^Looking west from Exit 173 near Brecksville, which leads to I-77 and Ohio 21, June 2024.

Interstate 80 runs east-west across northern Ohio, and most of its length in Ohio is tolled. The Interstate follows the Ohio Turnpike from then northwest corner of Ohio through the metropolitan areas of Toledo and Cleveland, but at Youngstown, it makes a last-minute switch to a freeway heading eastward into Pennsylvania.  Interstate 80, and Interstate 90 for that matter, enters Ohio by crossing the state line out of Indiana, only three to four miles south of the state of Michigan.  This is very close to Ohio's northwest corner, in other words.  At this point, the Indiana Toll Road becomes the Ohio Turnpike, and Interstates 80 and 90 continue their long streak of charging tolls to road users. The first fifty miles are rather uneventful, passing by rural routes and rural farming communities, and it feels even more uneventful because interchanges along the Ohio Turnpike are scarce, by design. One has to be very strategic in planning ingress to and egress from the tollway.  The situation in Toledo, encountered after those first fifty miles, is no exception. Interstates 80 and 90 have no access to Interstate 475; access to the Toledo area is only provided via US Route 20, Interstate 75, and Interstate 280. Beyond Toledo, Interstates 80 and 90 follow the Ohio Turnpike past Fremont and Sandusky to Elyria, where Interstate 90 splits away from Interstate 80 and the Ohio Turnpike. Interstate 90 starts using a freeway heading straight for downtown Cleveland, whereas Interstate 80 and the Ohio Turnpike slink a little more toward the south to bypass Metro Cleveland.  Interstate 480 is provided as a freeway link to Cleveland's southern suburbs, but Interstate 80 stays even farther south than that.  Before it can reach Warren, Interstate 80 bends straight toward the southeast, so it can serve Youngstown. Just before reaching Youngstown, Interstate 80 pawns off the Ohio Turnpike to Interstate 76 so it can use Interstate 76's old freeway to jump east into Pennsylvania.  Interstate 80 is finally free!...of charge, that is.  It's only free of charge, skirting the north side of the Youngstown area, for about eighteen miles before it crosses into Pennsylvania, bound for New York City (Pennsylvania's measly control cities be damned). Note that Interstate 680 is provided as a link to Youngstown from Interstate 80's new eastward freeway.

​As with all of the Ohio Interstate pages, more information and a full exit list will come in the future. For now, enjoy this general information and a photo of the signage, in a similar fashion to how I do the state and US highway pages.

My photo of Interstate 80 signage in Ohio comes from Girard, just north of Youngstown.  This shot looks north along US Route 422 at a junction marker for Interstate 80 and Ohio Route 11.  Ohio Route 11 is using Interstate 80 to jog over on a short concurrency here. Northbound travelers on US Route 422 use the junction marker to anticipate the upcoming interchange accessing Interstate 80.  This photo was taken in April 2021 as I was driving home from Virginia.

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