End of US highway 68

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: H.B. Elkins; Dan Garnell; Don Hargraves; me

Approx. time period East terminus West terminus
1926-1933 Maysville, KY (near Paducah, KY)
1933-1957 East terminus West terminus
Maysville, KY (near Paducah, KY)
North terminus South terminus
Toledo, OH Aberdeen, OH
1957-present East terminus West terminus
Maysville, KY Reidland, KY
North terminus South terminus
Findlay, OH Aberdeen, OH

US 68 was an original 1926 route. At its east end, it joined with US 62 at Washington KY, and the two routes were co-signed to a common terminus in Maysville. That's right, they didn't quite make it to US 52 at Aberdeen OH: apparently there was no span over the Ohio then. But perhaps a bridge was already planned (or was under construction), and maybe that's why these highways were signed into Maysville in the first place: because they would soon be able to continue across the river.

That happened about five years later: US 62 and US 68 were both extended into Ohio. But Maysville was (and is) still the "east" end of US 68, because the route is signed north-south on the Ohio side. For the most part, anyway... it's somewhat complicated, so I've got a separate page with several photos from the Maysville area.

It was in 1933 that US 68 was extended north to Toledo OH; you can view photos from there on this page.

At its west end, US 68 junctioned with US 60 on the outskirts of Paducah KY. It's possible that it would've been duplexed with US 60 into downtown, but if that's the case, then I don't know where it would've ended. But my guess is, even if it was duplexed, that would've been a very short-lived situation. Here's why: US 62 was routed through the area beginning in 1930, and it was co-signed with US 60 from Paducah to a fair distance east (including the US 68 junction). To me, it seems a little unlikely that US 68 would've been triplexed with 60/62 into downtown. At any rate, a 1955 county map shows US 68 ending at its junction with US 60/62. So unless anyone can provide any evidence to the contrary, at this point I'm going to posit that US 68 never went all the way into downtown Paducah.

Today US 60 and 62 head east out of Paducah, and after crossing Clarks River, they diverge as they approach Reidland:

me, July 2007

US 62 heads eastward from here, while US 60 heads northeast for quite a long way. But beginning in 1930, both US 60 and US 62 went to the left. The fork to the right was the west beginning of US 68.

At some point (probably in the 1950s), US 62 was rerouted along its current path: straight ahead on what used to be US 68. So the westernmost portion of US 68 was truncated, and its west beginning is now about three miles ahead:

Elkins, 2000

That assembly had been changed by 2007:

me, July 2007

I didn't check the westbound signage, but here's what it used to look like:

Elkins, 2000

To the left is the west beginning of US 68. I-24 (exit 16) is about a mile that direction, and Paducah is about 10 miles ahead.

The cars in the photo below have just reached the west end of US 68, although they're heading essentially due north at this point:

Elkins, 2000

That sign was unchanged at the time of my 2007 visit.

In 1957, the US 68 designation was truncated back to Findlay. Although this was before I-75 was complete in Ohio, by then US 25 was already following the route of today's I-75 west of Findlay, and US 68 traffic was routed along its current bypass south and west of the city. Here's where it ends, at what is now I-75's interchange 156:

me, Oct. 2002

Here's the beginning of US 68 as seen from southbound I-75:

Garnell, Oct. 2003

There's a tight loop around to the right; the road passes back under I-75 and then you see the first southbound US 68 sign:

me, Oct. 2002