Interstate 75 (I-75) runs from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

to Toledo by way of

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

in the US state of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. The highway enters the state running concurrently with

I-71 Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the midwestern and Southeastern United States, southeastern regions of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64, I-64 and Interstate 65, ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

on the

Brent Spence Bridge The Brent Spence Bridge is a double decker, cantilevered truss bridge that carries Interstates 71 and 75 across the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. The top deck carries Kentucky-bound traffic while the bottom dec ...

over the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

and into the

Bluegrass region The Bluegrass region is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It makes up the central and northern part of the state, roughly bounded by the cities of Frankfort, Kentucky, Frankfort, Paris, Kentucky, Paris, Richmond, Kentucky, Ric ...

. I-75 continues along the Mill Creek Expressway northward to the Butler County line just north of I-275. From there, the freeway runs into the

Miami Valley The Miami Valley is the land area surrounding the Great Miami River in southwest Ohio, USA, and includes the Little Miami, Mad, and Stillwater rivers as well. Geographically, it includes Dayton, Springfield, Middletown, Hamilton, and other c ...

and then passes through the

Great Black Swamp The Great Black Swamp (also known simply as the Black Swamp) was a glacier, glacially fed wetland in northwest Ohio and Northern Indiana, northeast Indiana, United States, that existed from the end of the Wisconsin glaciation until the late 19 ...

before crossing into

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Route description

The highway enters the state via the

into

Downtown Cincinnati Downtown Cincinnati is one of the 52 List of Cincinnati neighborhoods, neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the central business district of the city, as well as the economic and symbiotic center of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Original ...

immediately splits off to the east from this point, taking a more easterly route through downtown, while I-75 continues north along the west side of downtown. The Mill Creek Expressway is a heavily trafficked portion of I-75 in Ohio, from the Ohio River at the Kentucky state line to Butler County in Cincinnati's northern suburbs that follows the path of its namesake, Mill Creek, and the former path of the

Miami and Erie Canal The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that ran from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, creating a water route between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Construction on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1845 at a co ...

, and passes through the city's industrial core. The highway continues north, intersecting

I-74 Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa; the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interchange with I-75 ...

and turning to the northeast. At one point, while passing through the suburb of Arlington Heights, the carriageways split apart and create a wide enough space for the community to be completely enclosed by the Interstate; they rejoin at the other end of the community. The highway then intersects the Cincinnati beltway, I-275, and continues northeasterly through the West Chester Township,

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

, Middletown, and Franklin en route to the

Dayton metropolitan area Metro Dayton or the Miami Valley, or more formally the Dayton–Kettering–Beavercreek, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in the Miami Valley region of Ohio a ...

Interstate 75 3rd Great Miami River Bridge 2023a

Once arriving in the Dayton area, I-75 first junctions with I-675, an eastern bypass of Dayton, in Miamisburg. The highway then continues north into

Downtown Dayton Downtown Dayton is the central business district of Dayton, Ohio, United States. Major reinvestment in the downtown area began heavily in the mid-1990s, and continues today with $2 billion in residential, commercial, health, and transportation de ...

, skirting it to the west and junctioning with I-70 near the Dayton International Airport. I75 I80-I90 Interchange

The highway then continues north through the western side of the state toward Toledo, passing through the small cities of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

, Piqua,

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, Findlay, and

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. Once the highway arrives in the Toledo metro area, it first intersects with I-475 in the suburb of Perrysburg. Followed by

I-80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

( Ohio Turnpike) in suburb of Rossford and passing through Northwood after the interchange. Before skirting Downtown Toledo to the west, I-75 enters the Toledo city limits and then crosses the

Maumee River The Maumee River (pronounced ) (; ) is a river running in the Midwestern United States from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph River (Maumee River), St. Joseph and St. Mar ...

and continues north into Downtown Toledo. Just north of downtown, in the Old West End I-475 rejoins I-75. After continuing northeasterly, I-75 intersects I-280, in the North End of the city, which connects the Ohio Turnpike. Following this, I-75 passes through the Point Place/Shoreland lake shore community district. I-75 then enters

and runs parallel with the shore of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

History

I-75 in Ohio was built through the 1960s, supplanting U.S. Route 25 (US 25), though much of the freeway was built for US 25. By the time I-75 was finished, US 25 ran concurrently with I-75 for all but the northernmost section. By 1974, the US 25 designation was deemed unnecessary and removed from Ohio and Michigan. The northernmost section of US 25 in Ohio became State Route 25 (SR 25). In 2005, the

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

(ODOT) considered reconfiguring I-75's existing interchange in Findlay with US 224 and SR 15 west as a

diverging diamond interchange A diverging diamond interchange (DDI), also called a double crossover diamond interchange (DCD), is a subset of diamond interchange in which the opposing directions of travel on the non-freeway road cross each other on either side of the inte ...

