Ohio: One question, one oddity ...
Larry Harvilla
my usual "Ohio Turnpike Avoidance Route" once in the Buckeye State, but
today I tried out a little twist in Cleveland: instead of taking I-480 WB
to I-77 NB to I-490 WB to I-90 WB, I stayed with I-480 up to the Jennings
Freeway (SR 176), and took that north to I-90.
There are some interesting design features along SR 176, in particular
right near the massive interchange with I-71/I-90/I-490. Northbound I-71
actually travels directly above northbound SR 176 for roughly a
quarter-mile — a setup that reminds me of the Brent Spence Bridge (I-71/75
over the Ohio River) in Cincinnati. The oddity I mentioned in the subject
line relates to the "ARTIMIS" milemarkers: all of them feature a small
shield that actually indicates SR "176J," rather than "176." The reason why
it's a J is obvious (Jennings Frwy), but why is the J even there on those
mini-shields in the first place?
Secondly, this question occurred to me while following SR 2 into Ottawa
County. After the transition to freeway roughly 10 miles west of the Thomas
Edison Bridge, SR 2 is paralleled rather closely — at first on its south
side, later on its north — by two-lane roads. Were these two-lanes once
pre-freeway alignments of SR 2?
--
Larry Harvilla
E-mail: roads AT phatpage DOT org
also visit: http://www.phatpage.org/
Highways section in progress.
Marc Fannin
> There are some interesting design features along SR 176 [in Cleveland], in
> particular
> right near the massive interchange with I-71/I-90/I-490. Northbound I-71
> actually travels directly above northbound SR 176 for roughly a
> quarter-mile ? a setup that reminds me of the Brent Spence Bridge (I-71/75
> over the Ohio River) in Cincinnati.
The only difference, of course, is that I-71 and SR 176 are traveling
in the same direction. This is the only place I know of where a
double-decker structure carries roadways going in only one direction
(not counting twin
side-by-side structures). See the I-71 or SR 176 entry in the
straight-line diagrams:
www.dot.state.oh.us/techservsite/availpro/Road_%20Infor/SLD/County_Table/cuy.htm
> The oddity I mentioned in the subject
> line relates to the "ARTIMIS" milemarkers: all of them feature a small
> shield that actually indicates SR "176J," rather than "176." The reason why
> it's a J is obvious (Jennings Frwy), but why is the J even there on those
> mini-shields in the first place?
This is kind of confusing.
"J" stands for "awaiting abandonment".
Until recently, "J" meant "future"; "F" originally (logically) stood
for "future", then was changed to "J" because "F" and "G" were taken
over ("D" stood for, and stands for "first directional alternate in
county", or the section of southbound or westbound roadway on its own
alignment, such as in a one-way couplet, so, skipping "E" which means
"east", "F" then meant second directional alternate, "G" meant third
directional alternate, "H" presumedly was/is reserved for the fourth,
"I" means "Interstate", so the next available letter, "J", was
reassigned "future"). Since then "J" was changed again, to "awaiting
abandonment", and, IME, what would be used for "future" is "T", for
temporary.
Now that still doesn't answer why "176J" is applied to a highway whose
southern end opened just five-and-a-half years ago. Well, since "J"
briefly meant "future", the new route of SR 176 (along SR 17/Brookpark
Road and the Jennings Freeway) was apparently originally SR 176J, with
SR 176R ("R" meaning "regular") running as it had for decades on
parallel Broadview road, going straight through the SR 17 intersection
rather than turning east and ending at US 42 in the Old Broklyn
neighborhood of Cleveland. Essentially SR 176R and SR 176J were
flip-flopped, but whoever made the milemarkers was using the old
information that the Jennings was still SR 176J. According to the
SLDs (see link above), SR 176J still exists along Broadview between 17
and 42, except (1) don't get confused by the SLD since someone forgot
to replace the Jennings Freeway data on one line, and (2) the SLD is
dated January 2001, so SR 176J has likely since been decomissioned
since it runs (ran) along a city street (Ohio is a "home rule" state,
meaning within municipalities, all streets, including U.S. and state
routes and in some cases Interstates, are maintained by the respective
municipality).
See
www.dot.state.oh.us/techservsite/availpro/Road_%20Infor/SLD/images/legend.pdf
(2nd page) for a current listing of ODOT suffix meanings.
Clear yet? :)
> Secondly, this question occurred to me while following SR 2 into Ottawa
> County. After the transition to freeway roughly 10 miles west of the Thomas
> Edison Bridge, SR 2 is paralleled rather closely ? at first on its south
> side, later on its north ? by two-lane roads. Were these two-lanes once
> pre-freeway alignments of SR 2?
I don't think so, everything I've seen shows SR 2 as always having
been where it is (except for some 90-degree corner cutoffs).
http://pages.prodigy.net/john.simpson/highways/002.html is
non-specific. There are frontage roads for Camp Perry west of Port
Clinton, but to me they look like they were built on their own during
an upgrade, and not recycled from an old SR 2 alignment.
http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?t=2&s=12&x=412&y=5750&z=17&w=2
________________________________________________________________________
Marc Fannin|musx...@kent.edu or @hotmail.com| http://www.roadfan.com/
Ray Charles 1930-2004