State Route 297 (SR 297) is a short north–south

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 northeastern portion of the U.S. state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Its southern terminus is at a long interchange with U.S. Routes 30 (US 30) and 62 in Perry and

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

township, and its signed northern terminus is at SR 172 at the intersection of Raff Avenue and Tuscarawas Street in western on the border of Perry Township and the city of

. SR 297 continues, unsigned, west along SR 172 to its intersection with Whipple Avenue.

Route description

SR 297 begins at an interchange with the US 30 and US 62 freeway southwest of Canton in Perry Township. In this vicinity, the northbound lanes of SR 297 run alongside the south freeway as a

frontage road A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drivew ...

while the southbound lanes are mirrored on the north side of it. Immediately after exiting the freeway, the highway comes to an intersection with Whipple Avenue. Just east of this intersection, SR 297 enters Canton Township and comes to an intersection with Raff Road, just outside the city limits of Canton. Ramps to and from the freeway continue east from here but SR 297 turns north onto the three-to-four-lane Raff Road. After an intersection with Southway Street (partly the former routing of US 62), the road has a

grade crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

with a Norfolk Southern railroad and continues north-northeast through a light industrial area of Canton Township. At the intersection of 13th Street, SR 297 enters Canton as a three lane road (one travel land in each direction plus a

center turn lane A reversible lane (British English: tidal flow) is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and li ...

) and passes through a mostly residential neighborhood. Signage for SR 297 ends at its intersection with Tuscarawas Street, SR 172 but the Ohio Department of Transportation's official documents for the road show it continuing west along SR 172 for . This section of Tuscarawas Street features commercial businesses on both sides of the five lane (four travel lanes and one center turn lane) before SR 297 ends at Whipple Avenue.

History

SR 297 was designated around 1992 along the route it follows today in and around Canton. It replaced SR 791, a road that was created in 1946 running from US 62 at Southway Street to US 30 then following Tuscarawas Street, later extending to the freeway interchange when it was completed. SR 791 would be shown on official state maps until 1977 but would remain in Stark County traffic logs until 1988. Some online mapping services such as

Bing Maps Bing Maps (previously Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft's Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps Platform framework. Since 20 ...

show the old route number along Raff Road. An earlier routing of SR 297 was absorbed into SR 281 by 1939.

Major intersections

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite map , title=Ohio Highway Map 1946 , url=http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/TransSysDev/Innovation/prod_services/Documents/StateMaps/otm1946a.sid , format=MrSID , publisher=ODOH , year=1946 , cartography=Perry T. Ford, Director , accessdate=September 23, 2013 {{cite map , title=Ohio Trailways to Highways 1976 , url=http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/TransSysDev/Innovation/prod_services/Documents/StateMaps/otm1976a.sid , format=MrSID , publisher=ODOT , year=1976 , cartography=Richard D. Jackson, Director , accessdate=September 22, 2013 {{cite map , title=Ohio 1977 Department of Transportation Official Map , url=http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/TransSysDev/Innovation/prod_services/Documents/StateMaps/otm1977a.sid , format=MrSID , publisher=ODOT , year=1977 , cartography=David L. Weir, Director , accessdate=September 22, 2013

297 __NOTOC__ Year 297 ( CCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1050 '' ...

Transportation in Stark County, Ohio