Ohio Roads - I-490

I-490


I-490 is a tiny freeway, but it was supposed to have done a whole lot more. For one, I-90 was supposed to use a short connector to OH 2 west of the current beginning of I-490 (the "Parma Freeway"); I-71 would have continued north past the end of I-77 to where 90 now follows Dead Man's Curve, and I-290 (the original I-490 number) would have extended west to the proposed 90-2 connector. Also, through the 1950's and 1960's, I-290 was intended to extend eastward, taking over the northern section of I-271 and serving the eastern suburbia of a potentially growing Cleveland. With rebellion from Shaker Heights, the freeway was then rerouted to the southeast in the 1970s to parallel OH 14, and I-290 was renumbered to I-490 for reasons unknown. Not even that was built. With all the freeway cancellations, Cleveland's growth has not reached its potential, and I-490 barely even merits an Interstate designation. Since it has one, and since it has button copy, here you go.


EB up to and off the stack ramp, third photo courtesy John Krakoff. Click the next to last photo for a more head-on angle from Doug Kerr.


That's it for eastbound, with the freeway ending abruptly at E. 55th St. Click on the first photo for a closeup of one of the signs courtesy John Krakoff.


E. 55th St. SB, where you can't tell anything's wrong with the freeway at all. First photo courtesy Doug Kerr.


Same deal on E. 55th St. NB, except the first photo this time is courtesy John Krakoff.


The beginning of the WB run, once agan down the stack ramp.


Finishing WB and down the ramp toward the I-71/OH 176 split. The zoo sign and RIDOT-style I-480 shield on the ramp, both gone now, are courtesy Doug Kerr. The I-490/I-90/I-71 stack interchange is missing the WB-NB and SB-EB ramps, because those movements are served by I-77. So then why is I-77 a complete stack?

Onto I-90
Exit 1A to I-71
I-71 Exit 245 SB to US 42
Exit 1A to OH 176
Exit 1A to I-480
Exit 2A to OH 14
Exit 2B to I-77
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