31-583: Interstate 270 ( I-270 ) is an auxiliary interstate highway that forms a beltway loop freeway in the Columbus metropolitan area in the US state of Ohio , commonly known locally as The Outerbelt or the Jack Nicklaus Freeway . The zero-milepost is at the junction with Interstate 71 east of Grove City , intersecting with I-71 again near Worthington as well as connecting with Interstate 70 twice with
62-449: A loop route ) completely surrounds a metropolitan city, and it is often connected with multiple junctions to other routes. Unlike other auxiliary Interstate Highways (and by extension, all primary Interstate Highways ), beltways do not have termini; however, they have a place where the highway mileage resets to zero. Beltways are also preceded by an even number in the first digit. Some examples of beltways include: Ohio School for
93-571: A bypass and more widely regarded as a "suburb connector". I-270 starts at I-71 on the southern side, marked as exit 55, and forms a combination interchange . It then makes its way clockwise around the city with three lanes, intersecting U.S. Route 62 (US 62), Georgesville Road, and US 40 before its next major interchange, with I-70 . Here, it becomes a four-lane freeway as it passes through Hilliard and Dublin. The northwestern "corner" of I-270 has an interchange with US 33 / State Route 161 (SR 161). It then makes
124-503: A point of origin or destination inside of I-270 to bypass the city using I-270 and not use any roadway located inside of the outerbelt. The code's text cites the dense population of the Columbus area, and local law firms note that police frequently pull over trucks with HazMat placards to check the trucker's papers. Transporting HazMats within I-270 without proper documentation are a misdemeanor of
155-479: A retrial, McCoy accepted a plea arrangement where he avoided the death sentence. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison on August 9, 2005. On January 23, 2017, a gas tanker carrying 8,000 US gallons (6,700 imp gal; 30,000 L) of gasoline tipped over while exiting from US 33/SR 161 onto I-270 west in Dublin. A massive fire resulted from the crash, as well as multiple small grass fires caused by
186-628: A sharp right as it heads toward Worthington. In Worthington are the notoriously congested interchanges of three major roadways, SR 315 , US 23 , and I-71. This is the location of the North Side Mega-Fix, which fixed the heavy weaving section between US 23 and SR 315; however, the project also worsened weaving between US 23 and I-71, leading to frequent mile-long (1.6 km) backups. After passing through Worthington, I-270 passes through Westerville, intersecting Cleveland Avenue and SR 3 . After going through Westerville,
217-485: A subset of highways within the United States' Interstate Highway System . The 323 auxiliary routes generally fall into three types: spur routes , which connect to or intersect the parent route at one end; bypasses , which connect to the parent route at both ends; and beltways , which form a circle that intersects the parent route at two locations. Some routes connect to the parent route at one end but to another route at
248-446: A typical 3-digit Interstate Highway, bypasses usually have both its two termini junctioned with another Interstate highway. Bypass routes are preceded by an even number in the first digit. Examples include: In the case of an auxiliary Interstate highway which has both ends at Interstates but not the same Interstate, some states treat these as bypasses while others treat these as spurs—see Spur route above. A beltway (also known as
279-423: Is usually one of the following: Examples include: Sometimes, a three-digit Interstate Highway branches off from another three-digit Interstate Highway. These spurs do not connect directly with their parent highways, but are associated with them via the three-digit highways they do intersect with. Examples include: A bypass route may traverse around a city, or may run through it with the mainline bypassing. In
310-508: The Ohio highway sniper attacks . On November 23, 2003, 62-year-old Gail Knisley was shot to death, making her the only fatality associated with the string of shootings. Charles A. McCoy Jr., who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1996, was accused of the shootings and stood trial in 2005. The first trial with death penalty charges resulted in a hung jury on May 9, 2005, most likely due to McCoy's severe mental illness. Rather than face
341-673: The Deaf The Ohio School for the Deaf is a school located in Columbus, Ohio . It is run by the Ohio Department of Education for deaf and hard-of-hearing students across Ohio . It was established on October 16, 1829, making it the fifth oldest residential school in the country. OSD is the only publicly funded residential school for the deaf in Ohio. The mission of the Ohio School for
