County roads in Ohio

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County Roads
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Three of the most common county road marker designs in Ohio
System information
Maintained by Ohio county highway departments
Length: 29,088 mi[2] (46,813 km)
Formed: February 17, 1804[1]
System links
County roads in Ohio

County roads in Ohio comprise 29,088 center line miles (46,813 km), making up 24% of the state's public roadways as of April 2015.[2] Ohio state law delegates the maintenance and designation of these county roads to the county commissioners and highway departments of its 88 counties.[3] Each county has distinct construction, signage, and naming practices for the roads under its jurisdiction.[4] Within each county, townships maintain separate township road networks under the advice of the county engineer.[5]

Characteristics

File:Swartz Covered Bridge 1.jpg
Swartz Covered Bridge carries Wyandot County Road 130 over the Sandusky River. Covered bridges can be found along many rural county roads in Ohio.

A public, non-state-maintained road must meet at least one of the following conditions in order for the county board of commissioners to have authority over it:[3]

  • Connects one public road to another
  • Connects a public road to a public school, park, recreation area, or airfield
  • Connects a public road to at least three private residences or businesses in the first 500 feet (150 m) and one private residence or business in each 200 feet (61 m) thereafter

The county is not responsible for any roads within the corporation limits of a city or village.[6] When the state abandons a state highway, any right of way outside corporation limits reverts to county or township control.[7][8]

Generally, county roads are required to be at least 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, allowing for two lanes of traffic, although one-lane county roads as narrow as 20 feet (6.1 m) may be allowed under a grandfather clause.[3] Before 1915, the law that regulated the width of county roads changed frequently, at times imposing a maximum width of 60 or 66 feet (18 or 20 m).[1]

A 2012 study by the County Engineers Association of Ohio (CEAO) found that 1,619 miles (2,606 km) of county roads are resurfaced annually, from a combined budget of $229 million for county road maintenance and bridge replacement.[9] In 1997, the CEAO reported that 8% of county roads were unpaved, and that county roads were resurfaced every 17 years on average.[10]

The maximum speed limit for an undivided county road is 55 miles per hour (90 km/h) in an unincorporated area. Within municipal corporation limits, the speed limit may be lower based on land use.[11] Counties differ on whether all-terrain vehicles are allowed to be ridden on county roads.[12]

History

On February 17, 1804, an act of the General Assembly gave boards of county commissioners the authority to open roads.[1] Around 1820, the office of county surveyor was first given a role in road and bridge development.[5] Plank roads could be brought under county supervision beginning on January 25, 1861, and commissioners were authorized to build turnpikes on February 16, 1870.[1] Road maintenance responsibilities passed from the county surveyor to the county engineer in 1928.[5]

In the 1972 Ohio Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (OMUTCD), revision 21, issued 1999, the standard county route shield was a white rectangle bearing a black legend; the blue pentagon was considered an alternative design for a system of important county roads.[13] The blue pentagon became the standard in the 2003 edition of the MUTCD, relegating the white rectangle to an alternative status.[14]

Naming

File:Buildings in Winameg, Ohio.jpg
Fulton County Road 10-2 runs north to south, slightly to the west of a section line, intersecting County Road L.
Hancock County Road 698 was part of Ohio State Route 698 until 2007.

Terminology varies from county to county: "county roads", "county routes", and "county highways" are variously abbreviated "CR", "C-", "CH", "Co. Rd.", and "CO" on signage. In several northwestern Ohio counties, the county and township road networks form a grid along survey section lines, and each route is given an alphanumeric, sometimes decimal number based on its location within the county. In these counties, county lines often run down the middle of county roads; each side of the road may have a different number. Most counties in neighboring Indiana use a similar system. Many former alignments of U.S. and state routes, particularly U.S. Routes 25 and 40, are now maintained as county routes that retain their former route numbers.[15]

Signage

A majority of Ohio's 88 counties signpost county routes with prominent route shields; the rest post route numbers either on standard street and crossroads signage or on obscure mileposts.[4] For counties that do utilize county route shields, the Ohio Department of Transportation's Ohio Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (OMUTCD) specifies two designs, the gold-on-blue pentagon found in the national MUTCD and an alternative black on white square also found in some other states.[16] However, not all counties follow this standard: many county highway departments use unique designs, ranging from Athens County's simple green square with white legend,[17] to Vinton County's yellow square with stenciled black legend,[18][19] to Scioto County's white county outline on an orange square.[20] Henry County uses Arial Bold lettering instead of the standard Highway Gothic typeface.[21] Belmont County has begun replacing green square signs with the standard blue pentagon.[22] Regardless, ODOT-maintained directional signs to county routes use only the shield designs sanctioned in the OMUTCD.

County route marker designs by county

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  • Ashland County Route 30A OH.svg

    Ashland

  • Athens County Route 85 OH.svg

    Athens

  • Auglaize County Route 25A OH.svg

    Auglaize

  • Belmont County Route 28 OH.svg

    Belmont

  • Carroll County Route 37 OH.svg

    Carroll

  • Columbiana County 404.svg

    Columbiana

  • Coshocton County Route 281 OH.svg

    Coshocton

  • Fairfield County Route 20 OH.svg

    Fairfield

  • Fulton County Route 1 OH.svg

    Fulton

  • Gallia County Route 79 OH.svg

    Gallia

  • Guernsey County Route 35 OH.svg

    Guernsey

  • Hardin County Route 219 OH.svg

    Hardin

  • Harrison County Route 21 OH.svg

    Harrison

  • Henry County Route M1 OH.svg

    Henry

  • Hocking County Route 33A OH.svg

    Hocking

  • Holmes County Route 58 OH.svg

    Holmes

  • Jefferson County 22A.svg

    Jefferson

  • Knox County Route 6 OH.svg

    Knox

  • Lawrence County Route 62 OH.svg

    Lawrence

  • Licking County Route 41 OH.svg

    Licking

  • Logan County Route 28 OH.svg

    Logan

  • Madison County 34.svg

    Madison

  • Mahoning County 8.svg

    Mahoning

  • Medina County Route 16 OH.svg

    Medina

  • Miami County Route 25A OH.svg

    Miami

  • Monroe County Route 68 OH.svg

    Monroe

  • Morgan County Route 75 OH.svg

    Morgan

  • Morrow County Route 15 OH.svg

    Morrow

  • Noble County Route 14 OH.svg

    Noble

  • Ottawa County 1.svg

    Ottawa

  • Paulding County Route 197 OH.svg

    Paulding

  • Perry County Route 60 OH.svg

    Perry

  • Seneca County 58.svg

    Seneca

  • Shelby County Route 25A OH.svg

    Shelby

  • Stark County 348.svg

    Stark

  • Summit County 17.svg

    Summit

  • Trumbull County Route 169 OH.svg

    Trumbull

  • Tuscarawas County 3.svg

    Tuscarawas

  • Union County Route 168 OH.svg

    Union

  • Vinton County Route 13B OH.svg

    Vinton

  • Washington County Route 84 OH.svg

    Washington

  • Wayne County Route 30A OH.svg

    Wayne

  • Williams County Route 22.75 OH.svg

    Williams

  • Wyandot County Route 119 OH.svg

    Wyandot

Notable county roads

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See also

References

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  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[self-published source]
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External links

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