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.
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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.
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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.
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E. 55th St. SB, where you can't tell anything's wrong with the freeway at all. First photo courtesy Doug Kerr.
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Same deal on E. 55th St. NB, except the first photo this time is courtesy John Krakoff.
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The beginning of the WB run, once agan down the stack ramp.
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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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