(DDI) to improve traffic flow. Had it been constructed, it would have been the first such interchange in the US. By 2006, ODOT had reconsidered, instead adding lanes to the existing

overpass An overpass, called an overbridge or flyover (for a road only) in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that is over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and '' underpa ...

. Traffic congestion in the Cincinnati–Dayton corridor has led to proposals for a regional I-75 bypass to divert through traffic. The segment from West Chester to Middletown was widened in 2010. Construction on the highway continues from Middletown all the way to I-675. In

, ODOT recently completed total reconfiguration of I-75 with several projects occurring simultaneously. The intersection of I-75 and I-70 was reconfigured to handle an increased

traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

load at the intersection. I-75 through Downtown Dayton at the intersections of SR 4, US 35, and between were widened and modernized. ODOT between 2014 and 2016 completed a widening project between I-475 in Perrysburg and SR 15 in Findlay to add a third lane in each direction. The SR 15 interchange (which also features the north end of US 68) was subsequently rebuilt as well. Several miles north of the southerly I-475 junction, I-75 intersects with I-80/I-90 (Ohio Turnpike). Work began in May 2019 to convert the existing interchange with Union Centre Boulevard in West Chester Township, Butler County, to a DDI. The $20-million project was completed in mid-2020. In May 2024, work began to convert the existing interchange with County Road 99 in Findlay to a DDI. The project is estimated to be complete by the summer of 2026.

Mill Creek Expressway

The Mill Creek Expressway generally follows the old

, which extended from Cincinnati to Toledo via

, itself built in the Mill Creek valley near Cincinnati. The canal extended from the

along the present locations of Eggleston Avenue and Central Parkway to Mount Storm Park and continued north, remaining close to the Mill Creek Expressway to Butler County. The first portion of the expressway was built by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA) in 1941—during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

—to serve the

Wright Aeronautical Wright Aeronautical (1919–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Paterson, New Jersey. It was the successor corporation to Wright-Martin. It built aircraft and was a supplier of aircraft engines to other builders in the g ...

plant in Lockland. Known then as the Wright Highway, it was initially planned to run from Paddock Road ( SR 4) in

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

north to Cincinnati-Dayton Road (then US 25) near Maud but was only built—almost completely along the old canal—between Galbraith Road and Glendale-Milford Road (then SR 126). A short extension was built south to Towne Street in Elmwood Place in the late 1940s. In 1960, plans were announced to add an eastern portion that would result in Arlington Heights being surrounded on both sides by the highway. On January 19, 2015, an overpass north of Hopple Street collapsed onto the highway below at approximately 10:30 pm. The span that failed was the segment of the former northbound ramp to Hopple Street that passed over the southbound lanes of I-75. The overpass had been closed and was in the process of being removed after a replacement ramp was opened on December 26, 2014. The Interstate underneath was open at the time of the failure. One construction worker on the overpass was killed during the collapse by a falling steel beam. A truck driver was injured when their semi hit the fallen overpass immediately after the collapse. One other worker was in a backhoe on the bridge but was uninjured.

Future

There are plans to convert the existing interchange with SR 725 in Miamisburg to a DDI. The project was to be built in 2023 and its projected cost was $4.1 million, entirely funded by the state. However, in August 2023, ODOT announced that it planned to study the project for a few more years, owing to a traffic signal retiming project completed in March 2022. ODOT suggested that the DDI might actually create more delays along the SR 725 corridor. In Cincinnati, approximately of the highway will be totally reconfigured by three separate ODOT projects happening simultaneously. The Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project will replace the

and continue north to the Western Hills Viaduct. The Mill Creek Expressway project will modernize the Mill Creek Expressway segment of the highway, from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway interchange. The Thru the Valley project will continue from the Cross County Highway north to I-275. These projects will improve safety by eliminating all left-hand exit ramps and increasing vehicular capacity. As of May 2025, there are plans to convert the existing interchange with

US 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Highway, United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major ...

and

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

in Perrysburg to a DDI.

Exit list

Auxiliary routes

I-75 in Ohio has three auxiliary routes. The southernmost is I-275, which serves as a full loop around

, including segments that extend into

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

and

. The northernmost is I-475, a bypass around Toledo area that also carries US 23 for . The third auxiliary route is I-675 bypassing

to the south and east and connecting to I-70 northeast of the city. In addition to these auxiliary routes, there are three business routes of I-75. These run along former segments of US 25, I-75's predecessor highway. They connect to the downtowns of

and Piqua; Sidney; and Findlay.

Notes

References

External links

* {{3di, 75 Ohio 75

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

Fairfield, Ohio Transportation in Hamilton County, Ohio Transportation in Butler County, Ohio Transportation in Warren County, Ohio Transportation in Montgomery County, Ohio Transportation in Miami County, Ohio Transportation in Shelby County, Ohio Transportation in Auglaize County, Ohio Transportation in Allen County, Ohio Transportation in Hancock County, Ohio Transportation in Wood County, Ohio Transportation in Lucas County, Ohio