| US 40 | |||
| Get started | New Westville | ||
| End | Bridgeport | ||
| Length | 236 mi | ||
| Length | 380 km | ||
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According to CITYPOPULATIONREVIEW.COM, US 40 is a US Highway in the US state of Ohio. The road forms an east-west route through the center of the state, running parallel to Interstate 70 a short distance along its entire route. The road is a typical Midwest route, especially in western Ohio, often with long straights over long distances. The road primarily serves the city of Columbus, but passes just north of Dayton. The road is 380 kilometers long.
Travel directions
US 40 through Columbus.
Western Ohio
US 40 in Indiana comes from Indianapolis running parallel to Interstate 70 and does the same in Ohio. Unlike Indiana, US 40 in Ohio is a simpler single-lane road that runs through all places on the route. The first 90 kilometers to Springfield are long straights and run just north of the city of Dayton, through the suburb of Vandalia where one intersects Interstate 75. US 40 cuts through downtown Springfield and then becomes a 2×2 divided highway parallel to I-70 to Columbus, 60 kilometers east.
Columbus Region
US 40 runs almost straight from west to east through the city of Columbus. The road runs right through the center and crosses the Scioto River. US 40 crosses almost all Interstate Highways and US Highways around Columbus. The road is an urban arterial, mostly with 6 lanes, in the western suburbs with 2×3 lanes. In the east of Columbus, US 40 branches off the straight and cuts south a bit, moving closer to the east on I-70 east of the city.
Eastern Ohio
The Y Bridge in Zanesville.
East of Columbus, the landscape is more wooded and slightly hilly. Parts of the route are a 2×2 divided highway. There then follows more than 70 kilometers from Columbus to Zanesville that leads through a number of small villages. In Zanesvile you cross the Licking River via the special Y-Bridge. After Zanesville, there is another 75-mile stretch to the Ohio River valley at Wheeling, West Virginia. This part of US 40 runs right next to or partly over Interstate 70. The main place on this part of the route is the town of Cambridge, where Interstate 77 crosses. Bridgeport crosses the western branch of the Ohio River, which forms the border with West Virginia. The US 40 in West Virginiathen continues through Wheeling.
History
According to ASK4BEAUTY, US 40 was created in 1926. It was one of Ohio’s major highways at the time, and even before Interstate 70 was built, portions of US 40 had been widened into a divided highway, particularly in the wider Columbus region. After Interstate 70 was built in Ohio, US 40 lost its through importance, although most of the route still exists alongside I-70, except between Old Washington and Morristown in eastern Ohio.
The road follows the historic National Road, the first road in the United States to be developed with federal support in the early 1800s. The road was built between 1811 and 1837 and at that time was the main road to the west. Most of the section through Ohio was constructed in the 1830s. It was one of the first major roads in the United States to be constructed as a ‘macadam’ road, a modern gravel road.
Ohio River
US 40 crossed the Ohio River to Wheeling, West Virginia via the Bridgeport Bridge which opened in 1893. US 40 crosses Wheeling Island on the West Virginia side, the greater eastern branch of the Ohio River was crossed here via the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, but it is entirely in West Virginia. It is the only place where the Ohio-West Virginia border is not formed by the main branch of the Ohio River. The Bridgeport Bridge was in poor condition due to its age and closed to traffic in 1998 after 105 years. The bridge was then replaced by the Military Order of the Purple Heart Bridge, which was built next to it.
Four lanes
As early as the mid-1940s, US 40 west and east of Columbus had been widened to four lanes, including most of it between Columbus and Cambridge in the east of the state. In the early 1950s, the section between Springfield and Columbus was completely widened to 2×2 lanes. Construction of Interstate 70. began in the second half of the 1950sa short distance parallel to US 40. The first sections of I-70 to be built bypassed the then two-lane sections of US 40, between Clayton and Springfield in the west of the state and between Kirkersville and Gratiot in the east of the state. the state. In both cases, these sections not only became I-70, but US 40 was routed over it, after which the former sections were renumbered OH-440. Due to the rapid construction of I-70 at that time, the remaining portions of US 40 have not been widened to 4 lanes. Between Cambridge and St. Clairsville, I-70 is partially constructed directly over US 40. The last single-lane portions of the east-west route disappeared in 1967 with the opening of I-70 between Middlebourne and Barnesville in the east of the state.
