Click here for a map of all District 6 construction projects for 2019. Major projects include I-70/71 Columbus Crossroads, I-71 Widening on the South Side, Installation of Ohio's first SmartLane on I-670, lane additions on US 33 on southeast side, as well as major repairs to I-70 in Madison County. Major construction project on I-71/75 begins. CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - A major construction project previously postponed to this weekend could give motorists in Northern Kentucky headaches.
.←KY→←OH→Interstate 71 ( I-71) is a north-south (physically northeast–southwest) in the Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with and (the ) in. Its northern terminus is at an interchange with in. I-71 runs concurrently with from a point about 20 miles (32 km) south of, into downtown Cincinnati. Almost three-quarters of the route lies east of I-75, thereby putting it out of its proper place in the.While I-71 is designated a north–south highway, it is a major east–west route for cross-country traffic.
It links and I-90 to, and ultimately (via ) links to. The highway goes through the states of and and the metropolitan areas of Louisville, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.
Interstate 71 heading northbound into Cincinnati from KentuckyIn, I-71 begins east of at the, where it meets I-64 and I-65. This interchange is sometimes called the '. From Louisville, it roughly follows the in a diagonal path toward Northern Kentucky. Between Louisville and Cincinnati, I-71 is largely a four-lane highway, except for the approach to in in which it runs three lanes each way for about 2 miles.Near the town of, there are signs marking the location of a, when a drunk driver crossed the median and struck a church bus full of children and teenagers, causing the bus' fuel tank to ignite into flames and killing 27 people on board. It is one of the worst bus accidents in state and national history.After having run 77 miles (124 km) from Louisville, I-71 merges with near after which it intersects, the Cincinnati.
After passing through, the freeway crosses the via the lower level of the (while the southbound direction uses the upper level) and continues into Cincinnati. Northern terminus at inIn, I-71 splits immediately from I-75 and heads due east onto, where it continues through downtown Cincinnati concurrently with for less than a mile.
Just east of downtown, US-50 splits from I-71 and continues east; I-71 bends north and receives, a spur from southeast of the city. I-71 then heads in a general northeast direction through urban Cincinnati and into its surrounding suburbs. After another interchange with the beltway, the freeway leaves the metropolitan area and heads towards.
It continues northeast until it reaches, where it begins cutting east across the flat plains of southwest Ohio. The freeway crosses the Little Miami River on the, which is a and the tallest bridge in Ohio at 239 feet above the river. I-71 heads towards Columbus then intersects with the bypass before heading north into urban Columbus, where it junctions. About a mile north of the I-70 junction, it intersects with. After another interchange with the I-270 bypass, the highway exits out of Columbus and continues north until near, where it again turns northeast. Beginning its path to, I-71 enters the rolling farm country on the edges of the. It continues in this fashion to / and its junction with, which provides access to Akron.
Heading north to, it meets the terminus of. The highway then continues north into urban and Cleveland's suburbs, intersecting the /. Passing, I-71 meets and enters Cleveland's west side, continuing on to downtown. It junctions with and terminates at on the.History Kentucky The first section of I-71 in Louisville opened in December 1966 between its terminus at Spaghetti Junction and Zorn Avenue, its first exit.
![Road Construction I 71 Ohio Road Construction I 71 Ohio](http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/7071/PublishingImages/2017%20ReLaunch/Courthouse%20Maps/Courthouse%20map%202_Going%20South%20on%20I-71_page%202.jpg)
Its junction with opened in July 1968, and the complete Kentucky portion of the interstate was opened to the public in July 1969. At that point, it replaced as the primary link between Cincinnati and Louisville. See also:Much of Interstate 71 in Ohio was intended to be. State Route 1 was originally planned in the 1950s as a second extending southwest to northeast across the state. It was planned to run from Cincinnati to and connect with an extension built across the panhandle of to the.
As the highway was being planned, the 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.
The State Route 1 signage was removed in 1966 as the Interstate Highway numbers adequately marked the route by then and the state highway numbering was superfluous. Columbus-area highway marker designating Interstate 71 and Ohio Route 1 (1965).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, 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 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.Interstate 71 was originally planned to follow the Innerbelt Freeway northward from its current northern terminus to the at when Interstate 90 was planned to continue westward from there along the Shoreway.Upon its completion, I-71 replaced as the primary highway link between Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland.Between 2004 and 2006, the interchange at milepost 121 in the far northern reaches of Columbus was reconstructed to allow access to the eastern extension of Gemini Place.
Before that, it was a simple diamond interchange with Polaris Parkway.Rebuilding and widening program In 1999, the state of Ohio began a 10-year, $500 million project to improve I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland. The plans did not include widening the 25-mile stretch in and counties, calling for patching that section instead. At that time, state transportation officials said they didn't plan to widen that section for two reasons: Traffic studies didn't support the widening, and there was no money for the project. But officials eventually gave in under pressure from elected officials and business owners to widen the remaining 25-mile stretch of I-71 from just north of the / interchange in Delaware County to the Morrow/ county line. The reconstruction and widening on the last 25-mile stretch of I-71 in Delaware and Morrow counties began in spring 2012 and the work was completed in summer 2015 at a cost of $144 million.
Exit list StateCountyLocationmikmExitDestinationsNotes0.0000.0001/ –,Signed as exits 1A (west) southbound and 1B (east) northbound; no access from 71 south to 64 east; no number for I-65; I-64 exit 6; I-65 exit 137; southern terminus1.7242.7752Zorn Avenue4.9667.9925I-264 exits 23A-B;9./ toSigned as exits 9A (south) and 9B (north); I-265 exits 35A-B14.4–,17.7–,18.8–21.2–,27.8to –,33.4–,No major junctions42.3to –,44.4–,54.5to –Serves56.7–,61.2–,72.12–77.77south –South end of I-75 overlap; exit numbers switch to follow I-75's mileposts, I-75 exit 173.79.532.409178(Mt. ^, 2007-11-09 at the, updated October 31, 2007. ^ Office of Technical Services: 2003-02-19 at the, current as of January 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-09. Kleber, John E., ed. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
urbanohio.com. Retrieved 2015-06-14. Mark Ferenchik.
Retrieved 4 October 2014. ^ Todd Hill. Retrieved 2015-06-19. Smith, Lisa (February 1, 2019). Retrieved February 3, 2019. (Press release). Ohio Department of Transportation District 6.
Retrieved 2013-02-27.External links Route map:(. ).