Interstate 71

Interstate 71 Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Length:	345.57 mi[1] (556.14 km)
Formed:	1964
South end:	I-64/I-65 in Louisville, KY
Major junctions:	I-75 near Cincinnati, OH I-70 in Columbus, OH I-76 in Seville, OH I-80 in Strongsville, OH
North end:	I-90 in Cleveland, OH

Interstate 71 (abbreviated I-71) is an Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes/Midwestern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 and Interstate 65 (the Kennedy Interchange) in Louisville, Kentucky. Its northern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 90 in Cleveland, Ohio. I-71 runs concurrently with Interstate 75 from a point about twenty miles (30 km) south of Cincinnati into downtown Cincinnati. Almost three quarters of the route lies east of I-75.

While I-71 is designated a north-south highway, it is a major east-west route for cross-country traffic. It links I-80 and I-90 to I-70, and ultimately (via I-65) links to I-40.

Route description

Kentucky

In Kentucky, I-71 begins east of Downtown Louisville at the Kennedy Interchange, a three-interstate junction sometimes called spaghetti junction. From Louisville, it roughly follows the Ohio River in a diagonal path to Northern Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati. I-71 is concurrent with Interstate 75 from Walton to the Ohio state line.

Ohio

In Cincinnati, I-75 splits from I-71 onto Fort Washington Way.

History

Ohio

Much of Interstate 71 in Ohio was intended to be State Route 1. State Route 1 was originally planned in the 1950s as a second Ohio Turnpike extending southwest to northeast across the state. It was planned to run from Cincinnati to Conneaut and connect with an extension built across the panhandle of Pennsylvania to the New York State Thruway. As the highway was being planned, the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was enacted, and the project was converted from a toll road to a freeway. It was designated as State Route 1, since the Interstate highway numbering system had not yet been implemented. Portions of the freeway began to be completed and opened in 1959 with the new Interstate highway funding, and they were marked as State Route 1 as well as with their new Interstate highway number. Since large gaps existed along the corridor where no freeway had yet been completed, existing two-lane or four-lane highways were also designated as State Route 1 in order to complete the route.

Heading Northbound into Columbus from the South

Intersection of I-70 and I-71 in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1960, State Route 1 followed Central Ave. in Cincinnati, to John Street, to Lincoln Park Drive (now Ezzard Charles Drive), to Freeman Avenue, to Western Avenue, to Spring Grove Avenue, to Colerain Avenue to Interstate 75 (at what is now the I-75/I-74 interchange); Interstate 75 from current I-74 interchange to West Carrollton; U.S. Highway 25 (Dixie Drive) from West Carrollton to Interstate 70; Interstate 70 from Dixie Drive to near Enon (current I-70/OH 4 split); State Route 4 from near Enon to Springfield; U.S. Highway 40 from Springfield to Columbus; Broad St. (US 40) in Columbus, to 4th Street, to Summit/3rd Street (US 23), to Hudson Street, to Interstate 71; I-71 from Columbus to just east of Medina (the only portion of Interstate 71 complete at the time); State Route 18 from near Medina to Montrose; U.S. Highway 21 from Montrose to Brecksville; State Route 82 from Brecksville to Aurora; (an alternate State Route 1 ran from Twinsburg southeast along State Route 14 to Streetsboro and then on State Route 43 to Aurora, in order to connect Highway 1 to the Ohio Turnpike;) State Route 306 from Aurora to State Route 84; State Route 84 from State Route 306 to just west of what was then State Route 44; due south to Interstate 90 along what is now a section of State Route 44; and finally Interstate 90 to the Pennsylvania state line.

In Columbus, the portion of Interstate 71 that bounds Worthington's eastern edge was originally called the North Freeway. Costing US$13.8 million, it was constructed south from Route 161, arriving at 11th Avenue by August 1961. It took another year to construct the portion between 11th Avenue and 5th Avenue, mainly due to the need to construct a massive underpass under the Pennsylvania Railroad's Grogan Yard. Today, only two tracks cross the viaduct, and the rest of the structure supports a large, weedy field. By August 1962, the freeway had reached Fifth Avenue, and it reached downtown in November 1962.