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#1733085517492372-599: The Northbound direction as part of the I-670 Smartlane Project. After intersecting I-670, the freeway makes a hard turn left and then right to avoid both John Glenn Columbus International Airport and Gahanna . In between these two turns is a partial cloverleaf interchange with Hamilton Road, and after the turns is an interchange with SR 16 . The freeway then divides from four lanes into two express lanes and three local lanes. This configuration continues up until
403-480: The construction of the northern section of I-270 across the N&;WR and NYC-OSL railroad tracks between US 23 and I-71, the latter operator was wrecked after it hit a piece of earthmoving machinery, resulting in the operator's death and the injury of several passengers and crew. The train was dumped into the cornfield, resulting in a major operation to clean it up. On November 4, 1968, David R. Booth, aged 29, became
434-555: The east side between I-70 and East Main Street opened. It would take four more years to complete the northeast portion of the outerbelt. The last section of I-270, on the east side, between Hamilton Road and East Broad Street, was opened on August 20, 1975. The total cost of the 10-year construction project was $ 175 million (equivalent to $ 770 million in 2023), compared to the original 1961 estimate of $ 104 million (equivalent to $ 812 million in 2023). In December 1965, during
465-659: The first degree. In 2015, an Ohio State Appellate Court ruled in State v. Mitchell ( 2015 ERB 074646) that truckers carrying both HazMats and non-HazMats may not transport the HazMats within Interstate 270 while delivering or retrieving non-HazMats, signifying that any truck carrying HazMats and non-HazMats must drop off its HazMats first before entering roadways within I-270. Auxiliary Interstate Highway Auxiliary Interstate Highways (also called three-digit Interstate Highways ) are
496-428: The first person to die on I-270 when he hit another car while merging onto US 23 from I-270. In February 1974, three trucks traveling on I-270 on the south side near US 33 were struck by gunfire during a violent Teamsters Strike. The highway was the subject of national media attention in 2003 when 24 sniper shootings were reported along the southern portion of the Interstate and other neighboring highways in
527-413: The freeway intersects SR 161, and the freeway is divided into local–express lanes , with three local and three express lanes in each direction. This is where the freeway goes through Easton , a popular shopping destination. Once the freeway has gone through Easton, the local–express lanes merge right before the interchange of I-670 , creating a weaving section. This weave is currently being fixed in
558-548: The freeway meets back with I-71, forming a loop. Planning for an outerbelt around Columbus began in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s, detailed planning for the route had begun, and several controversies arose. The first involved the location of the northern segment, which was originally planned to pass south of Worthington, passing through the Ohio School for the Deaf and just north of the then 10-year-old Graceland Shopping Center. Through vigorous lobbying throughout 1961, and with
589-456: The gasoline dripping down the sides of the flyover ramp. Both highways were shut down in both directions for the day, and the ramp was shut down for one week as repairs were made. The only fatality was that of the truck driver. In 1978, the first noise barriers were constructed on the portion of I-270 passing near Gahanna. Noise barriers have been slowly added around the length of the 55-mile-long (89 km) belt as development has crowded up to
620-399: The help of Ohio Governor Michael DiSalle , residents were able to get the outerbelt relocated to pass north of Worthington. Another contentious issue involved the routing of the eastern portion of the outerbelt between Port Columbus International Airport and the city of Gahanna. While the airport wanted the outerbelt pushed out toward Gahanna so as to leave land for future runway expansion,
651-563: The interchange with I-70. This interchange is planned to be entirely reconstructed to construct two flyover ramps, as well as unweave and widen I-70, as part of the Far East Freeway Study. After the I-70 interchange, the freeway becomes much more of a rural route, with only three lanes in each direction. The next interchange after I-70 is with US 33, a cloverleaf. After this, the freeway intersects Alum Creek Drive, then US 23, before
