The dawn of the limited access era in Southwest Ohio:

 

 

 

 

The “war plant” was the Curtis-Wright aircraft engine factory, later to become GE. 

 

Is that first picture of the Lockland Ramp of death I see?

Interesting, the ped access ramp is long gone and I can't find any traces of it whatsoever.

^

yup, that ramp and cutting should have a historic marker or something. 

 

I don't think this highway went all the way into Cincy.  I'd love to see some pix or aeriels of the highway at the engine plant or further south.

It didn't.

 

Known as OH 1 (and US 25), it was completed from I think Paddock Road to the aviation plant in 1944, and from Cincinnati to Sharonville in 1946, and upgraded to modern interstate standards sometime after that. It was fully completed from US 27 north to W. Carrollton in 1962, and from the Ky. state line to US 27 in 1964.

^

sounds like you got hold of some good intel on the history of this highway. 

I have a saved copy of John Simpson's web-site. He actually referenced maps to pinpoint when various segments of Ohio highways opened. I wish I could find the site again.

I have a saved copy of John Simpson's web-site. He actually referenced maps to pinpoint when various segments of Ohio highways opened. I wish I could find the site again.

 

http://pages.prodigy.net/john.simpson/highways/ohhwys.html

1956 at Seymour Ave:

 

<a href="http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=7058"><img src="http://www.historicaerials.com/featuredPOIImage.aspx?poi=7058" /></a>

 

In additional to the engine plant, I had heard that it was also built for the Ridgewood Arsenal in Carthage.

Hoping to see more old pictures.

To Manor Born, thanks a bunch for that link to historic aeriels.  This answers some questions I had about the road.  Very interesting.

 

To NorthAndre..heh..good luck with that!  I was lucky to find these pix as I wasnt looking for them.  Old highway pix are hard to find.

It didn't.

 

Known as OH 1 (and US 25), it was completed from I think Paddock Road to the aviation plant in 1944, and from Cincinnati to Sharonville in 1946, and upgraded to modern interstate standards sometime after that. It was fully completed from US 27 north to W. Carrollton in 1962, and from the Ky. state line to US 27 in 1964.

 

I am not sure if it was ever constructed as SR 1. I was using existing plans for another project, and I think this is the timeline:

 

1943: SH 987 Project A-1 Units 2&3 Access Roads Wright Aeronautical Corporation Plant, Titles as "Miami and Erie Canal Access Road"

2-lanes of 4-lane ultimate from Galbraith Road to Just South of Cooper Road, 4 lanes to Shepard Lane. Off ramp (turn out) to Anthony Wayne constructed for SB traffic, On/off ramps for both Cooper (SB) and Patterson (NB). Grade intersections at Galbraith and Shepard.

 

Between 1943 and 1947. Wright Highway Extended to a grade intersection with what is now Glendale Milford Road

 

1947: From Paddock to Galbraith 4-lane divided with provisions for future 3rd lane constructed, other set of lanes are added to the original construction from Galbraith to just south of Cooper. Interchanges constructed at Paddock Road and Galbraith Road.

 

After 1947:  South of Paddock, Mill creek Expressway constructed as "SR-4W" from where I-74 is now to Paddock Road, some as 3 lanes each way.

 

1964: HAM-75-9.30 Construction of NB "split" Original 4 lane Wright Highway converted to 3 lanes SB only, Anthony Wayne Turnout (SB) and Ramps to Patterson (NB) closed. NB lanes constructed on mostly bridges to the east. 3rd lane added between Galbraith and Paddock. Another project at the same time constructed the Interstate and access roads to the north of the "split"

 

Presumably the 3rd lane was added in 1964 south to where the original 3 lanes stopped

 

View south at Cooper Ramps, note in the background the 2 lane section of the Wright Highway

I have a saved copy of John Simpson's web-site. He actually referenced maps to pinpoint when various segments of Ohio highways opened. I wish I could find the site again.

 

http://pages.prodigy.net/john.simpson/highways/ohhwys.html

 

I have this long bookmarked from past participation on misc.transport.roads. Apparently John Simpson is still around and updates his site, just not the road listing (check out the files directly above /highway, there's some game scores from 2009 there.)

 

I *really* wish he would update this site. It's been frozen in time since 2001.

In that first photo, is that the location of the Lockland canal locks?

 

I can kinda remember when it was still two-way through that tight space.

Awesome pics!    ^^^That smokestack in the distance just to the left of the interstate is still there for now!    It has been abandoned for years and is normally easier to see when the leaves are off the trees.  There is one smaller building attached to it.    I doubt that it will survive the onslaught of all that construction presently and planned.    They are currently replacing the bridge that spans a creek near that area.

