State Route 161 (SR 161) is an east–west state highway in central

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. Its western terminus is in Mutual at State Route 29 and its eastern terminus is near

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

at State Route 37. It is long. State Route 161 passes through

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, the capital of Ohio, and a variety of towns including Plain City,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, and New Albany. The route was established in 1924 to connect Plain City and Dublin. It was later expanded to cover Mutual and Granville. Parts of SR 161 in Dublin and New Albany were upgraded to a freeway in 1969 and 1997.

Route description

SR 161 starts off in Mutual as Milford Road, at a T-intersection at SR 29. The road turns northeast and later meets SR 559 and Bullard Rutan Road in a 5-point intersection. later, a concurrency begins with SR 4. later, the concurrency ends with SR 4 continuing to move north. About later, SR 38 starts a very short concurrency at Chuckery. After Chuckery, SR 38 splits off. There are no more major intersections until SR 161 reaches Plain City, where it meets U.S. Route 42 (US 42). SR 161 goes through Madison and a small section of Franklin County without major intersections. In Union County, it meets

US 33 U.S. Route 33 (US 33) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs northwest–southeast for from northern Indiana to Richmond, Virginia, passing through Ohio and West Virginia en route. Although most odd-numbered U.S. routes are north–s ...

and Post Road in an interchange. SR 161 goes on the freeway and starts a concurrency. The concurrency goes back into Franklin County and into

. In Dublin, the freeway has interchanges with Avery–Muirfield Drive and Interstate 270 (I-270). The freeway becomes an at-grade highway as it meets Post Road again. The road goes into Dublin downtown and has intersections with SR 745 and SR 257. At SR 257, US 33 splits off and the concurrency ends. After that, there are no more major intersections until SR 161 reaches Worthington, as it meets SR 315 in a diamond interchange, and

US 23 } U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has sinc ...

at an at-grade intersection. After the intersection at US 23, SR 161 enters

. There is an intersection with SR 710 and an interchange with

I-71 Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 in Kentucky, I-64 and ...

. later, in Minerva Park, SR 161 becomes a limited access freeway. The first exit is SR 3, a partial cloverleaf interchange with service roads. later, SR 161 re-enters Columbus and meets I-270 again in a modified cloverleaf interchange. There is a SPUI-parclo hybrid interchange at Sunbury Road, and an incomplete interchange for Little Turtle Way, a half of a diamond interchange. The next two interchanges, Hamilton Road and New Albany Road, uses diamond interchanges. SR 161 enters New Albany, and has two interchanges with

US 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Canada ...

, in Franklin County, and Beech Road, in Licking County. Then it exits New Albany and enters St. Albans Township. In the township, SR 161 has two diamond interchanges with SR 310 and SR 37. SR 161 ends at SR 37. SR 161 is part of the Big Darby Plains scenic byway. The parts of the route that are included in the byway are from Homer Road to Rosedale Road and from Kramer Road to US 33.

History

SR 161 was designated in 1924, as a connection from Plain City to

. Its east end was a junction with SR 21, west of Dublin. It was later expanded to include an unnumbered section between Mutual and Plain City, and Dublin and Granville. In 1938, a concurrency from west of Dublin to the city itself was changed from SR 31 to US 33. Much later, in 1969, the section in Dublin was upgrade to a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. Seven years later, the section between

and Sunbury Road was upgraded to a

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

. In 1997, a bypass was created around New Albany, from I-270 to a point east of it. SR 161's route was changed to use the bypass, no longer intersecting New Albany's downtown area. The project completed in 2000. On June 14, 2004,

Ohio Department of Transportation The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT; ) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government responsible for developing and maintaining all state and U.S. roadways outside of municipalities and all Interstates except the Ohio T ...

began the Northeast Expressway Transformation, replacing 17 bridges, 18 ramps, and of highway. The project finished in 2008. The freeway in New Albany was extended to SR 37, SR 161's eastern terminus. New interchanges and solutions were designed for the interchanges with I-270 and Avery-Muirfield Drive in Dublin, studies started for the interchanges in 2011 and phase one of the project started in 2014.

Junction list

State Route 161J

An unsigned state route named SR 161J previously existed in

Licking County Licking County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. At the 2020 census, the population was 178,519. Its county seat is Newark. The county was formed on January 30, 1808, from portions of Fairfield County. ...

. It consisted of the former section of SR 161 before it was rerouted onto the nearby freeway. Beginning at a

dead end Dead End or dead end may refer to: * Dead end (street), a street connected only at one end with other streets, called by many other official names, including ''cul-de-sac''. Film and television * ''The Dead End'' (1914 film), directed by Davi ...

near the SR 161–Beech Road interchange, it traveled east along Worthington Road and ended at Watkins Road (TR 42). It intersected SR 310, but never met SR 161. The route suffix "J" meant that the road was "awaiting abandonment". The route was ultimately abandoned by the state in 2013.

References

External links