U.S. Route 62 in Ohio
U.S. Route 62 is a United States Numbered Highway spanning through Ohio from Aberdeen to Hubbard. Near Killbuck, in Amish Country, it is also marked as an Ohio Byway.
Route description
US 62 enters Ohio from Kentucky, crossing the Ohio River via the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge at Aberdeen. The highway is immediately concurrent with US 52. later, the highway gains an additional concurrency with US 68, which crosses the river via the William H. Harsha Bridge. At Ripley, US 52 leaves the concurrency, at which point US 62 and US 68 head north for 5.3 miles as a generally rural two-lane highway. In Brown County's [Jefferson Township, Brown County, Ohio|Brown County, Ohio|Jefferson Township], near Redoak and southeast of Georgetown, US 68 leaves the concurrency. Afterward, US 62 enters the towns of Russellville, Hillsboro, and Washington Court House. In Washington Court House, US 62 meets up with State Route 3 and continues all the way into Columbus, passing through the towns of Mount Sterling, Orient, Harrisburg, and Grove City. After heading toward downtown Columbus, US 62 diverts from SR 3 onto US 40 for a few blocks to Nelson Road. US 62 runs concurrently with Interstate 670 near John Glenn Columbus International Airport until the eastern side of I-270 where US 62 heads toward Gahanna, New Albany, Johnstown, Utica, Millersburg, and Navarre. About north of Navarre, US 62 joins up with US 30 into Canton, where US 62 heads north along I-77. The highway passes West Lawn Cemetery and the President William McKinley memorial and tomb in Canton. At exit 107B on I-77, US 62 heads northeast to Alliance. US 62's departure from Alliance then heads east toward Salem and Canfield.Crossing into a more suburban landscape in a northeast direction, before Youngstown, US 62 enters the Cornersburg neighborhood. Leaving Cornersburg, US 62 dips into Mill Creek Park. US 62 is carried over Mill Creek by a historic open-spandrel arch bridge built in 1920. Immediately after this bridge, US 62 passes through the historic Idora Park neighborhood, before continuing on a more northward track toward Downtown Youngstown. It leaves Ohio near Hubbard and enters Pennsylvania near the interchange for I-80.
There is an area in Kentucky which carries the designation "Brigadier General Charles Young Memorial Historical Corridor"; after crossing the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge, US 62 continues that designation in Ohio. The designation is in honor of [Charles Charles Young (United States Army officer)|Young (United States Army officer)|Young], a pioneering figure in US history, and at his death, the highest-ranking Black officer in the Regular Army. The memorial historical corridor passes through Young's hometown of Ripley, then stretches northward to near Redoak in Brown County, where it leaves the US 62/US 68 concurrency and joins US 68 solely at the junction of those routes.
Future
In Ohio, there are plans to reroute US 62 onto a divided highway from Alliance to Salem, part of a larger relocation of both US 62 and SR 14, then from downtown Youngstown to I-80 as part of the "Hubbard Arterial". Parts of the highway have long been completed to the north of Alliance and Salem; the portion northwest of Alliance is known in documents as US 62T, while the portion north of Salem not already carrying US 62 is known as SR 14T; neither carries a posted route, instead only carrying trailblazer markers indicating routes intersected at the termini.Based on costs and environmental impacts, ODOT decided in 2018 not to extend US 62T to SR 11 in 2018.