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#1733085517492682-531: The location of sewage treatment and landfill facilities, as well as quarries and the flood prone Scioto River . Grove City began to develop in the 1990s with the addition of office/warehouse space, and the conversion of Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base to a civilian air freight facility. The entire route is in Franklin County . Columbus City Code section 2550.04 currently requires trucks which are transporting hazardous cargo and materials and do not have
713-429: The noisy road. Massive development followed the construction of I-270, especially around the north and northwest sides. The northern suburbs of Westerville, Worthington, and Dublin and Hilliard to the west benefited the most. As in other sizeable cities across America, the effect of this outerbelt driven development was to hasten the decline of the Columbus core. The south portion of I-270 was much slower to develop due to
744-433: The numbers can repeat from state to state along their route, but they will not repeat within a state. There are three states that have no auxiliary Interstate Highways: Alaska, Arizona, and New Mexico. North Dakota has an auxiliary route, but it is unsigned , and Wyoming's does not meet Interstate Highway standards. Auxiliary Interstates are divided into three types: spur , loop , and bypass routes. The first digit of
775-687: The other end; some states treat these as spurs while others treat them as bypasses. Like the primary Interstate Highways , auxiliary highways meet Interstate Highway standards (with rare exceptions ). The shorter auxiliary routes branch from primary routes; their numbers are based on the parent route's number. All of the supplement routes for Interstate 95 (I-95) are designated with a three-digit number ending in "95": I-x95. With some exceptions, spur routes are numbered with an odd hundreds digit (such as I-395 ), while bypasses and beltways are numbered with an even hundreds digit (such as I-695 ). Because longer Interstates may have many such supplemental routes,
806-581: The others being I-295 in Florida , I-485 in North Carolina , and I-610 in Texas . I-270 provides access to several suburbs and towns surrounding Columbus, including Grove City, Westerville , Worthington , Hilliard , and Dublin . Although it started as a rural bypass of Columbus, many parts of it, primarily the northern section, have become more traveled and more congested over the years, making it less popular as
837-501: The residents of Gahanna wanted it pushed back toward Columbus. The final compromise led to an interesting kink in I-270 as it jogs around the airport. Construction of the outerbelt began in 1962, and work was begun on various disconnected sections. The first portion to be completed connected US 23 with I-71 south of Columbus. The portion between US 23 and I-71 on the north side opened in August 1967. The section between I-70 on
868-422: The standard numbering guidelines exist for a number of reasons. In some cases, original routes were changed, extended, or abandoned, leaving discrepancies in the system. In other cases, it may not be possible to use the proper number because the limited set of available numbers has been exhausted, causing a "non-standard" number to be used. A spur route 's number usually has an odd number for its first digit. It
899-509: The three digits usually signifies whether a route is a bypass, spur, or beltway. The last two digits are derived from the main Interstate Highway. For instance, I-115 contains an odd number in the first digit (1), which indicates that this freeway is a spur. The last two digits signify the highway's origin. In this case, the "15" in I-115 shows that it is a supplement to I-15 . Exceptions to
930-487: The west side and I-71 on the south side opened in August 1970. In late 1970, sections opened on the east side between US 33 and I-70, and between SR 3 in Westerville and SR 161 on the east side. It was now possible to bypass Columbus using I-270 by going around the south side of the city. In June 1971, the section between Morse Road and SR 161 on the east side opened. In October 1971, another section on
961-406: The western junction near Lincoln Village and the eastern junction near Reynoldsburg . The route furthermore links to the eastern terminus of Interstate 670 near Gahanna and provides indirect access to John Glenn Columbus International Airport . The entire length of I-270 is 54.97 miles (88.47 km). It is one of four Interstate loops not to run concurrently with another Interstate freeway,