U.S. Route 250 (US 250) is a

United States Numbered Highway The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

that runs from

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Within the state of

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 route runs from US 6 in Sandusky to the

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 Bur ...

border at

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 ...

Route description

In Ohio, U.S. 250 is an important cross-state corridor linking Sandusky (on

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 ...

) to Bridgeport (on 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 ...

). From a regional/traffic perspective, the route can roughly be divided into five sections linking major regions and routes of the state: *

US 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 ...

in Sandusky to

US 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

at Norwalk *

at Norwalk to

US 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...

at Wooster *

at Wooster to

I-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 ...

at Strasburg *

at New Philadelphia to US 22 at Cadiz * US 22 at Cadiz to

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 ...

Sandusky to Norwalk

US 250 begins in

at an intersection with US 6 (Cleveland Road). It begins carrying the name Sycamore Line, but US 250 leaves this road shortly for Milan Road. This part of the route carries much traffic connecting to 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 ...

, and during the summer, people bound for

Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1870, it is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the U.S. behind Lake Compounce. Cedar Point is owned and op ...

. It is the most heavily developed section of the road, lined with

big box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The te ...

s, a regional shopping mall, an

outlet mall An outlet store, factory outlet or factory shop is a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowin ...

, and numerous

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, indoor waterparks and

restaurants A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearanc ...

. US 250 crosses SR 2 as it travels south and eventually crosses the

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 ...

(I-80) and

I-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 ...

. It then picks up SR 13 before passing west of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. After a short stretch, it enters Norwalk on Milan Avenue. It turns onto League Street and travels southwest to Whittlesey Avenue, which becomes Benedict Avenue as the street travels southeast through the center of the city.

Norwalk to Wooster

Much of this section of the route is rural and two-lane, but it carries a high level of truck and regular traffic. US 250 exits Norwalk and crosses

/ SR 18 (Norwalk Bypass) at a diamond interchange. The route heads in a generally southeasterly direction until Fitchville, where it enters on Wooster Street. SR 13 finally separates from US 250 before the latter turns onto Mill Street Extension, turning south off said road shortly after. US 250 continues southeast until it meets SR 60, and the two routes enter

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

on North Main Street and pass straight through town. They continue together toward Ashland, where it meets an intersection with Cottage Street. SR 60 continues south on Cottage Street, while US 250 turns east, meeting

US 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, Readi ...

east of the city and forming an overlap as it turns south. Upon meeting Main Street, US 250 leaves US 42 at an intersection and turns east. It passes through sparse development outside the city until it interchanges with

I-71 Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 in Kentucky, I-64 and ...

. US 250 continues east on Ashland Road in open countryside, passing through small communities. West of Wooster, US 250 enters

, carrying the name Lincoln Way, and bypasses the city to the south, exiting at a partial cloverleaf interchange which sends it south on SR 83. US 250 then turns east on Dover Road south of the city.

Wooster to Strasburg

On Dover Road, US 250 follows a two-lane alignment as it passes through mostly open fields on its path to Strasburg. The route forms the main streets of several communities as it passes through them, such as Apple Creek, Mount Eaton, and

Wilmot Wilmot may refer to: Places Australia *Division of Wilmot, an abolished Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania * Wilmot, Tasmania, a locality in the North-West Region Canada *Wilmot, Nova Scotia, an unincorporated rural community and former t ...

. It intersects SR 21 just before entering town, which it does on Wooster Avenue. This densely populated stretch of US 250 in Strasburg has been proposed for a bypass, but the project has not been selected for further work as of 2008. After passing through Strasburg, US 250 enters

. The two routes then travel south concurrent with one another.

New Philadelphia to Cadiz

I-77 and US 250 travel in a southern direction until reaching New Philadelphia. The two highways form a bypass of the city, with the concurrency forming the west side and US 250 along forming the south side, as I-77 separates from US 250 in the southwest corner of the city. SR 800 joins the freeway at Broadway outside of New Philadelphia as it follows the Dennison/ Uhrichsville freeway bypass of US 250. The two routes follow a four-lane, divided highway toward Uhrichsville, where US 250/SR 800 turns west at an interchange with US 36. At the end of the dual highway, SR 800 turns south toward Dennison, and US 250 turns north, following a two-lane, curvy alignment en route to Cadiz. Approximately halfway between Dennison and Cadiz, US 250 follows

Tappan Lake Tappan Lake, also known as Tappan Reservoir, is a reservoir in Harrison County, Ohio, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily locat ...

for several miles on a series of causeways built during the construction of the lake by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District in the 1930s. This route is generally of good quality (albeit without shoulders), although ODOT is studying replacement or upgrade through its Macro-Corridors Project. Near Cadiz, it merges onto the Cadiz Bypass, where it runs concurrent with US 22. It then turns onto Lincoln Avenue and passes through the city of Cadiz. US 250 then turns onto Market Street and follows it south out of town.

Cadiz to Bridgeport

From Cadiz, US 250's name changes to Cadiz–Harrisville Road, heading south-southeast. Shortly after exiting the city, US 250 begins to curve and wind sharply, with several hairpin turns. For much of this distance, the road is surrounded by dense residential areas and runs on ridge tops. After it passes through Harrisville, the road becomes less curvy but is fronted densely with homes for almost the remainder of its route within the state, save the forest at its south end, where it features another hairpin curve. It continues southeast to

, where it features a partial interchange with SR 7. US 250 then joins

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 crosses the

into

. The poor alignment of this section of the highway, along with the fact that it runs through Cadiz as opposed to bypassing it, limits the usefulness of this section of the road as a through route. To resolve these issues, 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 ...

is developing plans to construct a Super 2 replacement for this route. A bypass of Cadiz was planned for construction in 2004, although it has not been built as of 2017. The new route is to roughly parallel SR 9 and SR 331, running from Cadiz to a point near Saint Clairsville. At this point, it is expected that US 250 will be realigned to follow

east to

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

Major intersections

References

External links

* {{compact state detail browse, type=US, route=250, state=Ohio, stateafter=West Virginia 50-2 Ohio Transportation in Erie County, Ohio Transportation in Huron County, Ohio Transportation in Ashland County, Ohio Transportation in Wayne County, Ohio Transportation in Stark County, Ohio Transportation in Tuscarawas County, Ohio Transportation in Harrison County, Ohio Transportation in Belmont County, Ohio