State Route 253 (SR 253) is a very short 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 southern part of the U.S. state of
Ohio. With an overall length of just , the majority of SR 253 is a part of the
Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge
The Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge is a viaduct bridge on top of the Greenup Lock and Dam on the Ohio River. The bridge, named after author and Greenup County, Kentucky native Jesse Stuart, was completed in 1984 and carries Kentucky Route 10 (un ...
, which crosses over 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 ...
near
Franklin Furnace, Ohio. The western terminus of SR 253 is at about the midspan of the bridge, where it crosses the
Kentucky State Line and becomes
Kentucky Route 10 (KY 10). The eastern terminus of the highway is at a
diamond interchange with
U.S. Route 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 ...
(US 52) near the eastern landing of the Ohio River crossing. The current SR 253 was established in the late 1980s. However, an earlier version of the highway existed in the
Medina vicinity from the early 1920s until the late 1950s.
Route description
SR 253 runs exclusively within
Green Township in southeastern
Scioto County, near the community of Franklin Furnace. This short highway starts at the Kentucky state line on the two-lane Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge over the Ohio River, at the very point where KY 10 terminates. The highway departs the bridge to the east. After a short distance, it then crosses a shorter bridge over the
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...
line. Right at the east end of that bridge, SR 253 comes to an end at a diamond interchange it has with the US 52 expressway. East of the interchange is a short connector to Scioto County Road 1, which runs parallel to US 52 to the east through this area.
On a regular basis, the
Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) conducts surveys to measure the amount of traffic that uses its highway system. These traffic counts are commonly given in terms of
average annual daily traffic (AADT), a determination of the number of vehicles on a particular segment of roadway on any typical day of the year. A traffic count by ODOT in 2008 showed that 7,210 cars and 710 trucks utilized SR 253 on a daily basis.
The entirety of SR 253 is included within the
National Highway System, a system of routes deemed most important for the economy, mobility and defense of the country.
History
The SR 253 designation has been utilized on two separate occasions. The first iteration of the highway began in 1925. At the time, in the northern half of
Medina County, a segment of what is now county-maintained Fenn Road between the
SR 18/
SR 57 concurrency and
U.S. Route 42
U.S. Route 42 (US 42) is an east–west United States highway that runs southwest–northeast for from Louisville, Kentucky to Cleveland, Ohio. The route has several names including Pearl Road from Cleveland to Medina in Northeast Ohio, Readin ...
was brought into the state highway system. This roadway, which is located less than north of the
city limits
City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate limi ...
of Medina, was given the designation of SR 253.
In 1937, the route was extended east along Fenn Road to a new eastern terminus at
SR 3 northeast of Medina.
SR 253's time of being routed along this stretch of roadway came to an end in 1958 when jurisdiction of Fenn Road was transferred from the state to Medina County.
By 1989, SR 253 was re-introduced to the state highway system. Coinciding with the completion of the Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge across the Ohio River, the designation was applied to the brief alignment that it maintains to this day from the Kentucky state line on the bridge to the US 52 expressway.
Major intersections
See also
References
External links
{{Commons category
253
__NOTOC__
Year 253 ( CCLIII) 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 Volusianus and Claudius (or, less frequently, year 100 ...
253
__NOTOC__
Year 253 ( CCLIII) 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 Volusianus and Claudius (or, less frequently, year 100 ...
State highways in the United States shorter than one mile