Interstate 75 (I-75) runs from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

to Toledo by way of

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

in the US 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 highway enters the state running concurrently 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 ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

on the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River and into the

Bluegrass region The Bluegrass region is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It makes up the central and northern part of the state, roughly bounded by the cities of Frankfort, Paris, Richmond and Stanford. The Bluegrass region is characteriz ...

. I-75 continues along the Mill Creek Expressway northward to the Butler County line just north of

I-275 Interstate 275 (I-275) may refer to: *Interstate 275 (Florida), a loop through Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Bradenton in Florida *Interstate 275 (Michigan), a western bypass of Detroit, Michigan * Interstate 275 (Ohio–Indiana–Kentucky), a full bel ...

. From there, the freeway runs into the

Miami Valley The Miami Valley is the land area surrounding the Great Miami River in southwest Ohio, USA, and includes the Little Miami, Mad, and Stillwater rivers as well. Geographically, it includes Dayton, Springfield, Middletown, Hamilton, and other ...

and then passes through the

Great Black Swamp The Great Black Swamp (also known simply as the Black Swamp) was a glacially fed wetland in northwest Ohio, sections of lower Michigan, and extreme northeast Indiana, United States, that existed from the end of the Wisconsin glaciation until t ...

before crossing into

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Route description

The highway enters the state via the Brent Spence Bridge into

Downtown Cincinnati Downtown Cincinnati is the central business district of Cincinnati, Ohio, as well the economic and symbiotic center of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. It also contains a number of urban neighborhoods in the low land area between the Ohio Ri ...

immediately splits off to the east from this point, taking a more easterly route through downtown, while I-75 continues north along the west side of downtown. The Mill Creek Expressway is a heavily trafficked portion of I-75 in Ohio, from the Ohio River at the Kentucky state line to Butler County in Cincinnati's northern suburbs that follows the path of its namesake, Mill Creek, and the former path of the Miami and Erie Canal, and passes through the city's industrial core. The highway continues north, intersecting

I-74 } Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa (Quad Cities); the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interchang ...

and turning to the northeast. At one point, while passing through the suburb of Arlington Heights, the carriageways split apart and create a wide enough space for the community to be completely enclosed by the Interstate; they rejoin at the other end of the community. The highway then intersects the Cincinnati beltway,

, and continues northeasterly through the

West Chester Township West Chester Township is one of the thirteen townships of Butler County, Ohio, United States, located in the southeastern corner of the county. It is situated between Sharonville and Liberty Township, about north of Cincinnati, and is included ...

, Monroe, Middletown, and Franklin en route to the

Dayton metropolitan area The Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, also known as Greater Dayton and the Miami Valley, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in the Miami Valley region of Ohio and is anchored by the cit ...

. Once arriving in the Dayton area, I-75 first junctions with I-675, an eastern bypass of Dayton, in

Miamisburg Miamisburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio. The population was 20,181 at the time of the 2010 census. A suburb of Dayton. It is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Miamisburg is known for its large industry (mainly for its nuclear ...

. The highway then continues north into Downtown Dayton, skirting it to the west and junctioning with

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 c ...

near the

Dayton International Airport Dayton International Airport (officially James M. Cox Dayton International Airport), formerly Dayton Municipal Airport and James M. Cox-Dayton Municipal Airport, is 10 miles north of downtown Dayton, in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. ...

The highway then continues north through the western side of the state toward Toledo, passing through cities such as

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

, Piqua,

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

, Findlay, and

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. Once the highway arrives in Toledo, it first intersects with I-475 in Perrysburg, followed by

I-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-90 (

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 o ...

) in

Rossford Rossford is a city in Wood County, Ohio, United States, located along the Maumee River in the Toledo metropolitan area. The population was 6,293 at the 2010 census. The town includes the intersection of Interstate 75 and the Ohio Turnpike. Ross ...

before skirting

Downtown Toledo Downtown Toledo is the central business district of Toledo, Ohio. Both the Warehouse District and the area surrounding the Huntington Center have been areas of recent growth. Major attractions *Fifth Third Field *Hensville *Warehouse Distric ...

to the west. After the interchange, I-75 continues north into Downtown Toledo. Just north of downtown, I-475 rejoins I-75. After continuing northeasterly, I-75 intersects

I-280 Interstate 280 may refer to multiple highways, all of which are or were related to Interstate 80: * Interstate 280 (California), a north–south freeway running from San Jose to San Francisco * Interstate 280 (Iowa–Illinois), part of the beltway ...

, which connects the Ohio Turnpike. Following this, I-75 enters

and follows the shore of

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 h ...

History

I-75 in Ohio was built through the 1960s, supplanting U.S. Route 25 (US 25), though much of the freeway was built for US 25. By the time I-75 was finished, US 25 ran concurrently with I-75 for all but the northernmost section. By 1974, the US 25 designation was deemed unnecessary and removed from Ohio and Michigan. The northernmost section of US 25 in Ohio became State Route 25 (SR 25). In 2005, 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 ...

