Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway
Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway, formerly and locally known as Cross County Highway, is a west-east freeway in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It stretches from southern Colerain Township to Montgomery, connecting many of Cincinnati's northern suburbs to Interstate 71 and Interstate 75. State Route 126 is routed over most of the highway, while the remainder is a county-maintained road.
Cross County Highway was built by Hamilton County in seven stages from 1958 to 1997, costing $144 million. Highway revolts in Indian Hill and Crosby Township prevented it from crossing the entire county. On March 17, 1993, it became the first highway to be named after former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Most of Ronald Reagan Highway was transferred to the state highway system in 1997.
Route description
Ronald Reagan Highway begins as a county-maintained highway in Colerain Township, from Interstate 275 to Colerain Avenue in the community of Groesbeck. This westernmost portion is designated as County Road 453; however, signs indicate this stretch solely by its name.From Groesbeck, the highway carries State Route 126 along a path roughly parallel to the Norwood Lateral, State Route 562, to a junction with Montgomery Road in Montgomery. A girder bridge over Hamilton Avenue in North College Hill is instrumented with over 640 sensors to serve as a field laboratory for University of Cincinnati researchers and Ohio Department of Transportation bridge engineers. Ronald Reagan Highway has a complex junction with Interstate 75 in Cincinnati's Roselawn and Hartwell neighborhoods: southbound I-75 traffic must take Galbraith Road through Arlington Heights and Reading to access Ronald Reagan Highway, and westbound Ronald Reagan traffic must use the same route to reach northbound I-75.
File:Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway near Rossmoyne Creek.jpg|thumb|right|Ronald Reagan Highway at the Amberley Village, Reading, and Blue Ash corporation limits.
The short, easternmost stretch from Interstate 71 to Montgomery Road is a limited-access road, with I-71 ramps forming signalized intersections with Ronald Reagan Highway. Ronald Reagan Highway's abrupt end at Montgomery Road is being converted to a turbo roundabout. State Route 126 continues north- and eastward on Montgomery Road through Montgomery and Indian Hill. A redwood sign commemorating the dedication of Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway by former First Lady Nancy Reagan stands at the highway's eastern terminus in the Montgomery Heritage District.
The majority of Ronald Reagan Highway, between Interstates 275 and 71, is included in the National Highway System. The NHS is a network of highways that are identified as being most important for the economy, mobility, and defense of the nation. The entirety of Ronald Reagan Highway has two lanes in each direction, with speed limits ranging from. ODOT's State Farm Safety Patrol vans provide assistance to stranded motorists along Cincinnati-area highways, including the entirety of Ronald Reagan Highway, on weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Most guide signs for the highway's entrance ramps bear the name Ronald Reagan Highway, sometimes abbreviated Reagan Highway, rather than control cities. However, signs at the ramps from Interstate 71 onto Ronald Reagan Highway indicate Blue Ash as the westbound destination and Montgomery as the eastbound destination.
History
East Side planning and construction
Cross County Highway was conceived in the 1940s as a connector from the Mill Creek Expressway to the Blue Ash Airport, which was expected to become Cincinnati's metropolitan commercial airport. In 1950, the concept was upgraded to an expressway; five years later, it grew into a lateral that would span the proposed Circumferential Highway. The project, originally estimated at $30 million, was intended to connect the east and west sides of town and relieve congestion on Galbraith Road. In 1959, amid the success of the Greater Cincinnati Airport in Northern Kentucky, officials dropped plans to expand Blue Ash Airport and connect Cross County directly to the airport.The first leg of Cross County Highway, a stretch from Ridge Road to Galbraith Road, was built between 1957 and 1958 and cost $800,000. In 1965, a year after Hamilton County voters passed a one-mill tax levy for Cross County expansion, the highway was extended from Ridge Road east to Kenwood Road for $2.9 million. Then, in 1968, it was extended further east to Montgomery Road, through the back nine holes of the Swaim Fields golf course, for $1.8 million.
In 1963, Hamilton County commissioners asked the Bureau of Public Roads to add the planned route of Cross County Highway to the Interstate Highway System. However, the designation of the Circle Freeway as Interstate 275 the previous fall meant that no additional Interstate mileage could be allocated to the state. The county's master plan, released the following year, envisioned major junctions at the Circle Freeway and Blue Rock Road; a U.S. 27 Expressway paralleling Colerain Avenue that was never built; the Mill Creek Expressway ; and the Northeast Expressway.
File:Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway eastbound at Montgomery Road.jpg|thumb|right|Ronald Reagan Highway's eastern terminus at Montgomery Road. The highway was originally planned to extend eastward from here through Indian Hill. This trumpet interchange was demolished in 2020 and replaced by a turbo roundabout in 2021.
Cross County Highway would have bypassed downtown Montgomery, extending eastward from Montgomery Road to connect with Remington Road halfway to Remington, thus providing better connectivity with Loveland and Milford. However, this easternmost segment was abandoned after Indian Hill refused to pass a resolution of consent, in an effort to preserve the wealthy village's undeveloped greenbelt. The highway's abrupt end in Montgomery contributed to a significant increase in traffic to that city: by 1978, Montgomery Road carried an estimated 18,000 cars per day. In 1984, Montgomery city officials unsuccessfully asked the county to either extend the highway east through Indian Hill or truncate it at Interstate 71. Ohio Department of Transportation straight-line diagrams continue to indicate the unbuilt Montgomery bypass as "future construction".
West Side extensions
In 1975, the westernmost of Cross County, from Interstate 275 to Colerain Avenue, was completed for $8.5 million. Two hundred homes were razed in Mount Healthy and North College Hill to make way for construction that would not begin until the mid-1990s. Three county-proposed routes were rejected by the two villages. Mount Healthy objected to one proposed path because it would have cut through Arlington Memorial Gardens, a major cemetery. In the meantime, the disconnected western segment saw virtually no traffic, encouraging a significant amount of graffiti on bridges and sound barriers.From 1986 to 1990, Cross County was extended from Vine Street east to Interstate 75 and East Galbraith Road for $47.7 million. A second phase, completed in 1993, took the highway from Vine Street west to West Galbraith Road for a further $19 million. At the time, these extensions were the most expensive highway project in state history. The project entailed rechanneling part of Mill Creek and building 18 bridges as well as several retaining walls and sound barriers. The right-of-way extended through the north end of the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, forcing the race track's relocation. Under the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act, portions of previously secured right of way were designated as wetland, forcing the county to secure additional land for environmental mitigation.
Renaming and completion
On December 16, 1992, an all-Republican Board of County Commissioners, led by Commissioner John Dowlin, proposed naming Cross County Highway after Ronald Reagan, citing his strong showing in the county in the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections. Albert Sabin, the Cincinnati medical researcher, had also been considered for the honor. Reagan wrote to the Cincinnati Enquirer, thanking the county for its gesture and recounting his visit to a Ronald Reagan Pub in the Irish village of Ballyporeen:The board officially renamed the highway on March 17, 1993, making it the first highway in the country to be named for Reagan. Since then, a number of highways and other landmarks have been named for him. Following the commissioners' action, local Democrats unsuccessfully pushed to rename the highway for radio and television broadcaster Ruth Lyons, while area residents contacted the Enquirer to suggest Sabin, Lyons, Paul Brown, or Ted Berry. The county raised nearly $15,000 in private donations to install "Reagan Highway" signage. The former President's daughter, Maureen Reagan, dedicated the newly extended highway on September 13, 1994.
Construction on the final, $39.5 million segment began in October 1994 and completed in 1997. With the highway's completion, travel time across the county dropped from 40 minutes to 17. In recognition of County Engineer William Brayshaw's career-long work on the highway since the late 1950s, Hamilton County Commissioners temporarily renamed the highway in his honor for one day, November 5, 1997.
On October 28, 1997, ODOT took over the highway, except for the segment west of Colerain Avenue. State Route 126 was rerouted over the highway, while the former route along Kemper, Glendale Milford, Kenwood, and Cooper roads was returned to local authorities. As part of the rerouting, ODOT District 8 intended to replace the highway's name with the state route shield on all signage, a standard practice due to space constraints. However, Republican ODOT director Jerry Wray overruled the district office, keeping the President's name alongside the shield. Ronald Reagan Highway also became part of the regional ARTIMIS traffic management system in 1997.