 

Birds eye:        Anyone know the history of this place?

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=qj2zcb7yvnk0&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=34936654&encType=1

Old incenator for the factory that was across the street.

    Yes, that first photo is the location of the Lockland Canal locks.

 

Between 1943 and 1947. Wright Highway Extended to a grade intersection with what is now Glendale Milford Road"

 

This would be where St Rita's is at?

 

BTW, great intel on the highway.  Where did you find this out at? 

 

 

I have this long bookmarked from past participation on misc.transport.roads. Apparently John Simpson is still around and updates his site, just not the road listing (check out the files directly above /highway, there's some game scores from 2009 there.)

 

I *really* wish he would update this site. It's been frozen in time since 2001.

 

Awesome... good to see someone else at misc.transport.road. I was a frequent poster on there, but my contributions have all but stopped given that its a haven for Carl Rogers and spambots. Magdar (Sandor Gulyas) was a frequent poster on there as well, as well as Mr. Sparkle.

^

Magyar.  I dont think hes posted here for quite awhile.

 

BTW,  do you all think this highway was built or sited with an eye on the planned "interregional network" ?   

What do you mean by the planned interregional network? Are you referring to the precursor to the Interstate Highway System? There were active plans to upgrade US 25 to a limited-access highway, and the Mill Creek Expressway was a part of that.

 

It's odd though, that to the north of Lockland, the highway became a four-lane highway with intersections and not interchanges.

 

What do you mean by the planned interregional network? Are you referring to the precursor to the Interstate Highway System?

 

Yes, around 1941 there was something called the National Interregional Highway Committee that recommended the replacement of US 25.

 

Then in 1941 the Defense Hwy Act of 1941 appropriated money to do studies (and construction) .  I think the ostensible purpose was defense roads, but they were also studying the interregional system. 

 

And a study I've read on the Dayton stretch of US 25 (from 1944) mentioned that it would "in conjunction with other reports will present a study of the interregional highway connecting Cincinnati and Toledo".

 

So I'm wondering if these defense plant access roads were built with the larger system in mind, not just for plant access (it also seems that the interregional concept, at least in Ohio, might not at first been totally limited access the way the interstates ended up being).  Just speculation on my part.

 

Between 1943 and 1947. Wright Highway Extended to a grade intersection with what is now Glendale Milford Road"

 

This would be where St Rita's is at?

 

BTW, great intel on the highway.  Where did you find this out at? 

 

 

Yup, at St. Rita's

 

<a href="http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=7114"><img src="http://www.historicaerials.com/featuredPOIImage.aspx?poi=7114" /></a>

 

Old plans...use them a lot in my work

At that time a "highway" was pretty much just a new road or one that had been improved from being a country road, whereas a "superhighway" was one that was fully grade-separated and so had no at-grade intersections. This was known originally as the Wright-Lockland Highway, not superhighway or turnpike or any of that.

 

I think use of the Miami-Erie Canal ROW was always viewed as the obvious route a highway would follow in and out of Cincinnati.  Look at that 1957 map and you will see the new construction between Northside and Mitchell Ave., but then a big gap where no work was happening in St. Bernard. When I was doing research on this 10 years ago, it was very hard to visualize since the newspapers did a poor job describing the circumstances.  But this aerial map makes it very obvious.

 

Basically St. Bernard got totally screwed because they had this highway come through their city limits but did not get an exit.  In 1916 they were to have had a subway station, after construction of the subway began in 1920 they were downgraded to an elevated station a few blocks from their business district, then the bridge sits there for 30 years, I-75 takes its place, and they don't get a damn thing out of it. 

 

There you go. It takes 70 years to widen I-75(Mill Creek) from 4 lanes in 1943 to 8 lanes in 2013.

interesting. nice work jeffery.

 

the low street bridge crossing reminds me, does anybody remember in the 1980's when reagan had the I-75 off-ramp bridges all rebuilt and raised so that the tanks from the (at the time new) lima tank plant could fit under them when they were carried on the highway? then they closed the tank plant -- what a waste! but then again i guess this kind of thing was partly how we won the cold war, that was a real war too.

 

 

Modern bridges should have a height of at least 15 feet, although there are many areas where there are still sub-14-feet bridge heights. These lead to a lot of issues for trucks.

