Автодорога 59 штата Огайо

State highway in Ohio, US

State Route 59 (SR 59) is an east–west state highway in the U. S. state of Ohio, serving the Akron metropolitan area. The western terminus of State Route 59 is in downtown Akron at a partial interchange with the Interstate 76/Interstate 77 concurrency, and the eastern terminus is at State Route 5, 0.5 mile (1 km) east of Ravenna. The route is approximately 23 mile (37 km) long and was certified in 1969 over what had previously been part of SR 5. It serves as a major or as the primary east–west roadway for the cities of Cuyahoga Falls, Kent, Ravenna, and Stow, the village of Silver Lake, and Franklin and Ravenna Townships.

State Route 59 traverses parts of Summit and Portage Counties, with a western terminus at a partial interchange with Interstates 76 and 77 in Akron and an eastern terminus at State Route 5 in Ravenna Township. The entire length of the 22.99 mile (37 km) road is included within the National Highway System, a network of routes deemed most important for the economy, mobility and defense of the nation. The western terminus of SR 59 is the Akron Innerbelt, a limited access highway originally meant to bypass downtown. The interchange with Interstates 76 and 77 is only partial, with direct access to SR 59 from eastbound 76/southbound 77 and direct access to westbound 76/northbound 77 from SR 59. Traffic going the opposite directions must use surface streets to access the other highway. Westbound SR 59 traffic wishing to access east 76 and south 77 must exit the freeway and follow Rhodes Avenue, while west 76 and north 77 traffic wishing to access eastbound SR 59 must use the Dart Avenue exit, accessing SR 59 via Russell Avenue, Rhodes Avenue, and Dart Avenue. At Opportunity Parkway, SR 59 has its first of four junctions with State Route 261. After crossing Cedar Avenue and Exchange Street, SR 59 exits the freeway section and is known as Martin Luther King Boulevard. It passes under State Route 18 (Market Street) as it veers to the east and becomes a regular surface street with signalized intersections. The second of four junctions with SR 261 is at the All America Bridge, which connects North High Street (261 West) and North Broadway Streets (261 East). After crossing Prospect Street, the roadway is known as Perkins Street. At State Route 8, eastbound SR 59 turns north and enters the freeway with SR 8 at Fountain Street, while westbound 59 exits the freeway at Goodkirk Street.

At the 1923 Ohio state highway renumbering, State Route 59 was assigned to the roadway between Norwalk and Elyria. By 1929, the western terminus was moved to Milan before being extended further west to Bellvue by 1930. The entire roadway was made part of State Route 113 by 1939. The current State Route 59 was certified in 1969 with the eastern terminus at its current location and the western terminus at the intersection of North Main Street and Cuyahoga Falls Avenue in Akron, where it met SR 8. The general route was originally designated as part of State Route 36 from 1923 to 1932 and as State Route 5 from 1932 to 1969. The creation of SR 59 was part of a reroute of State Route 5 to a new southeastern bypass of Ravenna to end at Interstate 76 in Rootstown. State Route 585 was certified the same year for the portion of SR 5 between State Route 21 and Wooster. In its 1969 route, the western terminus of SR 59 was the intersection of East Cuayhoga Falls Avenue and North Main Street in the North Hill neighborhood of Akron, following the previous alignment of SR 5. SR 59 followed Cuyahoga Falls Avenue east, intersecting with the original end of the SR 8 expressway, then known as the SR 8 Bypass or 8 B. Just after the intersection with the expressway, SR 59 turned northward onto Front Street and followed Front Street and Second Avenue through Cuyahoga Falls. During the 1970s, multiple changes were made to the alignment of SR 59 as various projects were completed. The western end of SR 59 was rerouted onto the SR 8 Expressway and Akron Innerbelt as the Innerbelt, later named the Martin Luther King Freeway, was completed in phases between 1972 and 1986. The portion of SR 59 on Perkins Avenue was originally intended to be temporary until the northern leg of the Innerbelt was completed, and was officially designated at State Route 59T until August 2007. The section through Kent was rerouted onto the new Haymaker Parkway in 1975 after previously following West and East Main Streets through the city.

Designed after almost all other highway projects in Akron were completed, the Innerbelt, later named the Martin Luther King Freeway, was envisioned as a 21.5 mile (35 km) stretch; however the only portion that was ever built was a 2.24 mile (4 km) stretch near downtown Akron. The freeway is designed with six lanes and right of way for eight. It includes two collector streets along the entire corridor which, combined, are at some points as wide as the freeway itself. Planning and property acquisition began as early as 1968 and displaced thousands of residents, many of them minority and low income residents, and over 100 businesses. The first portion of the freeway, between Exchange Street and Market Street, opened in 1972, while the next section, between Exchange Street and Howard Street, opened in 1978, and the interchange with I 76/I 77 in 1986. In 1999 Akron mayor Don Plusquellic suggested ripping up the northern end of the freeway, making it a city street, and developing the surrounding land. The idea was fostered by a trip to Milwaukee, in which Plusquellic saw the much maligned Park East Freeway spur in that city's downtown removed in order to reuse the land. A similar plan presented in late 2014 proposed removal of the freeway north of the West Exchange Street overpass with an upgrade of the adjacent frontage roads to compensate. The city of Akron acquired the land with the abandoned roadways in 2021. In July 2001, the city announced that the Innerbelt would be closed for several days while a commercial was being shot. The highway was also surveyed by the producers of the movie The Matrix Reloaded as a possible shooting spot of the highway scene. The idea was eventually scrapped, because in the event that the scene would have to be reshot, the time to reset all the cars in their start position would take too long. A 2022 article in the Akron Beacon Journal stated that the construction of the Innerbelt displaced a large number of black residents within the city of Akron while devaluing the homes of those who stayed. The same article cited this, combined with the highway never being completed to its original destination in Kent, Ohio, as reasons for its gradual decommissioning through the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Note that the Akron Innerbelt does not have exit numbers on destination signage.