State Road 8

We start in Albion (population 2,349) in the center of Noble County. Albion is the county seat for Noble County and SR 8 begins right at the southeast corner of the square containing the Noble County courthouse, built in 1888. The western terminus for SR 8, which follows Main Street town, is with SR 9 (Orange Street).

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East from the courthouse square, SR 8 (Main Street) goes through some residential areas on the east side of Albion.

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SR 8 (Main Street) passes by a few commercial buildings on the outskirts of Albion.

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Now outside of Albion, Avilla, at the intersection with SR 3 is 11 miles away and Auburn, the county seat of DeKalb County is 21 miles away.

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East of Albion, SR 8 is a rural two lane highway that is lightly traveled. Regardless, it along with the SR 3 expressway, provides the main route between Albion and the larger Fort Wayne area. These scenes look at the stretch from Croft Ditch to Skinner Lake.

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About three miles outside of Albion, SR 8 passes through the small community of Skinner Lake, named for the lake of the same north which lies to the north of the highway.

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An SR 8 reassurance shield within the community of Skinner Lake.

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East of Skinner Lake, SR 8 resumes its eastward trajectory as it travels up and down the small hills that cover the area. Noble County is known for its small hills and many lakes, both byproducts of the glaciers that once went through the region.

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SR 8 approaches the junction with SR 3. SR 3 exists in two segments, the first going for nearly 179 miles from Charlestown to the south through North Vernon, Greensburg, Rushville, New Castle, and Muncie before ending Markle. The second segment goes from Fort Wayne north to Kendallville and up to SR 120 in LaGrange County.

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Kendallville, the largest community in Noble County is only three miles to the north, while Fort Wayne, the regional center for Northeast Indiana is about 25 miles to the south.

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SR 8 turns toward the south to follow SR 3 for a brief two mile multiplex.

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Reassurance shields for both SR 8 and SR 3 heading south on the four lane expressway toward Fort Wayne.

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To the right is Old State Road 3, which leads into the heart of Avilla. The SR 3 expressway, and SR 8 by extension, bypasses Avilla to the east.

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We now reach the point where SR 8 breaks off toward the east in the direction of Auburn. To the west (left), Albion Street leads into the heart of Avilla, which has become more of a suburb to Fort Wayne in recent years. Fort Wayne is just over 20 miles away to the south.

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East of the split from SR 3, SR 8 is nine miles away from Auburn, which will remain the only control city for eastbound SR 8.

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A view of SR 8 heading east from SR 3.

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Soon after leaving SR 3, SR 8 enters its final county, DeKalb County (population 42,223).

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A view of SR 8 east of the DeKalb-Noble county line at Cedar Creek and County Road 5 West.

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Now approaching the intersection with SR 327. SR 327 travels for 32 miles from the town of Garrett to the south, to the Michigan state line north of Orland. Originally, the highway continued south to Fort Wayne following the path of U.S. 27, but the route was truncated to the junction with SR 205 south of Garrett. The road to the south is known as Coldwater Road.

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Garrett, a town of 6,286, lies just to the south along SR 327, while Corunna is just over five miles to the north near the junction with U.S. 6.

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Now at the four-way stop intersection with SR 8 and SR 327, which carries the name of Randolph Street through the town of Garrett to the south. Interstate 69 is now only three miles to the east.

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East of the junction with SR 327, SR 8 is four miles from the city of Auburn.

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Entering the intersection with County Road 15 / Taylor Road. At the moment of the picture, work was beginning that would widen SR 8 from this intersection east to Interstate 69.

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From County Road 15/Taylor Road eastward, SR 8 passes by some industrial parks as it approaches the junction with Interstate 69. Largely because SR 8 is the main highway connecting Garrett and Auburn and also because of the growing truck traffic, the highway is being expanded to better handle the traffic.

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Just west of the Interstate 69 interchange, SR 8 widens to four lanes as highway-based retail appears along SR 8. The majority of Auburn's commercial businesses are along SR 8 around the exit with Interstate 69.

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Heading underneath Interstate 69, an older sign designates the highway as both Interstate 69 and U.S. 27. Interstate 69 supplanted U.S. 27 as the main route from Fort Wayne north to Auburn, Angola, Coldwater and Lansing, Michigan. For awhile the two were cosigned along the entire drive between Fort Wayne and Lansing. This ended in 2002 when MDOT and INDOT successfully petitioned AASHTO for a truncation of U.S. 27 north of Lansing and an extension of U.S. 127 north from Lansing to Grayling over former U.S. 27 in 2002.

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Looking east from the Interstate 69 interchange at SR 8, which in Auburn is known as 7th Street. Auburn (population 13,086) is the county seat and largest community in DeKalb County. Auburn is best known for its automotive heritage as the nickname for the city is "Home of the Classics." Auburn is home of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automotive Museum and the National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States.

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As previously mentioned, most of the chain restaurants and stores that are located in Auburn are located along SR 8 (7th Street) from between Interstate 69 and Grandstaff Road.

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East of Grandstaff Road, SR 8 (7th Street) starts to transition from the retail-oriented corridor on the west side of Auburn into the residential heart of the city. The four lane highway will soon collapse down to two lanes.

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East of West Street, SR 8 (7th Street) becomes a two lane road with a center turn lane in spots. Up ahead is the stoplight intersection with Indiana Avenue. The traffic remains relatively busy in between the interstate and downtown Auburn.

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Now coming to Van Buren Street, SR 8 (7th Street) approaches the central business district for Auburn.

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The speed limit on SR 8 (7th Street) reduces to 25 miles per hour as the highway enters downtown Auburn. The next stoplight is for Jackson Street.

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Now heading through the heart of downtown Auburn along SR 8 (7th Street). The next stoplight is for Main Street, which originally carried U.S. 27 before it was moved to Interstate 69. The DeKalb County courthouse is just beyond Main Street.

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The DeKalb County courthouse is to the right along SR 8 (7th Street) between Main and Cedar Streets.

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The traffic counts on SR 8 (7th Street) decrease as one heads east of downtown through the residential east side of Auburn.

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Heading east on SR 8 (7th Street) nearing the final stoplight with Duesenberg Drive, which leads to DeKalb Memorial Hospital.

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Past the hospital, SR 8 leaves the Auburn city limits and heads into the rural environs of DeKalb County. There are no other decent-sized towns left on SR 8 east of Auburn, hence the reason why there is no control city.

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Scenes of SR 8 to the east of Auburn as the lonely two lane highway crosses DeKalb County.

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Ahead is the junction with SR 1. SR 1 exists in two separate segments. The southern segment goes for 137 miles, beginning at Greendale and Interstate 275 and heading north through the communities of Brookville, Connersville, Redkey and Bluffton before ending at Interstate 469 south of Fort Wayne. The northern segment begins at Interstate 69, north of Fort Wayne, and ventures northeast for 62.5 miles to U.S. 20 near Angola.

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The town of St. Joe is 3.6 miles to the south along SR 1.

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SR 1 heads to the south toward St. Joe and Fort Wayne while northbound SR 1 follows SR 8 very briefly. SR 8 is less than five miles away from the Ohio state line at this point.

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