^ no doubt! this accident was last year in dayton...under a 13' 6" section of I-75  :|

 

 

"The two-lane steel beam bridge, built in 1971, had been rated as functionally obsolete, according to the Federal Highway Administration's National Bridge Inventory"

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/06/16/ddn061608bridgeweb.html

 

ps -- as i recall the I-75 overpasses were only rebuilt and raised from lima north during the reagan era, not south. i guess reagan was more worried about a canadian sneak attack  :laugh: actually, i think it had something to do with shipping the tanks out of detroit.

 

 

 

 

 

The pix with the smokestacks and factories.  The Sanborns from the early 1930s say these were a paper mill and an absestos roofing factory.  Both fairly large. 

 

Incidentally the Sanborns lable the canal ROW as a "proposed rapid transit line"(!).  Now I know about the Cincy subway, but I thought it swung east to Norwood, eventually to loop back into the basin. 

 

Was there a planned extension north up the Mill Creek Valley?  That would have been real sweet, serving Elmwood Place, Carthage, Hartwell, Lockland and maybe even further north (to Hamilton or Sharonville?).

 

Or maybe the idea was to reroute the C&LE into Cincy via the canal ROW as grade-seperated rapid transit route into the city, the way the Milwaulkee inteurban was routed into downtown Milwaulkee.

 

 

It just seems like the pre-cold war highways (and bridges for that matter) always appeared to have so much character.

...I think of Lake Shore Drive/Outer Drive up in Chicago, with the art deco detailng.

 

 

 

  Just like everything else, roads and bridges used to be designed by many different people. As highway construction expanded, plans were standardized and little attention was given to aesthetics.

 

    A typical highway overpass bridge was taken straight from a book of standard drawings.

 

    More recently, highway engineers are getting away from that. Take the Paddock Road bridge over I-75 for example.

 

  Yes, that site next adjacent to the canal lock was a paper mill for about 150 years. I have the ownership history of that site if you are interested. It was finally redeveloped by the Village of Lockland with the help of Clean Ohio brownfield grants and became Moxy Trucks and IUPAT.

I don't think there was ever any plan to extend the subway line up the canal ROW north of where it left that route near Norwood because it would have closely paralleled existing interurban lines. Interurbans from nearly all active suburban lines were expected to interchange their passengers with the rapid transit loop or they were even going to travel directly onto it to Fountain Square.  The city was hoping to recoup some of its investment by leasing trackage rights to these interurbans.

 

The CL&E was definitely expected to to be a major source of ridership for the subway, but by the time work stopped in 1925 the only profitable interurban left was the College Hill line, the one that Joe Nuxhall famously rode all the way from Hamilton to pitch for the Reds at age 15.  This line was shut down around 1950.  My grandmother used to walk from her farm house on Colerain Ave (where the sprawl is now) to Hamilton Ave to ride it into town.  She says it was called "The Dummy Car".  She doesn't know why it was called that, but everyone called it that. 

 

 

 

 

There might have been a steam dummy up to there at one time in the past, and the usage stuck when the line was electrified or the interurban replaced it.

 

Interesting Cincy had a longer distance trolly route (or interurban) as late as 1950.  This still went all the way to Hamilton or ended at College Hill or Mnt Healthy?

 

 

 

  The Cincinnati and Lake Erie was abandoned in stages with the last part in operation through 1941, according to "Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad" by Jack Keenan.

I couldn't find anything on the web about Joe Nuxhall riding the interurban from Hamilton to Crosley Field, although the story is oft-repeated on the radio. If the line did in fact shut down in 1941, then the story's a fake since his debut as a 15 year-old was in 1944. Or maybe he rode a streetcar from a relative's house somewhere in Cincinnati, and somehow the story grew into what it is now.  Streetcars never ran to Union Terminal, and if he rode a train from Hamilton to Union Terminal, it was so close you could just walk to Crosley Field.   

 

>I don't think there was ever any plan to extend the subway line up the canal ROW

 

Rereading this thread, I need to correct this comment from 2009.  In the later 1920s, Cincinnati's first city manager, Col. Sherrill, did in fact study use of the canal ROW north of what is now the Norwood Lateral as an extension of the subway.  The reason I believe is because they saw that all of the interurbans were going out of business and with them some of the traffic that would have used the Rapid Transit Loop. 

 

Here was the whole problem though...streetcar ridership started dropping in the 1920s (not dramatically, but nevertheless it was unprecedented) and so the Cincinnati Street Railway was in no hurry to sign a lease to operate the subway line (or lines).  Meanwhile there was no act of state legislature to enable Cincinnati or any other city in the state to tax itself sufficiently to buy their for-profit streetcar franchise.