anything that is a red-and-white strip is a divided highway.

Stuff built since about 1960 has tended to be on controlled access alignments where there aren't driveways for adjoining property.  A lot of the divided highways built during the 1940s and 1950s were dualizations where they built a parallel set of lanes (or new lanes nearby) and there are driveways for property access.

Ohio doesn't really do jughandles.  There may be a couple of them around, but none immediately spring to mind.

[vtk]

Expressways (more commonly referred to as divided highways in Ohio) are very common throughout the state.

Yes but they are not completely synonymous.  There are many sections of divided highway which are not expressways, such as US 40 between Springfield and Columbus.

[Bitmapped]

Expressways (more commonly referred to as divided highways in Ohio) are very common throughout the state.

Yes but they are not completely synonymous.  There are many sections of divided highway which are not expressways, such as US 40 between Springfield and Columbus.

True, but my experience growing up in NE Ohio is that basically nobody ever called anything an expressway even if it met the definition of one.  That may be why the OP's girlfriend didn't really realize Ohio had expressways.

[sandwalk]

Expressways (more commonly referred to as divided highways in Ohio) are very common throughout the state.

Yes but they are not completely synonymous.  There are many sections of divided highway which are not expressways, such as US 40 between Springfield and Columbus.

True, but my experience growing up in NE Ohio is that basically nobody ever called anything an expressway even if it met the definition of one.  That may be why the OP's girlfriend didn't really realize Ohio had expressways.

True that. Freeways & highways (and the turnpike) are the local terms (for northern Ohio anyway).

[thenetwork]

Ohio designated several "Macro-Corridors" a few decades ago, which are intended to complement the Interstates, but need not be built to Interstate standards.  They are similar to the Appalacian Development corridors in minimum design standard, except those allow direct property access while the Macros don't. 

Check out portions of US 30 west of Canton, or US 23 (and OH 15) between Waldo and Findlay: these are solid examples of expressways, though some stretches of those are also fully grade separated freeways.  Several more examples exist, and then there are a few 2-lane expressways around the state as well ("Ohio Super-2s").

Oddly enough, there are a number of Ohio Super-2s within a 1/2 hour radius of Akron:

- US-224 between SR-91 and SR-225
- SR-5 between SR-44 and SR-59
- SR 14 north and East of Ravenna
- SR-57 south of I-76/US-224
- SR-261 south and east of Kent (The Kent Bypass)
- SR-585 from SR-21 to SR-94

Many were ultimately to become full divided highways in the 60's & 70's, but never came to fruition, for whatever reason.

If I had my choice, it would have been nice to have seen SR-585 become 4 lane along it's entire stretch from SR-21 all the way to Wooster. The non-super 2 section from Wooster to SR-94 is full of curves, hills, semis and the occasional Amish buggy, and is definitely a high accident area.

SR-14 between I-80 and I-76 gets an honorable mention for a "wish it was at least a 4-lane expressway" as it is a favorite route for truckers and car drivers alike to get from Cleveland to Youngstown/I-80 in PA without paying for tolls.