U.S. Route 42 (US 42) is an east–west

United States 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 southwest–northeast for from

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. The route has several names including Pearl Road from Cleveland to

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

Northeast Ohio The region Northeast Ohio, in the US state of Ohio, in its most expansive usage contains six metropolitan areas ( Cleveland–Elyria, Akron, Canton–Massillon, Youngstown–Warren, Mansfield, and Weirton–Steubenville) along with eight ...

, Reading Road in

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 w ...

, Cincinnati and Lebanon Pike in southwestern Ohio and Brownsboro Road in Louisville. Traveling northeast, the highway ends in

downtown Cleveland Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square laid out ...

and traveling southwest ends in Louisville.

Interstate 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 ...

(I-71) fully supplanted US 42 as an interurban highway in the early 1960s, relegating US 42 to its current role as an ordinary town-to-town surface road. Additionally, I-71 passes through

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, where US 42 avoids Columbus completely. It remains intact as a route; no part of it has ever been diverted to any Interstate highway. It is not the "parent" of any US route with a related number. In spite of its even number, US 42 is posted north–south in Ohio.

Route description

Kentucky

U.S. Route 42 starts in

, heading northeast through

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (minin ...

on the Oldham County and Jefferson County line. From here US 42 is a two lane road passing through the northern Kentucky hills paralleling between

and 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 ...

. Next, it passes through Goshen near

North Oldham High School North Oldham High School is a public school that opened in 2003 to alleviate the overcrowding at Oldham County High School and South Oldham High School. The school is on the North Oldham Campus in Goshen, Kentucky, alongside North Oldham Middle S ...

, situated on the north side. US 42 continues through Oldham County into Trimble County. In

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

US 42 intersects with US 421 and is concurrent through downtown. The route still heading northeast crosses into Carroll County prior to crossing the

Kentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. The river and its t ...

and entering Carrollton. US 42 follows northeast along the south bank of the Ohio River passing Markland Lock and Dam and KY 1039 Markland Dam Bridge which connects between

Kentucky Speedway Kentucky Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, which has hosted ARCA, NASCAR and Indy Racing League racing annually since it opened in 2000. The track is currently owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Before 2008 ...

and

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 ...

. Heading east US 42 parallels the Ohio River passing through

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, Gallatin County about prior to intersecting with US 127 starting an extended concurrency. US 127 heads south toward Glencoe, Owenton, and eventually Frankfort. From the intersection with US 127, US 42 turns away from the Ohio River bank. US 42 enters Boone County about prior to intersecting with the western terminus of Kentucky Route 14 (KY 14). Continuing north US 42-127 in about intersects Beaver Road KY 338 creating a

wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concur ...

between US 127 and KY 338: when going north, drivers are traveling east on US 42, north on US 127, and south on Kentucky 338. This continues for less than a mile until it intersects with Richwood Pike where KY 338 splits off continuing south. Continuing north for several miles the US 42-127 intersects with KY 536 (Mount Zion Road). Prior to KY 536

Ryle High School Larry A. Ryle High School is a public secondary school located in Union, Kentucky, USA. The school's Mascot is the Raiders. History Founded in 1992, it is one of four high schools ( Boone County, Conner, Ryle, and Cooper) in the Boone Count ...

sits on the road's west side. Just south of Ryle, US 42 turns from a two-lane country road to a five-lane road. US 42 passes through Union prior to continuing to the northeast with US 127. After a couple of miles, it crosses

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 ...

. Entering

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

US 42 intersects with KY 842 and KY 237. Within Florence US 25

Dixie Highway Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network of ...

joins in a concurrency with US 42-127 which takes on the name Dixie Highway. After crossing briefly into Elsmere, the route enters Erlanger. US 42 becomes almost entirely a commercial road for the duration of its length in Erlanger. Prior to leaving Erlanger, US 42 becomes narrower and more congested after it crosses KY 236. US 42 is primarily a commercial road prior to crossing under I-275 and proceeds to turn back into an almost purely residential road with a few exceptions while going north. The route intersects with KY 1303 (Turkeyfoot Road) northern terminus. The Crestview Hills town center lies just south of I-275 on the east side of the road, between Dixie Highway and Turkeyfoot Road.

Dixie Heights High School Dixie Heights High School is a 6-A high school located at 3010 Dixie Highway in Edgewood, Kentucky, United States, but has a mailing address of Fort Mitchell. History The school was built by the Works Progress Administration. It opened for cla ...

is less than a mile down the road on the western side. Two intersections later US 42 is joined with KY 371 for about . After crossing I-71/I-75 again the road heads in a northeast direction closely parallel to I-71/I-75. As it heads north US 42 starts off mostly as a residential road, turning more and more into a commercial road. As it winds down from the suburbs into Covington the highway's name changes from Dixie Highway to Pike Street prior to crossing I-71/I-75 again. US 25-42-127 turns left on Main St heading north and crossing KY 8. US 42 crosses into Ohio from Covington on the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, together with US 25 and US 127.

