State Route 7 (SR 7), formerly known as Inter-county Highway 7 until 1921 and State Highway 7 in 1922, is a 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 southern and eastern portions of the U.S. state of

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. At about in length, it is the longest state route in Ohio. Its southern terminus is an interchange with U.S. Route 52 (US 52) just west of

Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

. Its northern terminus also serves as the eastern terminus of SR 531 in Conneaut. The path of SR 7 stays within of 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 ...

(Ohio's border with

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

) for the southern portion, with the river being visible from much of the route. The road also remains within of the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

state line for the northern portion.

Route description

SR 7 starts in

and runs along the

for about . This portion of the highway encounters routes like US 35, US 33, US 50, and

Interstate 77 Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the ...

(I-77). It passes through many Ohio River towns like Marietta, Bellaire, and

Steubenville Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a ...

. Once it reaches the Pennsylvania border it heads north along SR 11 & US 30 from East Liverpool to

Rogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) * Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...

. After it exits State Route 11 in Rogers the route turns north and starts tracking toward Youngstown. Upon reaching the junction with the

Ohio Turnpike The Ohio Turnpike, officially the James W. Shocknessy Ohio Turnpike, is a limited-access toll highway in the U.S. state of Ohio, serving as a primary corridor between Chicago and Pittsburgh. The road runs east–west in the northern section of ...

, OH SR 7 enters the

Connecticut Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms o ...

. Continuing north, it becomes Market Street in

Boardman, Ohio Boardman Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. The population was 40,213 at the 2020 census. A suburb directly south of Youngstown, it is the second largest municipality in the Youngstown–Warren ...

, with a significant suburban increase. Then the highway heads east

overlap Overlap may refer to: * In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram. * In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases * Ove ...

ped with US 62. After that shared alignment, the highway then heads north again in

Hubbard Hubbard may refer to: Places Canada *Hubbard, Saskatchewan *Hubbards, Nova Scotia Canada/United States * Mount Hubbard, a mountain on the Alaska/Yukon border *Hubbard Glacier, a large freshwater glacier in Alaska and Yukon Greenland *Hubbard Gla ...

through many small towns to its northern terminus with SR 531 in Conneaut.

History

In 1912, Intercounty Highway 7 ran along the Ohio River, from Elizabethtown to the Pennsylvania state line in East Liverpool. In 1923, the route was at its greatest extent, the northern terminus of the route was extended from East Liverpool to Conneaut. In 1927, the route's southern terminus was truncated from the Indiana state line to Chesapeake to make way for

US 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...

and a small segment of

US 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

was constructed north of Stratton in 1982. The $27 million project was necessitated for the expansion of the W. H. Sammis Power Plant.

Chesapeake and Proctorville bypass

The Chesapeake bypass was first proposed in 1953. In 1961, the US 52 expressway opened from

westward towards Sheridan. The original eastern terminus of the four-lane divided highway was at the current Chesapeake northbound-only exit ramp east of Tallow Ridge Road. US 52 originally crossed at the present-day

Robert C. Byrd Bridge The Robert C. Byrd Bridge is a continuous truss bridge that crosses the Ohio River between Huntington, West Virginia and Chesapeake, Ohio. The crossing was constructed to replace an old, narrow, two-lane structure that was demolished after 69 ye ...

that connects Chesapeake to

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

. In 1979, the US 52 designation moved to the Nick Joe Rahall II Bridge as tolls on that span were removed that year; the segment east of the Rahall Bridge to the Chesapeake interchange was renumbered to SR 7. Ten years later, the four-lane expressway was extended eastward to an incomplete

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

just east of Big Branch Road. A four-lane connector route from the partially complete interchange to the foot of the Robert C. Byrd Bridge at SR 527 was completed. At the same time, the two-lane Chesapeake interchange ramp just east of Tallow Ridge Road was converted to a northbound-only exit ramp. The abrupt terminus at Chesapeake was envisioned to connect to Proctorville. Though the portion of SR 527 is signed as part of SR 7, it is not officially part of the route and many signs show this portion of SR 527 as "To SR 7." GallipolisOhioDowntown

On May 31, 2002, ground was broken for Phase 1-A of the Proctorville bypass. Phase 1-A entailed a two-lane connector road from the

East Huntington Bridge The East Huntington Bridge (officially the Frank Gatski Memorial Bridge, also called the East End Bridge or the 31st Street Bridge) is a cable-stayed bridge crossing the Ohio River at Huntington, West Virginia. It carries West Virginia Route 106 ...

to Irene Road, with the original loop ramp from the bridge to State Route 7 being modified into an access road. Phase 1-B was designated from Irene Road to State Route 7 near Fairland East Elementary in Rome Township. Phase 2 was envisioned from Irene Road west to Chesapeake. The total cost was originally estimated to be at $165 million. On April 27, 2003, Phase 1-A of the Proctorville bypass opened to traffic. The $6.5 million, section of three-lane roadway was opened from the foot of the East Huntington Bridge to Irene Road and signed as SR 607. On June 3, 2003, bids were opened for Phase 1-B from Irene Road to SR 7 near Fairland East Elementary. The projected cost of the segment was originally $27 million, however, when the bids were let, the cost had decreased to $24.3 million. The lowest bid, which was also accepted, came in at $22.1 million. The road was designed as a two-lane limited-access facility on a four-lane right-of-way. Construction began on August 4, with an original estimated completion date of June 30, 2005. State Route 7

