Thursday 1st December 1955

The first 22-mile segment (near the present-day exit 218 for I-76 and I-80) of the 241 mile Ohio Turnpike, a primary corridor between Chicago and Pitssburgh opened. Construction for the road cost $326 million and was recorded the biggest project in state history, with 10,000 employees, more than 2,300 bulldozers, graders, loaders and other machines over a 38-month period.The road runs east–west in the northern section of the state, with the western end at the Indiana–Ohio border near Bryan where it meets the Indiana Toll Road, and the eastern end at the Ohio–Pennsylvania border near Petersburg, where it meets the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Several motorists attended a dedication ceremony, with over 1,000 people joining a caravan, following a snow plow and a patrol cruiser, to become the first to drive the turnpike. The remaining section from exit 218 west to Indiana opened on October 1, 1955. A connecting ramp near the Indiana state line closed on August 16, 1956, the day before the Indiana Toll Road was opened; this ramp had been used to allow traffic access to US 20 to cross into Indiana. The turnpike was named after the first chairman of the commission, James W. Shocknessy, in 1976.Originally, the turnpike offered 18 access points. Additional access points have since been provided, bringing the total number, including the Westgate and Eastgate toll barriers, to 31.