U.S. Route 20 (US 20) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs from Newport, Oregon to Boston, Massachusetts. Within the state of Ohio, the route runs from the Indiana border near Edon to the Pennsylvania border at Conneaut. The route passes through rural areas west of

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

, and passes through Public Square in Cleveland. It is one of 9 other routes to enter downtown Cleveland at Public Square, and it serves some of Cleveland's northeastern suburbs.

History

Prior to the establishment of the U.S. highway system in 1926, the general routing of US 20 was occupied by SR 23 from the Indiana state line to

, SR 102 from Toledo to Woodville, and SR 2 from Woodville east to the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The route has existed closely to its 1926 routing, except for two bypasses: one built around the north side of Fremont between 1957 and 1958, and a second built around the south side of Norwalk by 1967. By 1932 US 20 between

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

and Maumee had become US 20N and a US 20S designation had been created to the south between those points; by 1935 US 20N had reverted to US 20 and US 20S had become US 20A.

Route description

US 20 enters the state in Northwest Township, Williams County. The route parallels the Ohio Turnpike (

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

) through rural farmland in the northwest corner of the state. Within the city of

, the route turns north-south along Reynolds Road, which becomes Conant Street as the route enters Maumee. After crossing the

Maumee River The Maumee River (pronounced ) ( sjw, Hotaawathiipi; mia, Taawaawa siipiiwi) is a river running in the United States Midwest from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph and ...

into Perrysburg, US 20 continues through downtown Perrysburg, then angles southeasterly, becoming concurrent with US 23 until Woodville. US 20 continues southeasterly towards the bypass of Fremont, most of which is concurrent with US 6. From Fremont eastward, the route becomes a divided highway, except when passing through the communities of Clyde, Bellevue, and Monroeville. The route bypasses Norwalk to the south as an expressway, with much of the old routing of US 20 maintained as part of SR 61. Near

Oberlin Oberlin may refer to: ; Places in the United States * Oberlin Township, Decatur County, Kansas ** Oberlin, Kansas, a city in the township * Oberlin, Louisiana, a town * Oberlin, Ohio, a city * Oberlin, Licking County, Ohio, a ghost town * Oberlin, ...

, US 20 once again becomes an expressway, until the route continues northward on a divided bypass on the east side of

Elyria Elyria may refer to: *Elyria, Ohio, city in Ohio, United States *Elyria (Amtrak station), Amtrak station in Elyria, Ohio *Elyria, Kansas, unincorporated community in Kansas, United States *Elyria, Nebraska, village in Nebraska, United States *Elyri ...

while the freeway continues easterly as SR 10. US 20 turns east again on the east side of Elyria, following Cleveland Street and Center Ridge Road through western suburban Cleveland. In

Lakewood Lakewood may refer to: Places Australia * Lakewood, Western Australia, an abandoned town in Western Australia Canada * Lakewood, Edmonton, Alberta * Lakewood Suburban Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Philippines * Lakewood, Zamboanga del S ...

, the route becomes concurrent with US 6 and SR 2, with a portion of the route following the

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway, often shortened to "the Shoreway", is a limited-access freeway in Cleveland and Bratenahl, Ohio. It closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Bri ...

. US 20 departs from the Shoreway then crosses the Detroit-Superior Bridge over the

Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River ( , or ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so mu ...

into downtown Cleveland. From there, the route passes through Public Square easterly, paralleling

U.S. Route 322 U.S. Route 322 (US 322) is a long, east–west United States Highway, traversing Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The road is a spur of U.S. Route 22 and one of the original highways from 1926. A portion of it at one time was concurrent with ...

one block to the south until nearing

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

. It travels northeasterly through the east side of Cleveland as Euclid Avenue, then through the suburbs of Euclid, Wickliffe, Willoughby, Mentor, Ohio, and

Painesville Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River (Ohio), Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 cens ...

, then continues easterly, roughly paralleling the Lake Erie shoreline through Geneva,

Ashtabula Ashtabula ( ) is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States, and the center of the Ashtabula micropolitan area. It is located at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, the city ha ...

, and Conneaut and into Pennsylvania.

Major intersections

References

History

Route description

Major intersections

Further reading

References