OHIO:Turnpike’s 50 Years

It almost didn’t make it beyond 1984 when the original debt was due to be paid off. But by then 209 bridge decks needed replacement and a lot of repaving at a cost of $136m. Tolls were increased in 1982. In 1983 the Turnpike Commission reversed its official policy that it should go out of existence and tolls be abolished. It suggested that tolls remain for another decade to fund improvement. The next year the original debt was refinanced with debt to be paid off in the early 1990s. The debt was indeed paid off in 1992. Argument had continued over whether tolls should be ended and the road made into a freeway. A joint select Committee to Study the Turnpike was appointed and recommended continuance of tolls. Then (Apr 91) a majority of the state legislature voted to continue tolling, persuaded that this provided a secure revenue stream on which to maintain and expand the road. It helped that the toll road is heavily used by interstate traffic, which pays tolls, but might be able to avoid local taxes for its upkeep.

An opinion survey in 1988 showed 77% of turnpike users supported tolls for supporting the road over taxes and 83% of Ohio citizens.

Throughout this period the Turnpike was gaining local support by adding interchanges which made possible commercial development close by. The very first opposition to construction of the pike had come from business interests in the towns along the existing major highway across Ohio, US-20. They said the Turnpike by bypassing them would turn them into ‘ghost towns.’ Businesses were indeed forced to readjust. Many moved to the Turnpike’s interchanges, which first numbered 17, but are now 30.

A second source of initial opposition was from financial skeptics who said the toll revenues would be insufficient to service the debt issued to finance the construction. Tolls have always been sufficient to keep the Turnpike solvent. Indeed the early projections of traffic were very low. Compared to a projected one million tolls in 1956 its first full year it got 10m. In 1998 it took 43m tolls (118k/day). Toll rates have been hiked twice - in conjunction with issuing new debt for major expansions.

The present Turnpike officially the James W. Shocknessy Turnpike was named in honor of its first chairman who served from its first commission meeting through to the time of his death in 1976. It is designated I-76 from the PA line for 40km northwest to just west of Youngstown where it joins the I-80 expressway. It is designated I-80 for the rest of its path across the state past Cleveland and Toledo to the IN line. Initially this was to be just one of five Ohio turnpikes. The others would have been:

• I-71 which runs 405km (253mi) from Cleveland southwest to Columbus and Cincinnati

• I-70 east-west through the center of the state from Wheeling WV also via Columbus, and on toward Indianapolis, a 390km (245mi) route

• I-75 from Toledo in the northwest of the state south to Cincinnati, about 385km (240mi)

• A never to be built road east-west route between I-80 and I-70 approximately along the route of US-30 from East Liverpool at th top of the WV panhandle to Canton, Mansfield, Sandusky, and Lima toward Fort Wayne IN

But by the time Turnpike Project #1 was complete, federal aid for the interstate system was in place and there was no political support for proceeding with other turnpikes. Number one was heavily delayed by legal challenges. The state auditor blocked use of state funds for starting the turnpike until a ruling by the state supreme court allowed a loan for initial studies. Parsons Brinckerhoff did the traffic and revenue study and J.E.Greiner as it then was consulted on the layout of the road. The first fulltime employee hired was a lawyer, the General Counsel, in Sept 51. He was kept busy with lawsuits from property owners objecting to the purchase of easements, from an asphalt contractor protesting the choice of concrete for the pavement, and the city of Elyria which didn’t want the turnpike within its boundaries. $326m of 40 year revenue bonds were sold at 3.25% June 1952 and work began late Oct 52 on the major bridging of the road – 817m (2682') twin bridges over the Cuyahoga. Paving did not start until Oct 53. 1954 was the big year of construction and at the peak there were 518 dozers, 368 scrapers, 731 haul trucks, 99 graders, 21 loaders, 79 roller/compactors, 131 cranes, 17 batching plants, 65 pavers and 29 mixers operated. Double shifts being worked.

Wetlands were not an issue then apparently since in the Black Swamp in the west “peat bogs with spongy uliginous mire to a depth of 70 feet” was removed to allow solid fill to be installed. Over 2m cub yds of earth was moved each week, and 10,000' of 24' wide concrete pavement laid. A daily concrete pour record was 4,376'. Dec 1 54 saw the first 22mi stretch in the east opened and the whole of the remainder opened Oct 1, 55 - exactly two years after the start of paving and three years from the start of bridge works.

The Ohio turnpike has always tolled by trip, the ticket being issued on entry and presented as evidence of the entry point on exit. Tolls for 2-axle vehicles started at 1.2c/mi. Tolls increased to 1.5c/mi in 1957. Double trailer trucks were allowed on the turnpike from 1960. Triple trailers were experimented with in 1966. The longest closure the turnpike has had was a protest by truckers against ‘oil crisis’ restrictions at the end of 1973.

16 service plazas opened, all located off to the rightside and serving one direction of traffic. Central service plazas had been designed with a flip of the roadways to allow right lane departure to a single central plaza, but this design (see above) had been rejected. A short stretch of British left hand drive road! Might have confused the patrons and had them heading back where they came from? (Contact Karen Lenehan, OTC 440 234 2081x202)