State Route 357 (SR 357) is a 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 northern portion of

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 ...

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 ...

. Existing entirely on

South Bass Island South Bass Island is a small island in western Lake Erie, and a part of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. It is the southernmost of the three Bass Islands and located 3 miles (4.6 km) from the south shore of Lake Erie. It is the third la ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

, the highway begins at its western terminus of West Shore Boulevard, about west of

Put-in-Bay Put-in-Bay is a village located on South Bass Island in Put-in-Bay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio, United States, east of Toledo. The population was 154 at the 2020 census. The village is a popular summer resort and recreational destinati ...

. SR 357 then travels northeast to its eastern terminus at a dead end at Lake Erie, approximately east of Put-in-Bay Village. SR 357 is one of two Ohio state routes on Lake Erie islands (the other being SR 575). SR 357 once extended to the mainland of Ohio via the Catawba Island ferry. It officially carries a north–south routing, but a single

reassurance marker A reassurance marker or confirming marker is a type of traffic sign that confirms the identity of the route being traveled on. It does not provide information found on other types of road signs, such as distances traveled, distances to other locat ...

along the route displays "west" instead of "south".

Route description

The entirety of SR 357 exists within the confines of South Bass Island in Lake Erie. It is located within Put-in-Bay Township in Ottawa County. In 2012, between 490 and 590 vehicles travel on the road on average each day. SR 357 begins at West Shore Boulevard, and travels southwestward. The route passes by Oak Point State Park, and becomes part of Bayview Avenue. SR 357 then intersects County Route 163, which leads to the

Put-in-Bay Airport Put-in-Bay Airport is a public airport located in Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island in Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The approach to Runway 21 is complicated by Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial Perry's Victory and Internat ...

, and the Put-in-Bay–Catawba Island ferry. The route later leaves Put-in-Bay, near

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial commemorates the Battle of Lake Erie that took place near Ohio's South Bass Island, in which Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry led a fleet to victory in one of the most decisive naval battles to occur i ...

. SR 357 turns northeast to Columbus Avenue, and later ends at a dead end near the lake, next to a driveway.

History

The SR 357 designation was created in 1934. At the time, the highway was routed along the entirety of its present alignment on South Bass Island. However, in 1946, when SR 53 was extended northerly from Port Clinton to end at its present northern terminus in Catawba Island, SR 357 was simultaneously extended south onto the mainland via the ferry that connects Put-in-Bay with Catawba Island, then south along SR 53 to a new southern terminus at SR 2 east of Port Clinton. By 1969, all of the 1946 extension of SR 357 was eliminated, with the Put-in-Bay–Catawba Island ferry becoming a connector between the southern end of SR 357 and the northern endpoint of SR 53, and the mainland portion of SR 357 becoming just SR 53. By 1973, the Put-in-Bay–Catawba Island ferry docked on the south side of South Bass Island, ending the direct access to ferry docks and the rest of the state highway system from SR 357.

Major intersections

References

External links

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State Route 357 Pavement Markings
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001536/http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D02/District%20Two%20Centerline%20NoPassing%20Zones/OTT%20SR-357%20final%202005.pdf , date=2016-03-04

357 __NOTOC__ Year 357 ( CCCLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Iulianus (or, less frequently, year ...

Transportation in Ottawa County, Ohio