Interstate 290 (Illinois)

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Interstate 290 Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System
Length:	29.84 mi[1] (48.02 km)
Formed:	1955 (finished 1972)
West end:	I-90/ILL 53 in Rolling Meadows
Major junctions:	I-355 in Addison I-294 in Elmhurst I-88 in Hillside
East end:	I-90/94/Congress Parkway in Chicago
Illinois state highway system < I-280 I-294 >

Interstate 290 (abbreviated I-290) is a main Interstate freeway that runs west from the Chicago Loop. A portion of I-290 is officially called the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway. Colloquially it is known as the Eisenhower or the Ike. Before being designated the Eisenhower, the Eisenhower was called the Congress Expressway for the surface street that was located approximately in its path and into which I-290 runs at its eastern terminus in the Loop.

Interstate 290 connects Interstate 90 (Northwest Tollway) in Rolling Meadows with Interstates 90/94 (Kennedy Expressway / Dan Ryan Expressway) near the Loop. North of Interstate 355, the freeway is known locally as Illinois Route 53, or simply Route 53, as Illinois 53 existed before Interstate 290, but now merges with I-290 at Biesterfield Road. In total, Interstate 290 is 29.84 miles (48.02 km) in length.^[2]

Contents 1 Route description 1.1 Northwest Tollway to North-South Tollway 1.2 Eisenhower Extension 1.3 Tri-State Tollway to Austin Boulevard 1.4 Austin Boulevard to Chicago Loop 2 History 3 Lingo 4 Exit list 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Route description

The Eisenhower Expressway may be divided into four distinct sections:

[edit] Northwest Tollway to North-South Tollway

This section is 7 miles (11 km) long and runs from Rolling Meadows to Addison. It is the portion of I-290 more locally known as "Route 53." Here, Interstate 290 runs largely above-grade through Schaumburg, and at-or-below grade through Itasca and Addison.

The northern five miles of the highway were reconstructed in 2003-2004. A left shoulder and auxiliary lane between ramps were added, as well as improved lighting. The highway is four lanes wide (not counting the auxiliary lane) north of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway (mile marker 5), and five lanes wide south to the exit to Interstate 355.

Between mile markers 0 and 4, Illinois Route 53 is multiplexed with this section of the Eisenhower.

[edit] Eisenhower Extension

This section is 11 miles (18 km) long and runs from Addison to Hillside. It took its name when the Eisenhower was extended northwest from Hillside. The highway runs largely at-grade or above-grade for this length. U.S. Route 20 is multiplexed on I-290 around Elmhurst from mile markers 12 to 13.

This section of I-290 varies in width from two lanes at the ramp east from the I-290/I-355 split, to three lanes between I-355 and U.S. Route 20, to three lanes plus two exit lanes at U.S. Route 20/Illinois Route 64 (Lake Street / North Avenue) (exit 13B). After exit 13B, the highway reverts to three thru traffic lanes. Exit 15 to southbound Interstate 294 is a frequent point of congestion due to ramp traffic backing up onto the mainline highway, often as long as 2 miles (3 km). This is because the ramp is not isolated from the mainline, only one lane in width, is a low-speed ramp (marked as a 35 mph ramp, and is relatively short (1/4 mile, or 1/2 km) while carrying a high volume of truck traffic south to Indiana from North Avenue. Additionally, the sudden appearance of the exit tends to cause accidents when cars in the center lane try to aggressively turn into the right lane, particularly at the mouth of the 294 exit. Finally, there is a dangerous high-volume weaving situation at the end of the ramp to I-294 with southbound I-294 traffic exiting to westbound Interstate 88. As of 2006, there are no plans to fix any of these issues.

The western three miles of this section are blacktop, while east of Illinois Route 83 (exit 10) the original concrete is still in place.

[edit] Tri-State Tollway to Austin Boulevard

This section is 7 miles (11 km) long and runs from Hillside to the western border of Chicago. This section can be referred to as "The Avenues", and is arguably the most congested portion of Interstate 290. It is known for having a high number of on-ramps through the Avenues, and switching to left exits at major interesections in Forest Park and Oak Park. Interstate 290 runs above grade west of Mannheim Road, and below grade east of Mannheim Road.

Eastbound at Mannheim Road (exit 17), the highway splits into two express and one local lane; they are joined by two onramps from Interstate 88 and form express lanes three lanes wide and local lanes to Mannheim Road two lanes wide. After Mannheim Road, the highway immediately narrows to three lanes in width, causing mile-long (1.6 km) backups. It remains three lanes to Austin Boulevard. Westbound, I-290 merely is three lanes wide to Mannheim Road, and then four lanes wide to the I-88/I-290 split. Exits at Harlem Avenue (exit 22B) and Austin Boulevard (exit 23) are left offramps and onramps, causing backups as trucks switch lanes to exit, and a large volume of traffic enters on the left side of the highway.

In 2001-2002, this section between mile markers 15 and 18 was reconstructed in an attempt to untangle the "Hillside Strangler", adding the local lanes and extra onramp to Interstate 290. Reconstruction of mile markers 18 through 23 is in the planning process, but no funding for construction has been approved as of May 2006.

[edit] Austin Boulevard to Chicago Loop

The easternmost section of I-290 is 7 miles (11 km) long and runs entirely through the city of Chicago to the terminus at Interstate 90/94. It runs below grade for its entire length.

The road is four lanes wide in both directions for the entire length of the highway, and most onramps and offramps are located two blocks apart. Therefore, an exit in one direction may be marked one street (ex. Laramie Avenue), while the same exit in the other direction may be marked another (ex. Cicero Avenue), even though the streets are only a block apart. This configuration results in most exits on this portion of road being marked as A/B exits.