Ohio

US 42 stretches across Ohio. It is classified as 59.3% rural and 40.7% urban, with only coded as freeway (while running concurrently with US 23 in Delaware).http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/TechServ/TIM/Pages/BasicRoadInventory.aspx Ohio Department of Transportation: State System Basic Road Inventory The route begins in

, then passes through

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantry ...

, Warren,

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin language, Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, Union,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

, Morrow, Richland, Ashland, Wayne and

, Cuyahoga counties prior to reaching its terminus in

. The route barely enters Butler and Wayne counties with about in each. US 42 crosses into

from

Covington, Kentucky Covington is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers. Cincinnati, Ohio, lies to its immediate north across the Ohio and Newport, to its east across the Licking ...

, on the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, together with US 127. US 42 heads northeast out of Cincinnati on Reading Road, which runs between

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 ...

and

I-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 ...

. In 2020, the

Cincinnati City Council The Cincinnati City Council is the lawmaking body of Cincinnati, Ohio. The nine-member city council is elected at-large in a single election in which each voter chooses nine candidates from the field. The nine top vote-getters win seats on the cou ...

approved a project to rename Reading Road to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

Avenue from Downtown Cincinnati to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

, pending private donations; all 30,000 signs are expected to be installed by September 2021. Reading Road intersects with I-275, then briefly enters Butler County. 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 ...

has given this portion of US 42 the name Columbus–Cincinnati Road, but it is locally known as Cincinnati–Columbus Road, a name that also appears on West Chester Township signs along the road. The portion of US 42 in Warren County between

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

and Waynesville is designated "Sergeant Brian Dulle Memorial Highway", in honor of a Warren County Sheriff's deputy who was struck and killed along US 42 on May 10, 2011 by a stolen car, while he was laying out stop sticks to catch the driver. The intersection with Spring Valley–Paintersville Road in Spring Valley Township, Greene County near the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of Spring Valley has been the site of numerous fail-to-yield accidents, including a double fatality in 2017. In October 2018, the

announced that it would convert the intersection into a " basic RCUT", which would add a median and replace all left turns with

right-in/right-out Right-in/right-out (RIRO) and left-in/left-out (LILO) refer to a type of three-way road intersection where turning movements of vehicles are restricted. A RIRO permits only right turns and a LILO permits only left turns. "Right-in" and "left-in" r ...

turns and median

U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as a ...

s. The project is expected to cost around $1.2 million and begin in late 2020. In Xenia, the intersection of US 42 (North Columbus Street) and East Church Street, where US 42 formerly continued at an awkward angle, was converted to a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

on June 12, 2020, at a cost of approximately $1.1 million. After leaving Xenia, major cities along the route are

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market to ...

, Ashland and

prior to reaching the Cleveland metropolitan area. In London US 42 intersects 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 ...

. Other than a short concurrency at each end, in Delaware are the only other two concurrencies with US routes. Entering Delaware from the south US 42 runs concurrent with US 23 in Delaware until the junction with US 36 which it follows east for about before turning back to the north. The concurrence with US 23 is the only stretch of US 42 that is categorized as a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in Ohio. Heading into Cuyahoga County at Strongsville, US 42 intersects

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 ...

, 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 continues through

Middleburg Heights Middleburg Heights is a city and a suburb of Cleveland in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population held steady at approximately sixteen thousand throughout the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Government Middleburg H ...

, Parma Heights, and

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...

heading into Cleveland and is known locally as Pearl Road. US 42 continues north intersecting with I-71 and nearby exits to

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, an ...

. The route is part of the Ohio & Erie Canalway Scenic Byway while continuing north on West 25th. At this point on the route the road is a business district surrounded by varying business and residents of the Ohio City neighborhood. Along this stretch of the route, can be found many historic buildings, including the

West Side Market The West Side Market is the oldest operating indoor/outdoor market space in Cleveland, Ohio. It is located at the corner of West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue in the Ohio City neighborhood. On December 18, 1973, it was added to the National R ...

. The last stretch of US 42 is a concurrency with US 6. The eastern/northern end of US 42 finds its terminus at the intersection of Superior Avenue and Ontario Street in the middle of Public Square in downtown Cleveland. This intersection also serves as the western terminus of US 322 coming from the east on Superior as well as the western termini of US 422,

Ohio State Route 14 State Route 14, located in northeastern Ohio, runs from U.S. Route 6/ U.S. Route 42/ State Route 3 in Downtown Cleveland southeasterly to the Pennsylvania state line near East Palestine; Pennsylvania Route 51 continues southeasterly from there. ...

(SR 14), and SR 87 and the northern terminus of SR 8 coming from the south on Ontario.

Major intersections

References