Dead Man's Curve

For other uses, see Dead Man's Curve (disambiguation).

"Dead Man's Curve" in downtown Cleveland, Ohio

Dead Man's Curve is the unofficial but commonly used name given to hazardous curves on Interstate and other highways in the United States that have claimed lives due to accidents.

I-90 Cleveland Innerbelt

The most famous curve is the nearly 90-degree turn on Interstate 90 near downtown Cleveland, Ohio, at the point where the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway connects to the Innerbelt Freeway just south of Burke Lakefront Airport. The advisory speed is 35 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour), although the maximum safe speed limit is 50 mph (80 km/h), as on adjacent sections of the Shoreway and Innerbelt.

Dead Man's Curve was constructed as part of the Innerbelt project in 1959. It soon became apparent that the curve was too sharp for travel at typical Interstate speeds, and in 1965, the state lowered the speed limit from 50 mph to 35 mph. Four years later, authorities completed the first set of safety retrofits, which included banking the curve and installing rumble strips and large signs.

According to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), the crash rate on the Innerbelt (which includes Dead Man's Curve) is two to three times the regional average for urban freeways, despite the reduced speed limits on the roadway. The department is investigating ways of enhancing safety on the stretch, including a complete realignment of the roadway to reduce the degree of the curve. According to a 2003 ODOT count, 95,090 vehicles travel on the curve every day.

Other Sharp Curves

Other highways have sections known as "Dead Man's Curve":

• Interstate 83 (Jones Falls Expressway) in Baltimore, MD, although it is not referred to as such.
• A series of curves on Interstate 76 (Schuylkill Expressway, known locally as the "Surekill Deathway") in Philadelphia.
• Interstate 20 just east of the Birmingham, Alabama airport, at its junction with Interstate 59; engineers were forced to build a sudden curve into the highway to avoid a cemetery.
• A sharp bend in US 50 (Columbia Parkway) east of Cincinnati, where the east-west highway abruptly turns north.
• A sharp turn on eastbound Interstate 70 near Morrison, Colorado that is preceded by a seven mile stretch of a 6.5% grade hill, which has been the site of numerous fatal runaway truck accidents.
• A stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California was immortalized by Jan and Dean in the song "Dead Man's Curve". It is located near the Bel Air estates just north of UCLA's Drake Stadium.

External links

• Pictures of downtown Cleveland roads, including Dead Man's Curve
• Cleveland Innerbelt Plan (Ohio Department of Transportation)
• "Dead Man's Curve could be worse — in fact, it was," by James Sweeney, The Plain Dealer April 22, 2001.
• Encyclopedia of Cleveland History — Innerbelt Freeway
• ODOT traffic counts

• Urban Legend site