It was planned to run from Cincinnati to Conneaut and connect with an extension built across the panhandle of Pennsylvania to the New York State Thruway.

It was designated as SR 1, since the Interstate Highway numbering system had not yet been implemented.

Portions of the freeway began to be completed and opened in 1959 with the new Interstate Highway funding, and they were later marked as SR 1 (the Interstate Highway numbers did not go up until 1962[citation needed]).

Since large gaps existed along the corridor where no freeway had yet been completed, existing two-lane or four-lane highways were designated as Temporary SR 1 in order to complete the route.

In 1961, SR 1 followed Central Ave. in Cincinnati, to John Street, to Lincoln Park Drive (now Ezzard Charles Drive), to Freeman Avenue, to Western Avenue, to Spring Grove Avenue, to Colerain Avenue to Interstate 75 (at what is now the I-75/I-74 interchange); Interstate 75 from current I-74 interchange to West Carrollton; U.S. Route 25 (Dixie Drive) from West Carrollton to Interstate 70; Interstate 70 from Dixie Drive to near Enon (the current I-70/SR 4 split); State Route 4 from near Enon to Springfield; U.S. Route 40 from Springfield to Columbus; Broad St. (US 40) in Columbus, to 4th Street, to Summit/3rd Street (US 23), to Hudson Street, to Interstate 71; I-71 from Columbus to just east of Medina (the only portion of Interstate 71 complete at the time); State Route 18 from near Medina to Montrose; U.S. Route 21 from Montrose to Brecksville; State Route 82 from Brecksville to Aurora; (an alternate SR 1 ran from Twinsburg southeast along State Route 14 to Streetsboro and then on State Route 43 to Aurora, in order to connect SR 1 to the Ohio Turnpike;) State Route 306 from Aurora to State Route 84; SR 84 from State Route 306 to just west of what was then State Route 44; due south to Interstate 90 along what is now a section of SR 44; and finally Interstate 90 to the Pennsylvania state line.