State Route 242 (SR 242) was an east–west

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the west-central portion of Ohio. The western terminus of the route was at

U.S. Route 127 U.S. Route 127 (US 127) is a north–south U.S. Highway in the eastern half of the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at US 27 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The northern terminus is at Interstate 75 (I-75) near G ...

approximately north of Greenville. Its eastern terminus was at a T-intersection with SR 121 adjacent to

Darke County Airport Darke County Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport in Darke County, Ohio, United States. It is located two nautical miles (4 km) southwest of the central business district of Versailles. It is along State Route 121 just south ...

about southwest of Versailles. Created in the middle of the 1920s, SR 242 ran through very flat farm country in the northeastern portion of

Darke County Darke County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,881. Its county seat is Greenville. The county was created in 1809 and later organized in 1817. It is named for William Darke, an officer in the ...

. The highway abutted the western and northern edges of Darke County Airport along the way. The entire route was turned over to county and township control around 2013 in conjunction with a plan to extend the runway of the Darke County Airport.

Route description

SR 242 was nestled entirely within the northeastern quadrant of

. The route was not inclusive in the National Highway System. The route began at the rural Richland Township intersection of US 127 and Reed Road. The vast majority of the state highway passed through farmland, with the occasional home appearing along the way. Heading due east from the U.S. Route 127 intersection, SR 242 immediately intersected Greenville-St. Marys Road, then proceeded among the vastness of crops, meeting Schroder Road and Younker Road en route before arriving at the Horner Road intersection. Here, SR 242 turned north onto the alignment of Horner Road, with the road continuing east from the intersection being Chase Road. As it headed northward, the route traveled along the western edge of Darke County Airport. The state route next arrived at its intersection with Plessinger Road. At this point, SR 242 turned east again, with the road heading north from this intersection becoming known as Shaffer Road. Running due east along the north side of the county airport, the route entered Wayne Township prior to arriving at its endpoint at its junction with SR 121, where the intersecting state highway forms the southern and eastern legs of the T-intersection.

History

SR 242 was first designated in 1924 replacing what was then designated SR 199. The highway was assigned to the routing that it occupied throughout its entire nine-decade history. The entire route was asphalt-paved by 1939. In 2012, the Darke County Airport proposed expanding its one runway to the west. With the expansion, the north–south segment of SR 242 would have to be removed. As one of the shortest state highways in the state, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) proposed abandoning the entire route with jurisdiction of the road being transferred to Darke County and the two townships through which the route traveled. Earlier proposals for the route included ODOT taking over the entire length of Chase Road (which runs along the southern edge of the airport) to SR 121. ODOT gave up control of the route in 2013 with the portion from US 127 to Horner Road becoming Darke County Route 242 and the remainder becoming maintained by Richland and Wayne Townships. For the maintenance of the road, ODOT also gave to the Darke County Engineer.

Major intersections

References

{{Reflist

242 Year 242 ( CCXLII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratus and Lepidus (or, less frequently, year 995 ''Ab urbe cond ...

Transportation in Darke County, Ohio