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U.S. Route 27
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U.S. Route 27 (US 27) is a north-south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at U.S. Route 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. From Miami it goes up the center of Florida, then west to Tallahassee, Florida, and north through such cities and towns as Columbus, Georgia; Rome, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Oxford, Ohio; Richmond, Indiana and Fort Wayne, Indiana. It once extended north through Lansing, Michigan, to Cheboygan, Mackinaw City, and for about 3 years as far as St. Ignace.
US 27 appeared in 1927, replacing what had been the western route of the Dixie Highway in many places.
a class="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m1111970",this)' onMouseout='hide("m1111970")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Florida">Florida, US 27 has been designated the Claude Pepper Memorial Highway by the Florida State Legislature.
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Encyclopedia
U.S. Route 27 (US 27) is a north-south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at U.S. Route 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. From Miami it goes up the center of Florida, then west to Tallahassee, Florida, and north through such cities and towns as Columbus, Georgia; Rome, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Oxford, Ohio; Richmond, Indiana and Fort Wayne, Indiana. It once extended north through Lansing, Michigan, to Cheboygan, Mackinaw City, and for about 3 years as far as St. Ignace.
US 27 appeared in 1927, replacing what had been the western route of the Dixie Highway in many places.
Route description
Florida
In Florida, US 27 has been designated the Claude Pepper Memorial Highway by the Florida State Legislature. It was named after long-time Floridian congressman Claude Pepper.
In Broward County, everything west of US 27 is protected wetlands. It is colloquially termed "Bloody 27" due to the high rate of crashes on it.
Nearly the entire length of US 27 in Florida is divided highway. Several sections through Highland, Polk, and Lake counties are currently under construction to widen the highway to 6 lanes. Several sections have already been completed.
Georgia
In Georgia, US 27 has been designated the Martha Berry Highway by the Georgia State Legislature. It was named after Martha Berry, founder of Berry College in Rome.
U.S. Highway 27 is a designated Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP) developmental highway corridor which will eventually be widened to 4-lanes (mostly divided) from the Florida state line to the Tennessee state line.
Tennessee
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, a portion of US 27 was once signed as Interstate 124. Though the designation still exists, it is no longer signed as such. In and around the Chattanooga area, US 27 is sometimes referred to as Corridor J, the designation of a road in the Appalachian Development Highway System between Chattanooga and London, Kentucky intended to follow the route of US 27.
From Chattanooga, the highway passes through Soddy-Daisy and the small communities of Sale Creek and Graysville before reaching Dayton, the site of the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial. It then passes through Evensville before arriving at Spring City.
From here, US 27 enters Roane County, running concurrent with U.S. Highway 70 going through the city of Rockwood. After Highway 70 splits to the east, US 27 runs concurrent with Tennessee State Route 61 through Harriman, where it is crossed by Interstate 40. During this stretch, it forms part of the Harvey H. Hannah Memorial Highway, and is signed as such.
In Morgan County, the highway passes through Wartburg and Sunbright.
It passes through Robbins and Helenwood before reaching Oneida in Scott County.
Winfield is the last sizable town that US 27 passes through in Tennessee before it reaches the community of Isham on the Kentucky border.
Kentucky
US 27 enters Kentucky near Whitley City. The first major town it goes through is Somerset, followed by Nicholasville, and Lexington, where it begins a concurrency with US 68 that continues to Paris, Kentucky. US 27 continues north from there through Cynthiana, Falmouth, Alexandria, Highland Heights, and Newport before crossing into Cincinnati, Ohio.
Ohio
A section of US 27 from Cincinnati (Colerain) to Oxford, Ohio is better known as the "Highway to Heaven" because of the number of fatal accidents that have occurred on this stretch of the two-lane highway.
Indiana
US-27 enters the southeastern part of Indiana south of the village of Liberty. At Liberty, US-27 turns north, paralleling the Ohio state line. It intersects Interstate 70 at Richmond, Indiana, and continues north to Decatur. US-33 joins US-27 just south of Decatur and the two routes share a northwesterly alignment from Decatur to Interstate 469 south of Fort Wayne. US-33 turns west and follows I-469, while US-27 continues north into downtown Fort Wayne as Clinton Street. North of downtown, US-27 follows Lima Road to its terminus at I-69/US-30 (Lima Road continues north from this point as State Road 3).
History
Originally, the southern terminus of US 27 was in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1928, the route was extended south to Chattanooga, Tennessee, then to Tallahassee, Florida in 1934. In 1949, it was extended to its current terminus in Miami. At its northern end, US 27 originally terminated at Cheboygan, Michigan. In 1937, the route was extended concurrently with US 23 to Mackinaw City, where it ended at the Michigan State Auto Ferry Dock along with US 23 and US 31. After the completion of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957, US 27 was extended across the bridge to the current intersection of Interstate 75 and US 2 near St. Ignace. In 1961, what became I-75 was completed, enabling the roadway to be designated as I-75. At the same time, US 27 was truncated to an interchange with I-75 six miles (10 km) south of Grayling. In 2002, the northern terminus was moved to its current location.
From Grayling to Interstate 69 near Lansing, the road is now designated U.S. Route 127. US 27 signs were removed from I-69 between Lansing and Fort Wayne in 2001. Officially, the current northern terminus is at the junction of I-69, US-30, and State Road 3, but heading north on I-69 one will still see US-27 shields on some of the older overhead signs heading to the I-469 interchange on the northern edge of Fort Wayne.
Indiana
On March 9, 2007, legislation was introduced in the Indiana House of Representatives to designate U.S. 27 as historic highway. Richmond, one of the cities U.S. 27 passes through, would have two historic highways passing through it. The original National Road (U.S. Route 40) runs through Richmond.
Michigan
US 27 was one of the highways in Michigan to carry the TEMP I-75 designation when I-75 was being constructed along then M-76.
The at-grade routing of US 27 in Michigan has been largely superseded by Interstate 75, which follows a roughly similar route and in some places actually replaced the older highway. From Lansing north to I-75, the former US 27 is now U.S. Route 127; from Lansing south to Fort Wayne, US 27 was replaced by Interstate 69. In many places the route markers and the highway itself serve to connect local communities bypassed by the Interstate Highway.
Bannered routes
- ALT US 27 — Williston-Perry, Florida
- ALT US 27 — Columbus-Carrollton, Georgia
Related routes
External links
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