The Highway 1 signage was removed in 1966 as the Interstate highway numbers adequately marked the route and the state highway numbering was superfluous. The present day route of what was once planned as State Route 1 is Interstate 71 from Cincinnati to just northeast of Medina, Interstate 271 for its entire length from northeast of Medina to Willoughby Hills, and Interstate 90 from Willoughby Hills to the Pennsylvania state line at Conneaut.

Recently, the interchange at milepost 121 north of Columbus was reconstructed to allow access to the eastern extension of Gemini Drive. Before that, it was a simple diamond interchange with Polaris Parkway (OH 750).

Major intersections

• Interstate 64 and I-65 in Louisville, Kentucky (this is the complicated Kennedy Interchange.)
• Interstate 264 in Louisville, Kentucky
• Interstate 265 in Louisville, Kentucky
• US 421 in Campbellsburg, Kentucky
• US 127 in Glencoe, Kentucky
• Interstate 75 south in Walton, Kentucky/Cincinnati, Ohio
• US 25 in Florence, Kentucky
• Interstate 275 in Erlanger, Kentucky/Cincinnati, Ohio
• US 42 in Downtown Cincinnati
• US Route 22 in Downtown Cincinnati
• Ohio State Route 562 in Norwood, Ohio
• Ohio Route 126 in Blue Ash, Ohio
• US 68 in Wilmington, Ohio
• US 35 in Washington Court House, Ohio
• US 62 in Harrisburg, Ohio
• Ohio State Route 3 in Harrisburg, Ohio
• Interstate 270 in Columbus, Ohio/Worthington, Ohio
• Ohio State Route 104 in Columbus, Ohio
• Interstate 70 in Columbus, Ohio
• US 23 in Columbus, Ohio
• US 40 in Columbus, Ohio
• Interstate 670 in Columbus, Ohio
• US 36 in Delaware, Ohio
• Ohio State Route 13 in Mansfield, Ohio
• US 30 in Mansfield, Ohio
• US 250 in Ashland, Ohio
• Interstate 76/US 224 near Seville, Ohio
• Ohio State Route 18 in Medina, Ohio
• Interstate 271 in Weymouth, Ohio
• Interstate 80 in Strongsville, Ohio
• Interstate 480 in Cleveland, Ohio
• Interstate 90 in Cleveland, Ohio
• Interstate 490 in Cleveland, Ohio

Auxiliary routes

• I-471 - links downtown Cincinnati with Interstate 275
• I-271 - provides access to Cleveland's eastern suburbs and enables travelers on Interstate 71 to access Interstate 90 east without going through Cleveland proper.

See also

• Carrollton bus disaster, a drunk-driving tragedy involving a school bus that occurred on I-71
• The I-71 Rivalry

References

External links

• I-71 on Cincinnati-Transit.net
• Interstate-guide.com: Interstate 71
• Historic photo; 1963 aerial view of I-71 construction between 17th and 5th avenues in Columbus, Ohio
• Historic photo; gasoline tanker crash and fire collapses Cleveland Avenue overpass in Columbus, Ohio 6/28/1966
• Historic photo; rebuilding the Cleveland Avenue overpass after it is was destroyed by a gasoline tanker fire in 1966

Main Interstate Highways (multiples of 5 in pink)
4	5	8	10	12	15	16	17	19	20	22	24	25	26	27	29	30
35	37	39	40	43	44	45	49	55	57	59	64	65	66	68	69
70	71	72	73	74	75	76 (W)		76 (E)		77	78	79	80	81	82
83	84 (W)		84 (E)		85	86 (W)		86 (E)		87	88 (W)		88 (E)		89	90
91	93	94	95	96	97	99	(238)		H-1		H-2		H-3
Unsigned			A-1		A-2		A-3		A-4		PRI-1		PRI-2		PRI-3
Lists		Primary			Main - Intrastate - Suffixed - Future - Gaps
		Auxiliary			Main - Future - Unsigned
		Other			Standards - Business - Bypassed

Browse numbered routes
< KY 70	KY		KY 72 >

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