Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

in the Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-64 and I-65 (the Kennedy Interchange) in Louisville, Kentucky, and its northern terminus at an interchange with

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. I-71 runs concurrently with I-75 from a point about south of Cincinnati, Ohio, into Downtown Cincinnati. While most odd numbered Interstates are north–south, I-71 however is designated more of a northeast–southwest highway, with some east–west sections, and is mainly a regional route, serving Kentucky and Ohio. It links I-80 and I-90 to I-70, and ultimately (via I-65) links to I-40. Major metropolitan areas served by I-71 include Louisville, Cincinnati,

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, and Cleveland. Approximately three quarters of the route lie east of I-75, leaving I-71 out of place in the Interstate grid.

Route description

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Kentucky

I-71 (Southbound) between Cincinnati and Louisville

In Kentucky, I-71 begins east of Downtown Louisville at the Kennedy Interchange, where it meets I-64 and I-65. This interchange is sometimes called the " Spaghetti Junction". From Louisville, it roughly follows the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

in a diagonal path toward Northern Kentucky. Between Louisville and Cincinnati, I-71 is largely a four-lane highway, except for the approach to

Kentucky Speedway Kentucky Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, which has hosted ARCA, NASCAR and Indy Racing League racing annually since it opened in 2000. The track is currently owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Before 2008 J ...

in Sparta in which it runs three lanes each way for about . Near the town of Carrollton, there are signs marking the location of a tragic accident that occurred on May 14, 1988, when a drunk driver was driving north in the southbound lanes and struck a church bus full of children and teenagers, causing the bus's 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 from Louisville, I-71 merges with I-75 near Walton after which it intersects I-275, the Cincinnati beltway. After passing through

Covington Covington may refer to: People * Covington (surname) Places United Kingdom * Covington, Cambridgeshire * Covington, South Lanarkshire United States * Covington, Georgia * Covington, Indiana * Covington, Kentucky, the largest American cit ...

, the freeway crosses the

via the lower level of the

Brent Spence Bridge The Brent Spence Bridge is a double decker, cantilevered truss bridge that carries Interstates 71 and 75 across the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. The top deck carries Kentucky-bound traffic while the bottom de ...

(while the southbound direction uses the upper level) and continues into Cincinnati.

Ohio

In Cincinnati, it splits immediately from I-75 and heads due east onto Fort Washington Way, where it continues through Downtown Cincinnati concurrently with U.S. Route 50 (US 50) for less than . Just east of downtown, US 50 splits from I-71 and continues east; I-71 bends north and receives

I-471 Interstate 471 (I-471) is a Interstate Highway, linking I-71 in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, to I-275 in Highland Heights, Kentucky. South of I-275, the expressway continues south to U.S. Route 27 (US 27) as unsigned Kentucky Route&nbs ...

, 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 I-275 beltway, the freeway leaves the metropolitan area and heads toward

. It continues northeast until it reaches South Lebanon, where it begins cutting east across the flat plains of southwest Ohio. The freeway crosses the Little Miami River on the

Jeremiah Morrow Bridge The Jeremiah Morrow Bridge is the name for a pair of concrete box girder bridges built between 2010 and 2016 which carry Interstate 71 over the Little Miami River gorge between Fort Ancient and Oregonia, Ohio. The bridges are named for former Go ...

, which is a

continuous truss bridge A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge which extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads ...

and the tallest bridge in Ohio, at above the river. I-71 heads toward Columbus then intersects with the bypass

I-270 I-270 may refer to: * Interstate 270 (disambiguation), one of several highways * Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 (Design Ж ("Zh") under Mikoyan-Gurevich's in-house designation sequence, USAF/DoD designation: Type 12) was a ...

before heading north into urban Columbus, where it junctions I-70. About north of the I-70 junction, it intersects with

I-670 Interstate 670 may refer to: * Interstate 670 (Kansas–Missouri), a connector highway within Kansas City * Interstate 670 (Ohio), a spur highway connecting Columbus, Ohio, to Gahanna, Ohio {{road disambiguation 6 ...

. After another interchange with the I-270 bypass, the highway exits Columbus and continues north until near Delaware, where it again turns northeast. Beginning its path to Cleveland, I-71 enters the rolling farm country on the edges of the Allegheny Plateau. It continues in this fashion to Lodi/

Westfield Center Westfield Center is a village in Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,115 at the 2010 census. Despite the community's small size, it is the home of Westfield Insurance, the largest employer in Medina County. History The comm ...

and its junction with I-76, which provides access to Akron and points east. Heading north to Medina, it meets the terminus of

I-271 Interstate 271 (I-271) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the suburbs of Cleveland and Akron in the US state of Ohio. The highway is officially designated the Outerbelt East Freeway but is rarely referred to by that name by locals, inste ...

. The highway then continues north into urban

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...

and Cleveland's suburbs, intersecting the Ohio Turnpike/ I-80. Passing Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, I-71 meets I-480 and enters Cleveland's west side, continuing on to downtown. It junctions with State Route 176 (SR 176) and terminates at

on the Innerbelt.

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. Its junction with I-264 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 US 42 as the primary link between Cincinnati and Louisville.

Ohio

Much of I-71 in Ohio was intended to be SR 1. SR 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 {{Infobox road , state = NY , type = NYST , alternate_name = Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway , maint = NYSTA , map = {{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, type=line, stroke-width=2, type2=line, from2=New Yor ...

. 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 SR 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 SR 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 SR 1 in order to complete the route. The SR 1 signage was removed in 1966 as the Interstate Highway numbers adequately marked the route by then and the state highway numbering was superfluous. Sohio columbus i71-1

In Columbus, the portion of I-71 that bounds Worthington's eastern edge was originally called the North Freeway. Costing $13.8 million (equivalent to $ in ), it was constructed south from SR 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 The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

'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. I-71 was originally planned to follow the Innerbelt Freeway northward from its current northern terminus to the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway at Dead Man's Curve when I-90 was planned to continue westward from there along the Shoreway. Upon its completion, I-71 replaced SR 3 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 SR 750 (Polaris Parkway).

Rebuilding and widening program

In 1999, the state of Ohio began a 10-year, $500-million (equivalent to $ in ) project to improve I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland. The plans did not include widening the stretch in Delaware and Morrow counties, calling for patching that section instead. At that time, state transportation officials said they did not plan to widen that section for two reasons: Traffic studies didn't support the widening, and there was no money for the project. But Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials eventually gave in under pressure from elected officials and business owners to widen the remaining stretch of I-71 from just north of the US 36/ SR 37 interchange in Delaware County to the Morrow– Richland county line. The reconstruction and widening on the last stretch of I-71 in Delaware and Morrow counties began in spring 2012, and the work was completed in mid-2015 at a cost of $144 million (equivalent to $ in ).

Exit list

Auxiliary routes

I-71 has two auxiliary routes in the

Cleveland metropolitan area The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census results, the five-county ...

and in the

Cincinnati metropolitan area The Cincinnati metropolitan area and also known as the Cincinnati Tri-State area, or Greater Cincinnati) is a metropolitan area centered on Cincinnati and including surrounding counties in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The area ...

links downtown Cincinnati with I-275.

provides access to Cleveland's eastern suburbs and enables travelers on I-71 to access I-90 east without going through Cleveland proper.

References

External links

Route description

Kentucky

Ohio

History

Kentucky

Ohio

Rebuilding and widening program

Exit list

Auxiliary routes

See also

References

External links