Narrative:

Air carrier X was climbing to FL340; requesting FL350. Crossing traffic prevented assignment of FL350. I cleared air carrier X direct cxr to keep him south of crl and de-conflict him with air carrier Y. Air carrier Y was southeast of crl proceeding north westbound on J34. I believed that air carrier Y would continue on J34 north westbound. In fact; air carrier Y's flight plan had him make a significant left turn (approx 70 degrees) westbound at crl toward obk. The controller team at the bft(47) sector alerted me to the routing via inter phone. I immediately issued vectors to both aircraft since I was unable to use altitude to resolve the conflict. Both aircraft turned away from each other. The target ran along the edge of the 5 mile dri when the conflict alert activated. Recommendation; this particular routing has been a reported concern since its inception. Controllers in my area refer to it as death routing (no exaggeration; that's what we call it). This sector is primarily an eastbound traffic sector with many transitioning aircraft climbing from ord. The only westbound traffic we work is the traffic north westbound on J34. When an aircraft turns west on J554; it is generally not expected and feared. They turn into head on traffic transitioning through their altitude. These aircraft should be routed with a westbound flow. There are several that can be used though ZOB. Running them against the grain is not safe or efficient. It is my belief that if this is allowed to continue; more incidents will occur where there is a loss of separation or worse. I recommend that these routes be corrected as soon as possible.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZOB Controller experienced a loss of separation when failing to note a conflicting routing between enroute aircraft at FL340; reporter indicating the procedure involved is not safe or efficient.

Narrative: Air Carrier X was climbing to FL340; requesting FL350. Crossing traffic prevented assignment of FL350. I cleared Air Carrier X direct CXR to keep him South of CRL and de-conflict him with Air Carrier Y. Air Carrier Y was Southeast of CRL proceeding North westbound on J34. I believed that Air Carrier Y would continue on J34 North westbound. In fact; Air Carrier Y's flight plan had him make a significant left turn (approx 70 degrees) Westbound at CRL toward OBK. The controller team at the BFT(47) sector alerted me to the routing via inter phone. I immediately issued vectors to both aircraft since I was unable to use altitude to resolve the conflict. Both aircraft turned away from each other. The target ran along the edge of the 5 mile DRI when the conflict alert activated. Recommendation; this particular routing has been a reported concern since its inception. Controllers in my area refer to it as death routing (no exaggeration; that's what we call it). This sector is primarily an Eastbound traffic sector with many transitioning aircraft climbing from ORD. The only Westbound traffic we work is the traffic North westbound on J34. When an aircraft turns West on J554; it is generally not expected and feared. They turn into head on traffic transitioning through their altitude. These aircraft should be routed with a Westbound flow. There are several that can be used though ZOB. Running them against the grain is not safe or efficient. It is my belief that if this is allowed to continue; more incidents will occur where there is a loss of separation or worse. I recommend that these routes be corrected ASAP.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.