Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway, formerly and locally known as Cross County Highway, is a west-east freeway in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It stretches from southern Colerain Township to Montgomery, connecting many of Cincinnati's northern suburbs to Interstate 71 and Interstate 75. State Route 126 is routed over most of the highway, while the remainder is a county-maintained road.
Cross County Highway was built by Hamilton County in seven stages from 1958 to 1997, costing $144 million. Highway revolts in Indian Hill and Crosby Township prevented it from crossing the entire county. On March 17, 1993, it became the first highway to be named after former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Most of Ronald Reagan Highway was transferred to the state highway system in 1997.
Route description
Ronald Reagan Highway begins as a county-maintained highway in Colerain Township, from Interstate 275 to Colerain Avenue (U.S. Route 27 / State Route 126) in the community of Groesbeck. This westernmost portion is designated as County Road 453; however, signs indicate this stretch solely by its name.
From Groesbeck, the highway carries State Route 126 along a path roughly parallel to the Norwood Lateral, State Route 562, to a junction with Montgomery Road (U.S. Route 22 / State Route 3) in Montgomery. A girder bridge over Hamilton Avenue (U.S. Route 127) in North College Hill is instrumented with over 640 sensors to serve as a field laboratory for University of Cincinnati researchers and Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) bridge engineers. Ronald Reagan Highway has a complex junction with Interstate 75 in Cincinnati's Roselawn and Hartwell neighborhoods: southbound I-75 traffic must take Galbraith Road through Arlington Heights and Reading to access Ronald Reagan Highway, and westbound Ronald Reagan traffic must use the same route to reach northbound I-75.
The short, easternmost stretch from Interstate 71 to Montgomery Road is a limited-access road, with I-71 ramps forming signalized intersections with Ronald Reagan Highway. Ronald Reagan Highway's abrupt end at Montgomery Road is being converted to a turbo roundabout. State Route 126 continues north- and eastward on Montgomery Road through Montgomery and Indian Hill. A redwood sign commemorating the dedication of Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway by former First Lady Nancy Reagan stands at the highway's eastern terminus in the Montgomery Heritage District.
The majority of Ronald Reagan Highway, between Interstates 275 and 71, is included in the National Highway System (NHS). The NHS is a network of highways that are identified as being most important for the economy, mobility, and defense of the nation. The entirety of Ronald Reagan Highway has two lanes in each direction, with speed limits ranging from . ODOT's State Farm Safety Patrol vans provide assistance to stranded motorists along Cincinnati-area highways, including the entirety of Ronald Reagan Highway, on weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Most guide signs for the highway's entrance ramps bear the name Ronald Reagan Highway, sometimes abbreviated Reagan Highway, rather than control cities. However, signs at the ramps from Interstate 71 onto Ronald Reagan Highway indicate Blue Ash as the westbound destination and Montgomery as the eastbound destination.
History
East Side planning and construction
Cross County Highway was conceived in the 1940s as a connector from the Mill Creek Expressway (Interstate 75) to the Blue Ash Airport, which was expected to become Cincinnati's metropolitan commercial airport. In 1950, the concept was upgraded to an expressway; five years later, it grew into a lateral that would span the proposed Circumferential Highway (Interstate 275). The project, originally estimated at $30 million, was intended to connect the east and west sides of town and relieve congestion on Galbraith Road (State Route 126). In 1959, amid the success of the Greater Cincinnati Airport in Northern Kentucky, officials dropped plans to expand Blue Ash Airport and connect Cross County directly to the airport.
The first leg of Cross County Highway, a stretch from Ridge Road to Galbraith Road, was built between 1957 and 1958 and cost $800,000. In 1965, a year after Hamilton County voters passed a one-mill tax levy for Cross County expansion, the highway was extended from Ridge Road east to Kenwood Road for $2.9 million. Then, in 1968, it was extended further east to Montgomery Road, through the back nine holes of the Swaim Fields golf course, for $1.8 million.