An unusual amount of rain, blamed on two hurricanes, caused major delays. More than one-dozen major slips along Phase 1-B required an additional $30 million in repairs and the purchase of additional land for highwall excavations. Another change was the design of the roadway; originally projected to be widened in the future when higher traffic counts warrant the expansion, it was designed on wide right-of-way with no grade separation between the opposing lanes. During the repair of the slips, a terraced roadway was constructed to separate the future southbound lanes from the northbound by a highwall when the roadway is expanded to four lanes. Other cost overruns had pushed the cost of construction to $62 million total, which included Phases 1-A and 1-B, up from the original estimates of $32 million. The primary cause was rapidly increasing land values and "unchecked zoning" along the project's projected right-of-way along with geo-technical problems with rocky soil. Property values along the projected route, for instance, increased 91.5% from 1992 to 2001 alone. In October 2006, a small segment of the Phase 1-B bypass opened to traffic between SR 607 and Irene Road intersection to SR 775. The remainder, east to SR 7 near Fairland East Elementary, opened on December 8, 2006. It includes intersections with SR 775, Kinley Avenue, and SR 7. Upon completion, phases 1-A and 1-B were signed as SR 7; the bypass from the SR 775 junction to the loop at the East Huntington Bridge was co-numbered with SR 775. Phase 2 of the bypass, from the Chesapeake bypass to Irene Road at Proctorville, has not been funded. Funding which had been previously promised by the

Ohio Department of Transportation The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT; ) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government responsible for developing and maintaining all state and U.S. roadways outside of municipalities and all Interstates except the Ohio T ...

(ODOT) was later denied. Phase 2 is estimated to cost $76 million to complete. Also due to the construction delays (slips) on the bypass from SR 775 to Fairland East Elementary School (Phase 1-B), the design of Phase 2 may be realigned to prevent slips during construction.

Pomeroy Bypass

The Pomeroy bypass from Middleport east to US 33 was completed in 1968. At the time of completion, the bypass was two lanes but was upgraded to four lanes, divided, in 1976 from SR 143 to US 33 near Rock Springs. The bypass was extended east in 2000 from Rock Springs to a partial diamond interchange with SR 7 as a four-lane divided expressway. It was initially signed just SR 7. The diamond interchange was later completed with all connections, and the highway was extended eastward to Ravenswood, West Virginia as US 33.

Major intersections

Auxiliary routes

State Route 7 Alternate in Bridgeport

State Route 7 Alternate (SR 7A) is a short connecting loop signed as SR 7 that serves as a link from SR 7,

US 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America, is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid-Atlantic States. As with most routes wh ...

, and

US 250 U.S. Route 250 (US 250) is a route of the United States Numbered Highway System, and is a spur of U.S. Route 50. It currently runs for from Richmond, Virginia to Sandusky, Ohio. It passes through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohi ...

I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

. Its western (southern) terminus is at SR 767, and its eastern (northern) terminus is along US 40 at its intersection with US 250 and the northern terminus of SR 767. SR 7A begins at the intersections of Howard Street and SR 767 (South Lincoln Avenue). SR 7A continues west as Howard Street until it intersects Marion Street. It then runs north as Marion Street, intersects I-70, and then intersects US 40, Main Street. SR 7A continues east on US 40 until it ends at US 250 and SR 767, just west of the

state line.

State Route 767

State Route 767 (SR 767) is an unsigned north–south

in the eastern portion of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

. Currently, it is signed as an alternate route of SR 7. Its southern terminus is at an exit ramp on SR 7 in

. The route serves as a connector from northbound SR 7 to SR 7 Alternate,

, and

. The route's northern terminus is where these U.S. routes overlap eastbound to cross the

into

. SR 7A serves as a connector for all of these routes to

Business State Route 7 from Middleport to Pomeroy

Business State Route 7 stretched from west of Middleport to about east of Pomeroy. The route followed the former alignment of State Route 7 that was replaced by the Pomeroy Bypass, and ran through the downtown areas of Middleport and Pomeroy. It joined with State Route 833 (the former alignment of

U.S. Route 33 U.S. Route 33 (US 33) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs northwest–southeast for from northern Indiana to Richmond, Virginia, passing through Ohio and West Virginia en route. Although most odd-numbered U.S. routes are north– ...

) from west of Pomeroy to east of Pomeroy, including a brief concurrency with State Route 124, and then headed northeast to the eastern U.S. Route 33/State Route 7 interchange. The route was deleted between 2013 and 2015.

Route 7T

State Route 7T (SR 7T) was a future route beginning at

US 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Canada ...

in Youngstown. The entire route was concurrent with US 62T. SR 7T and US 62T were removed on May 2, 2007.

References

External links