Ohio State Route 3

State Route 3 (SR 3) is a major north–south (physically northeast-southwest) highway in Ohio which leads from Cincinnati to Cleveland by way of Columbus. It is the second longest state route in Ohio. For this reason, the road is also known as the 3-C Highway, a designation which antedates the Ohio state highway system. It is the only state route to enter all three of Ohio's largest cities, though it has largely been bypassed by Interstate 71 (I-71).

Route
The route's southern terminus is in downtown Cincinnati at the U.S. Route 27 (US 27)/US 52/US 127 concurrency, which is also the western terminus of US 22. SR 3 and US 22 share the same path for nearly 70 mi, parting ways in the city of Washington Court House, where SR 3 is joined with US 62. This concurrency runs nearly 40 mi to Columbus.

From there, SR 3 continues solo to Sunbury, where it joins US 36 for just over 24 mi until it reaches Mount Vernon. SR 3 ends in Cleveland at Public Square, with the last several miles concurrent with US 42 from Parma. It is one of nine other routes to enter downtown Cleveland at Public Square.

History

 * 1923 – Original route established; originally followed its current alignment (more or less) from Cincinnati to 6 mi north of Loudonville, the SR 226 alignment from 6 mi north of Loudonville to 2 mi south of Wooster, its old alignment from 2 mi south of Wooster to Medina, and US 42's alignment from Medina to Cleveland.
 * 1927 – 6 mi north of Loudonville to 2 mi south of Wooster rerouted to current alignment, along former SR 250; original alignment certified as SR 250; Medina-to-Parma routing changed to current alignment, and former alignment here certified as US 42.
 * 1932 – Alignment from Cincinnati to Washington Court House dually certified with US 22; alignment from Washington Court House to Columbus dually certified with US 62.
 * 1938 – Medina-Parma alignment changed to the pre-1926 routing and dually certified with US 42; previous alignment signed SR 200 until 1939.
 * 1939 – Medina-Parma alignment switched back to current alignment.
 * 1961 – SR 3 routed to new freeway alignment from Harrisburg to Columbus.
 * 1962 – Harrisburg-Columbus alignment dually certified as I-71.
 * 1967 – Reverted to US 62 alignment from Harrisburg to Columbus.