U.S. Route 27


U.S. Route 27 is a north–south United States Highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at US 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 three years as far as St. Ignace.
US 27 appeared in 1926, 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 Legislature. It was named after long-time Florida US Senator and congressman Claude Pepper. The stretch running from Miami to South Bay was originally designated the Thomas E. Will Memorial Highway by the Florida Legislature in 1937 when that portion was known as Florida State Road 26. Will, the founder of Okeelanta, Florida, had been instrumental in getting the state to build the road from Miami to the area south of Lake Okeechobee. Nearly the entire length of US 27 in Florida is a divided highway.
US 27 begins as North 36th Street in Midtown Miami, heading west from US 1 for before turning northwest to pass under the western terminus of the Airport Expressway. It then proceeds northwest for five miles as South Okeechobee Road, parallel to the Miami Canal, forming the southwest boundary of the city of Hialeah. After an interchange with the Palmetto Expressway, it continues northwest as North Okeechobee Road for five miles before an interchange with the Homestead Extension of the Florida Turnpike. After another four miles, the highway curves to the north and, after passing the northern terminus of Krome Avenue, crosses into Broward County.
In Broward County, the highway passes protected wetlands and heavy duty power lines on the west and the outer reaches of the suburban communities of Pembroke Pines and Weston on the east. US 27 then reaches an interchange with I-75 and Alligator Alley before curving to the northwest toward South Bay and Lake Okeechobee.
The highway skirts the southwestern shore of Lake Okeechobee and then heads west at Clewiston, before making a sharp turn to the north towards Moore Haven. The road then proceeds in a northerly direction toward the central Florida communities of Lake Placid, Sebring, Avon Park, and Lake Wales.
Widening of US 27 to a six-lane highway continues in Polk County. The following sections have been completed and are open to six lanes of traffic:
North of I-4, US 27 contains un-numbered interchanges with US 192 and then County Road 474 in Citrus Ridge, SR 50 in Clermont, and SR 19 south of Howey-in-the-Hills, which also includes a southbound interchange with Florida's Turnpike. The northbound Turnpike interchange can be found further northwest. US 441 later joins US 27 in Leesburg and US 301 in Belleview, only for the road to break away from both in Ocala.
US 27 resumes its status as its own route until it reaches Williston and joins US 41. This concurrency continues northward until US 41 reaches High Springs, and joins US 441. US 27 heads west along the unsigned SR 20 towards Perry and joins US 19 until US 19 breaks away in Capps, but not before resuming a westward direction. In Tallahassee, the road becomes Apalachee Parkway, a major east–west thoroughfare. Constructed in 1957, the Apalachee Parkway starts at Monroe Street in front of the Florida State Capitol building. It has a short expressway section just east of the capitol, then is a busy four-lane surface boulevard with service roads for the next few miles, passing the Governor's Square Mall and many state office buildings. Past Tallahassee, US 27 finally resumes its northwesterly direction. The highway goes through Havana before entering Georgia.

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. US 27 is a designated Governor's Road Improvement Program developmental highway corridor which will eventually be widened to four lanes from the Florida state line to the Tennessee state line. All of US 27 in Georgia is concurrent with Georgia State Route 1.

Tennessee

In Chattanooga, a portion of US 27 was once signed as I-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.
Throughout its approximately stretch between Chattanooga and Harriman, US 27 traverses a valley between the Tennessee River to the east and the Cumberland Plateau to the west. The plateau's Walden Ridge escarpment is frequently visible to the west. From Chattanooga, the highway passes through Soddy-Daisy. Here, it intersects State Route 111, which veers northwestward across the Plateau into Middle Tennessee. US 27 continues through Sale Creek and Graysville before reaching Dayton. At Dayton, it intersects SR 30, which connects Dayton with Pikeville to the west and Decatur to the east, and SR 60, which connects Dayton with Cleveland to the southeast. US 27 continues northward through Evensville before arriving at Spring City. At Spring City, it intersects SR 68, which connects the area to Crossville, atop the plateau to the west.
From here, US 27 enters Roane County, running concurrently with US 70 going through the city of Rockwood. After US 70 splits to the east, US 27 runs concurrently with SR 61 through Harriman, where it is crossed by I-40. During this stretch, it forms part of the Harvey H. Hannah Memorial Highway, and is signed as such. Just beyond Harriman, near the DeArmond community, US 27 ascends the Cumberland Plateau, and continues northward across the plateau for its remaining or so in Tennessee.
In Morgan County, the highway passes through Wartburg and Sunbright. At Elgin, it intersects SR 52, which connects the area with the historic village of Rugby, Tennessee, and Fentress County to the west. Beyond Elgin, US 27 passes through Robbins, Huntsville, and Helenwood before reaching Oneida in Scott County. In Oneida, US 27 intersects SR 297, which continues westward into the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. A short time later, US 27 intersects with SR 456, which continues to Tennessee State Route 63. After coming to a stop, it then makes a sharp left turn to go through downtown Oneida. After a further, it then reaches Winfield. 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 Stanford, Lancaster, Nicholasville, and Lexington, where it begins a concurrency with US 68 that continues to Paris. US 27 continues north from there through Cynthiana, Falmouth, Alexandria, Highland Heights, Fort Thomas, Southgate, and Newport before crossing into Ohio at Cincinnati via Taylor-Southgate Bridge. From its junction with Interstate 471 in Highland Heights through Campbell County, it is a four-lane highway with a center turn lane for both directions of traffic. Near the "welcome to Alexandria" sign at KY 536, US 27 becomes a divided four-lane highway with a grass median. It is currently being constructed as such for the rest of its length from 536 through southern Campbell county. Currently, US 27 is under-going a widening project near Garrard CR 1355 to HWY 34. The road will become a four lane into Lexington.

Ohio

US 27 crosses into Ohio and Downtown Cincinnati via the Taylor–Southgate Bridge. US 27 follows Mehring Way, Central Avenue, Ezzard Charles Drive and Central Parkway through Downtown Cincinnati. US 27 briefly duplexes with I-75, exiting at I-74 for another brief duplex before exiting onto Colerain Road. US 27 then continues Northwest eventually to Oxford, and then reaches the Indiana border another 6 miles northwest at College Corner.
Overall, US 27 is in Ohio for 40.6 miles: 18.5 miles in Hamilton County and another 22.1 miles in Butler County.

Indiana

US 27 enters the southeastern part of Indiana south of the town of Liberty. At Liberty, US 27 turns north, paralleling the Ohio state line. It intersects I-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 on a divided surface highway from Decatur to I-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.

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 I-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 south of Grayling. In 2002, the northern terminus was moved to its current location.
From Grayling to I-69 near Lansing, the road is now designated US 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 SR 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 US 27 as historic highway. Richmond, one of the cities US 27 passes through, would have two historic highways passing through it. The original National Road runs through Richmond.

Michigan

US 27 was one of the highways in Michigan to carry the TO I-75 designation when I-75 was being constructed.
The at-grade routing of US 27 in Michigan has been largely superseded by I-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 US 127; from Lansing south to Fort Wayne, US 27 was replaced by I-69. In many places the route markers and the highway itself serve to connect local communities bypassed by the Interstate Highway.

Major intersections

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