New Lorain County Freeway Dedicated – Nov. 3, 1966

Old highways and roads used to be my primary area of interest. I used to drive all over Ohio (and other states) just for the experience of driving certain old roads and trying to follow old alignments and bypassed segments using vintage maps. U.S. Route 66, the Lincoln Highway, the National Road... they all stirred my interest. And I've got the collection of old maps and photos I took to prove it.

Closer to home, my family spent a lot of time on the old 6 & 2 (U. S. Highway 6 and State Route 2) going to Vermilion, Huron and Sandusky. And in the mid-60s when Route 2 was in the process of being moved out to a limited access highway, I had a ringside seat. That goes the same for watching I-90 slowly march towards Cleveland. Both highways were built in chunks... one here, one there. And it took years to get them done – much longer than expected.

The news articles covering their construction have been the subject of many posts on this blog.

And here's another one. Sixty years ago today, a segment of State Route 2 from Baumhart Road east to State Route 58 (Leavitt Road) opened.

Here's the story that ran in the Journal on November 3, 1966.

It's interesting that the article notes, "Presently designated SR 2, the route will become IR 90 after 1972, according to Donald H. Timmer, deputy director for Division Three of the Ohio State Highway Department."

I remember shortly after the segment in the article opened, my parents pointed out to us that we would be able to get on that highway at Leavitt Road and take it all the way to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota (which we had seen on a 1965 camping trip out west). As it turned out, the highway ended up remaining SR 2. But I-90 does indeed go to Rapid City, South Dakota, a little more than a 1/2 hour drive from Mt. Rushmore.