(ODOT) considered reconfiguring I-75's existing interchange in Findlay with US 224 and SR 15 west as a

diverging diamond interchange A diverging diamond interchange (DDI), also called a double crossover diamond interchange (DCD), is a subset of diamond interchange in which the opposing directions of travel on the non-freeway road cross each other on either side of the inte ...

(DDI) to improve traffic flow. Had it been constructed, it would have been the first such interchange in the US. By 2006, ODOT had reconsidered, instead adding lanes to the existing overpass. Traffic congestion in the Cincinnati–Dayton corridor has led to proposals for a regional I-75 bypass to divert through traffic. The segment from West Chester to Middletown was widened in 2010. Construction on the highway continues from Middletown all the way to I-675. In

, ODOT recently completed total reconfiguration of I-75 with several projects occurring simultaneously. The intersection of I-75 and I-70 was reconfigured to handle an increased

traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffi ...

load at the intersection. I-75 through Downtown Dayton at the intersections of SR 4, US 35, and between were widened and modernized. ODOT between 2014 and 2016 completed a widening project between I-475 in Perrysburg and SR 15 in Findlay to add a third lane in each direction. The SR 15 interchange (which also features the north end of US 68) was subsequently rebuilt as well. Several miles north of the southerly I-475 junction, I-75 intersects with I-80/I-90 (Ohio Turnpike). Work began in May 2019 to convert the existing interchange with Union Centre Boulevard in West Chester Township, Butler County, to a DDI. The $20-million project was completed in mid-2020.

Mill Creek Expressway

The Mill Creek Expressway generally follows the old Miami and Erie Canal, which extended from Cincinnati to Toledo via

, itself built in the Mill Creek valley near Cincinnati. The canal extended from the Ohio River along the present locations of Eggleston Avenue and Central Parkway to

Mount Storm Park Mount Storm Park is a City of Cincinnati municipal park situated on a site on the western slope of a hill overlooking the Mill Creek Valley. In the mid-19th century the property comprised the site of the estate of Robert Bonner Bowler, a dry good ...

and continued north, remaining close to the Mill Creek Expressway to Butler County. The first portion of the expressway was built by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) in 1941—during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

—to serve the

Wright Aeronautical Wright Aeronautical (1919–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Paterson, New Jersey. It was the successor corporation to Wright-Martin. It built aircraft and was a supplier of aircraft engines to other builders in the ...

plant in Lockland. Known then as the Wright Highway, it was initially planned to run from Paddock Road ( SR 4) in

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

north to Cincinnati-Dayton Road (then US 25) near Maud but was only built—almost completely along the old canal—between Galbraith Road and Glendale-Milford Road (then SR 126). A short extension was built south to Towne Street in Elmwood Place in the late 1940s. In 1960, plans were announced to add an eastern portion that would result in Arlington Heights being surrounded on both sides by the highway. On January 19, 2015, an overpass north of Hopple Street collapsed onto the highway below at approximately 10:30 pm. The span that failed was the segment of the former northbound ramp to Hopple Street that passed over the southbound lanes of I-75. The overpass had been closed and was in the process of being removed after a replacement ramp was opened on December 26, 2014. The Interstate underneath was open at the time of the failure. One construction worker on the overpass was killed during the collapse by a falling steel beam. A truck driver was injured when their

semi SEMI is an industry association comprising companies involved in the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. They provide equipment, materials and services for the manufacture of semiconductors, photovoltaic panels, LED and flat pan ...

hit the fallen overpass immediately after the collapse. One other worker was in a backhoe on the bridge but was uninjured.

Future

There are plans to convert the existing interchange with SR 725 in

to a DDI. The project will not be built until 2023 and its projected cost is $4.1 million, entirely funded by the state. In Cincinnati, approximately of the highway will be totally reconfigured by three separate ODOT projects happening simultaneously. The Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project will replace the Brent Spence Bridge and continue north to the Western Hills Viaduct. The Mill Creek Expressway project will modernize the Mill Creek Expressway segment of the highway, from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway interchange. The Thru the Valley project will continue from the Cross County Highway north to

. These projects will improve safety by eliminating all left-hand exit ramps and increasing vehicular capacity.

Exit list

Auxiliary routes

I-75 in Ohio has three

auxiliary routes In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the In ...

. The southernmost is

, which serves as a full loop around

, including segments that extend into

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

. The northernmost is I-475, a bypass around Toledo area that also carries US 23 for . The third auxiliary route is I-675 bypassing

to the south and east and connecting to

northeast of the city. In addition to these auxiliary routes, there are three business routes of I-75. These run along former segments of US 25, I-75's predecessor highway. They connect to the downtowns of

and Piqua; Sidney; and Findlay.

Notes

References

External links

* {{3di, 75 Ohio 75

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

Fairfield, Ohio Transportation in Hamilton County, Ohio Transportation in Butler County, Ohio Transportation in Warren County, Ohio Transportation in Montgomery County, Ohio Transportation in Miami County, Ohio Transportation in Shelby County, Ohio Transportation in Auglaize County, Ohio Transportation in Allen County, Ohio Transportation in Hancock County, Ohio Transportation in Wood County, Ohio Transportation in Lucas County, Ohio