Ohio State Route 8 - History

History

SR 8 was one of the original state highways in Ohio. It went from Marietta all the way to Cleveland. Over time, though, parts of the route were renumbered or reassigned, especially in the part south of Akron. In 1926 the portion from Marietta to Newcomerstown became U.S. Route 21. The same year the section from Newcomerstown to Uhrichsville became State Route 16 and SR 8 was rerouted from the Ohio River town of Fly to Uhrichsville. In 1969, the section from Fly to Canton was renumbered to State Route 800, the portion from Canton to Akron was deleted, and the southern end of the highway was truncated at Akron, at U.S. Route 224.

By 1962, the Route 8B freeway was built in Akron. It became mainline SR 8 in 1969 north of Market Street, and in its entirety by 1971. A section of freeway between Front Street (SR 59) and Graham Road in Cuyahoga Falls and Stow opened by 1972, with the connecting section opening in 1974. The freeway carried only the SR 59 designation between Tallmadge Avenue in Akron and Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls and had no posted number north of there until 1983, when the SR 8 designation was transferred to the freeway. The final section of freeway opened on May 20, 1988, reaching State Route 303.

SR 8 from Interstate 77 to Perkins Street was rebuilt from 2003 to 2005. The freeway in that stretch previously had onramps and offramps built closely together, creating the danger of weaving traffic. Several ramps were removed and service roads were built on both sides of the freeway.

Route 8 from SR 303 north to Interstate 271 was converted to a full freeway without at-grade intersections between 2008 and 2011. The ramp between State Route 8 northbound and I-271 northbound opened July 24, 2009, and the opposite ramp opened on September 4. The new Turnpike interchange opened in December 2010, well ahead of the projected date of fall 2011.

A new interchange was recently opened at Seasons Road to serve the area near the borders of Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, and Hudson. Although the interchange was completed on January 25, 2010, it was not initially scheduled to open until one month later, on February 26, when an official ribbon-cutting could take place. Two weeks before the scheduled opening, an editorial in the Akron Beacon Journal lambasted the ribbon-cutting, calling the ceremony a mere "photo op", and questioning why a finished project should sit unused for 31 days. On February 21, the government of Stow, which had been responsible for holding the ceremony, announced the interchange would open in the morning of the next day without a ribbon-cutting.