Ohio State Route 32

State Route 32
James A. Rhodes Appalachian Highway
Route of SR 32 in southern Ohio highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Length:	182.71 mi[1] (294.04 km)
Existed:	1962[2] – present
Major junctions
West end:	US 50 in Cincinnati
East end:	WV 618 on Parkersburg-Belpre Bridge in Belpre
Highway system
Ohio Highways Interstate U.S. State Scenic ← SR 31 SR 33 →

In Jackson County, State Route 32 overpasses U.S. Route 35 as State Route 93 (background) overpasses U.S. 35

In southwestern Athens County, State Route 32 is concurrent with U.S. Route 50.

U.S. Route 33 during its brief concurrency with U.S. Route 50 and State Route 32 in Athens.

State Route 32, also known as SR 32 and the James A. Rhodes Appalachian Highway,^[3] is a major east–west highway across the southern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. It leads from eastern Cincinnati, near the border between the neighborhoods of Linwood, Mount Lookout, and Columbia-Tusculum, to the Parkersburg-Belpre Bridge across the Ohio River in Belpre.

Except in Belpre, leading up to the bridge into West Virginia, the entire route outside Cincinnati's beltway (Interstate 275) is a high-speed four-lane divided highway, forming the Ohio portion of Corridor D of the Appalachian Development Highway System. This corridor continues east across the Ohio River over the Blennerhassett Island Bridge.

History

The Batavia Turnpike and Miami Bridge Company was incorporated and chartered by the state of Ohio. It built a road, which was "about finished" as of 1841, beginning at the Wooster Turnpike (Eastern Avenue), crossing the Little Miami River on the Union Bridge, and turning east to Batavia.^[4][5] The Ohio Turnpike to Bethel split after the Little Miami was crossed.

The passage of the McGuire Bill in 1911 led to the designation of a large number of Inter-County Highways to be maintained by the Ohio Department of Highways.^[6] This network included the Cincinnati-Batavia Road (ICH 41) and Batavia-Winchester Road (ICH 125), connecting Cincinnati to Batavia, Williamsburg, Mt. Orab, Sardinia, Winchester, and beyond to an intersection with the West Union-Belfast Road (ICH 122) south of Seaman (where Graces Run Road now meets State Route 247). This entire route from Cincinnati to south of Seaman was designated and signed as State Route 74 in 1923. The route left downtown Cincinnati on Eastern Avenue, shared with State Route 7 (now U.S. Route 52) and State Route 25 (now State Route 125). SR 7 left at Davis Lane (now Airport Road), while SR 25 and SR 74 turned onto Beechmont Avenue, splitting after crossing the Little Miami River. By 1925, the east end of SR 74 had been realigned and extended, heading east from Winchester through Seaman and continuing through Peebles to State Route 73 northwest of Rarden; the old alignment (Graces Run Road) reverted to local control. Along with U.S. Route 50, US 52, and SR 125, SR 74 was moved to Columbia Parkway in the early 1940s, and in the early 1950s it was removed from downtown Cincinnati to its present terminus. Due to the existence of Interstate 74 west of Cincinnati, the number was changed to State Route 32 in 1962, with SR 74 signs being removed in June 1963 after a period of dual signage.^[2]

The state relocated the road between Mount Carmel and Batavia as a four-lane divided highway in the early 1960s, several years after the parallel State Route 125 was widened (but not realigned). Because this was done before or during the renumbering, the old road here is known as Old State Route 74, rather than Old State Route 32 to the east. Improvement of the rest of the road did not take place until after it was added to the Appalachian Development Highway System in 1965.^[7] This proposed Appalachian Highway—part of Corridor D—was to run across the southern part of the state from Interstate 275 outside Cincinnati to Belpre.^[8] From the east end of SR 32 east of Peebles, the route was to continue northeast, joining State Route 772 near Elmgrove, and following State Route 124 beyond Jackson to Roads. After continuing northeast to Radcliff, it would parallel State Route 346 and a portion of State Route 143, merging with U.S. Route 50 west of Albany and following it past Athens and Coolville to Belpre. A never-built branch, planned as part of Corridor B,^[9] would have followed State Route 73 and State Route 348 from east of Peebles to Lucasville on U.S. Route 23 (Corridor C).^[2]

