State Route 85 (SR 85, OH 85) is 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 northeastern

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 ...

. The western terminus of SR 85 is in the center of

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

where it intersects

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...

(US 6) and SR 7. Its eastern terminus is just over east of Andover at 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 in the middle of the causeway across the

Pymatuning Reservoir Pymatuning Reservoir is a man-made lake in Crawford County, Pennsylvania and Ashtabula County, Ohio in the United States, on land that was once a very large swamp. Much of it is incorporated into two state parks: Pymatuning State Park in Pennsyl ...

, where

Pennsylvania Route 285 Pennsylvania Route 285 (PA 285) is an , east–west state highway located in Crawford County in Pennsylvania, United States. The western terminus is the Ohio state line on Lake Pymatuning, where the road becomes Ohio State Route 85 (SR 85). ...

(PA 285) continues east. The shortest of three state routes that lie completely within

Ashtabula County Ashtabula County ( ) is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,574. The county seat is Jefferson. The county was created in 1808 and later organized in 1811. The name Ashtabula deriv ...

, the current SR 85 is a fraction of the route it was when first designated in the mid-1920s, when it ran from Euclid to the Pennsylvania state line. When US 6 was designated in Ohio in the early 1930s, SR 85 was at first co-signed with the U.S. highway from Euclid to Andover, but by the late 1930s, the SR 85 shields were removed from this stretch of roadway, leaving just the stretch of highway that exists today.

Route description

The entirety of SR 85 is situated in the eastern portion of

. The route begins at an intersection with US 6 and SR 7 at a rectangular traffic circle that encircles Andover Township Park in downtown Andover. The two-lane state highway, which runs generally due east for its entire length, departs from the intersection and passes through a primarily commercial stretch of roadway to the point where it crosses the village limits of Andover, and enters into Andover Township. The tree-lined highway passes a mix of businesses and residences before reaching a signalized intersection with Pymatuning Lake Road, a road that follows the western edge of the

and connects SR 85 with the facilities of Pymatuning State Park. East of the traffic light, SR 85 traverses the causeway which crosses the middle of the Pymatuning Reservoir. Approximately halfway across the causeway, the roadway hits the

state line. At that point, SR 85 comes to an end, and PA 285 picks up the rest of the route across the causeway. 200px, Eastern terminus of Ohio State Route 85

History

SR 85 was first designated around 1923, running from SR 2 in

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...

to its current eastern terminus at PA 285. When US 6 was routed into Ohio in 1932, it was routed via the stretch of SR 85 between Euclid and Andover. For the six years following, US 6 and SR 85 were run concurrently along that stretch of roadway. By 1938, SR 85 was truncated to its current routing between Andover and the connection to

on the causeway, leaving US 6 to be the lone route running between Euclid and Andover.

Major intersections

References

External links

*
State Route 85 Endpoint Photos
{{good article 085 Transportation in Ashtabula County, Ohio