Future

The portion of Route 32 in Clermont, Brown, Highland, Adams, and Pike counties is under consideration as the eastward continuation of Interstate 74 from Cincinnati to Piketon, where it would connect with Interstate 73. This would necessitate replacing at-grade crossings (many of which currently have traffic signals) with either limited access interchanges or totally eliminating access.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Hamilton	Cincinnati (Linwood)	0.00– 0.13	0.00– 0.21		US 50 (Columbia Parkway) / US 50 Truck (Eastern Avenue) / SR 561 north (Linwood Avenue) – Downtown Cincinnati	interchange; west end of SR 125 overlap
		0.4	0.6		Wilmer Avenue / Wooster Road - Lunken Airport	interchange
	Anderson Township	1.40– 1.77	2.25– 2.85		SR 125 east (Batavia Road)	interchange; east end of SR 125 overlap
Clermont	Union Township	8.72– 9.20	14.03– 14.81		I‑275 to I‑71 / US 52 – Columbus, Kentucky	I-275 exit 63
		9.47– 9.71	15.24– 15.63		Eastgate Boulevard (CR 341)	interchange
	Batavia Township	12.27– 12.73	19.75– 20.49		Olive Branch–Stonelick Road (CR 99)	interchange
	Batavia	14.12– 14.32	22.72– 23.05		Main Street (CR 171) - Batavia	interchange; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	Batavia Township	14.97– 15.27	24.09– 24.57		SR 132 / SR 222 – Batavia, Owensville	interchange
		18.07– 18.33	29.08– 29.50		Batavia Road (CR 368) / James Sauls Sr. Drive	interchange
	Williamsburg Township	19.45– 19.82	31.30– 31.90		Half Acre Road (CR 59)	interchange
		21.17– 21.41	34.07– 34.46		SR 133 – Williamsburg	interchange
Brown	Mt. Orab	28.885– 29.365	46.486– 47.258		US 68 – Mt. Orab, Fayetteville	interchange
Highland	No major junctions
Brown	Sardinia	35.651	57.375		SR 134 north / Purdy Road 76 – Lynchburg, Sardinia	Southern terminus of SR 134
	Eagle Township	41.221	66.339		US 62 – Hillsboro, Russellville, Ripley, Southern State Community College
Adams	Winchester	45.85	73.79		SR 136 (Main Street) – Winchester, Cherry Fork, Manchester
	Seaman	50.419	81.142		SR 247 (Main Street) – Seaman, West Union, Adams County Salamon Airport
	Meigs Township	58.841	94.695		SR 41 – Peebles, West Union
	Franklin Township	64.126	103.201		SR 73 – Hillsboro, Rarden
Pike	Sunfish Township	76.95	123.84		SR 772 south – Rarden	Western terminus of SR 772 concurrency
	Newton Township	79.01	127.15		SR 124 west / SR 772 north / Tennyson Road – Latham, Pike Lake State Park	Eastern terminus of SR 772 concurrency; Western terminus of SR 124 concurrency
	Jasper	82.71	133.11		SR 104 – Waverly, Portsmouth
	Van Meter	84.14– 84.27	135.41– 135.62		US 23 – Chillicothe, Portsmouth	interchange
	Seal Township	87.56	140.91		SR 220 west / Schuster Road 81 – Waverly	Eastern terminus of SR 220
	Marion Township	94.86	152.66		SR 335 – Beaver, Stockdale
Jackson	Scioto Township	102.870	165.553		SR 776 – Jackson
	Franklin Township	105.830	170.317		SR 139 – Jackson, Minford
	Lick Township	108.100– 108.400	173.970– 174.453		SR 93 – Jackson, Oak Hill	interchange
		108.940– 109.400	175.322– 176.062		US 35 – Gallipolis, Chillicothe	interchange
	Milton Township	114.350– 114.800	184.028– 184.753	17	SR 327 / SR 124 east – Wellston	interchange; east end of SR 124 overlap
Vinton	Vinton Township	125.070	201.281		SR 160 – Hamden, Wilkesville
Meigs	Columbia Township	130.990	210.808		SR 689 south / County Road 55 – Wilkesville	Northern terminus of SR 689
Athens	Lee Township	133.760	215.266		SR 143 – Middleport
		134.780	216.907		US 50 west – McArthur, Chillicothe	Western terminus of US 50 concurrency
	Albany	136.91– 137.24	220.34– 220.87		SR 681 – Albany	interchange
	Athens	144.60– 145.31	232.71– 233.85	18	US 33 east / Richland Avenue – Pomeroy, Ravenswood	interchange; west end of US 33 overlap
		145.93– 146.33	234.85– 235.50	17	SR 682 north to SR 56 – Athens	interchange
	Athens Township			16C	County Road 25 / Stimson Avenue	interchange
		146.65– 147.05	236.01– 236.65	16B	US 33 west / State Street – Columbus	interchange; east end of US 33 overlap
	Canaan Township	149.54– 149.73	240.66– 240.97		East State Street (CR 40)	interchange
		151.93	244.51		SR 690 north – Strouds Run State Park	Southern terminus of SR 690
	Rome Township	156.64	252.09		SR 329 north – Stewart, Guysville	Southern terminus of SR 329
	Troy Township	165.92– 166.42	267.02– 267.83		SR 7 south – Pomeroy, Gallipolis	interchange; west end of SR 7 overlap
		167.52	269.60		SR 144 – Stewart, Hockingport
		170.52	274.43		SR 124 west / CR 61 – Hockingport	Eastern terminus of SR 124
Washington	Belpre Township				Clifton Road / Newbury Road	former SR 124 west
		174.368	280.618		SR 555 north – Bartlett	Southern terminus of SR 555
		175.163– 175.759	281.898– 282.857		SR 618 – Belpre	interchange; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		176.364– 176.903	283.830– 284.698		SR 339 – Beverly	interchange
		176.142– 177.223	283.473– 285.213		US 50 east – Parkersburg	interchange; east end of US 50 overlap
	Belpre	180.457– 181.828	290.417– 292.624		SR 7 north / Toll Bridge – Marietta, Parkersburg	interchange; east end of SR 7 overlap; west end of SR 618 overlap
		182.575	293.826		SR 618 west / US 50 Bus. west (Washington Boulevard)	Eastern terminus of SR 618 concurrency
		182.654– 182.710	293.953– 294.043		WV 618 east to WV 68 / I‑77 – Parkersburg	West Virginia state line (Parkersburg–Belpre Bridge over Ohio River)
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

References

Route map: Bing / Google