Eastbound congestion is lighter here than through the Avenues, generally limited to congestion on the tight onramps to the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways (the Circle Interchange) at the eastern terminus or a blind onramp at Kostner Avenue. Westbound, congestion is heavy at Austin, where the left lane is marked exit only through an interchange with Central Avenue as the highway drops from four lanes to three.

The Eisenhower Expressway runs along blacktop for the length of the section, except between Kostner Avenue and Independence Boulevard, where it runs atop concrete.

The Chicago Transit Authority maintains a rail line from the loop west to Forest Park in the median of the Eisenhower, and then closely paralleling the Eisenhower for about 10 miles (16 km). While convenient for mass transit, it has also severely limited any possibility of lane additions to the Eisenhower where the train line is. Preliminary studies on such an effort are already starting, however.^[3]

[edit] History

An expressway along the alignment of the Eisenhower was foreshadowed by Daniel Burnham's plan of 1909, which described a west side boulevard. The passageway under the old Post Office was designed to preserve the right of way for the future road.^[4]

The Expressway is named after former President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was originally called the Congress Expressway (It begins on Congress Avenue). Political columnist Mike Royko joked that it is Chicago's only Republican expressway, the others all named after Democrats. The first segment, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) in length opened from Mannheim Road to 1st Avenue in December 1955.^[5] On December 15th, 4 additional miles (6 km) opened, from Ashland Avenue (1600 West) to Laramie Avenue (5200 West).^[6]

The Expressway was originally planned to be 4 lanes in each direction out to Mannheim road. However, a very wealthy bank owner in Oak Park refused to sell any right of way by his bank at Oak Park Avenue and the Expressway. He used his political connections to prevent any taking of the property by the state.^{[citation needed]} The result is insufficient right of way at this location for 4 lanes.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Eisenhower was extended to Lake Street and North Avenue. Another section opened in 1972, to a north-south expressway in Addison. At the time, this expressway was a short spur from the Eisenhower Expressway and referred to as Illinois Route 53, which continued north to Schaumburg. Construction on Illinois 53 had finished in 1970.^[7]

Until 1978, the Eisenhower Expressway was marked as part of Interstate 90. In 1978, the Interstate 90 designation was moved onto the Kennedy Expressway and the Northwest Tollway, replacing Illinois Route 194. The Eisenhower Expressway was then renumbered Interstate 290.

Because the segment from Interstate 294 to Illinois 53 was built last, that portion of the highway is referred to as the Eisenhower Extension. The Eisenhower Expressway, extension included, is 23 miles (37 km) long. If the Illinois 53 portion of Interstate 290 is added to that, it is actually 30 miles (48 km) long.

In 2003-2004, the first five miles (8 km) of Interstate 290 out of Schaumburg were rebuilt, replacing pavement that had well exceeded its estimate 20 year life — the original pavement was built in stages from 1963 through 1970 as part of Illinois 53.^[8] A fifth auxiliary lane was added between the entrance and exit ramps of exits 1, 4 and 5. The most important safety upgrade was the demolition of the raised grassy median between the westbound and eastbound lanes, and its replacement with a permanent concrete median and wide shoulders.

[edit] Lingo

The Eisenhower Expressway has subsections along its length that are used most often by traffic reporters to describe the extent of congestion on a highway. Users of the highway unfamiliar with these terms can easily be confused by them.

• Hillside Strangler — Named after the Chicago suburb of Hillside, it refers to a major merge with Interstate 88, and almost always is used when referring to inbound (eastbound) traffic. It is at this point that Interstate 88 terminates eastbound. It was called the Strangler because before its reconstruction in the early 2000s, seven through lanes were forced to merge to three, creating large backups. Urban legend suggests a former Columbia College student was the first known to use the expression relating to the traffic pattern in the late 70s during the "Hillside Strangler" murders media craze. Reconstruction widened part of this area to nine lanes (5 inbound — three through, two local, and 4 through lanes outbound); allowed direct exits to Mannheim Road (U.S. Routes 12/20/45) from Interstate 88, the ramp also serving for Interstate 88 truck access to Eastbound Interstate 290; created an inbound collector-distributor ramp for Mannheim Road; and added a timed gate that closed a ramp from Roosevelt Road (Illinois Route 38) to inbound Interstate 290 during rush hour periods. These improvements helped congestion at the site, but also pushed pre-existing congestion further east to the six lane portion of the highway. The Strangler is located at about mile marker 18.

• The Avenues — The portion of the highway between Mannheim Road at mile marker 17 and First Avenue north of Maywood, a stretch of 3 miles (5 km). Named because all of the crossroads between these two exits are named numerically, in ascending order traveling outbound (westbound). 1st Avenue (Illinois Route 171) is exit 20. There are exits to 9th Avenue, 17th Avenue, and 25th Avenue to the west. These exits are spaced about 3/4ths of a mile (1200 m) apart. This stretch is notorious for being extremely congested, and is one of the higher priority projects in Chicagoland today.

• Eisenhower Extension or 290 Extension — The eight miles (12 km) of road between current-day mile marker 7 (to Lake Street/US 20) and North Avenue (Illinois Route 64), mile marker 15. This section was built in the late 1970s.

• Circle Interchange — The eastern terminus of Interstate 290 where it meets Interstates 90 and 94, which are multiplexed through Chicago. North of this interchange Interstates 90 and 94 are called the Kennedy Expressway, while south of it Interstates 90 and 94 are called the Dan Ryan Expressway. The interchange itself consists of eight heavily used, very tight ramps that wind around each other, giving the interchange a distinct circle shape when looked at from above. This design, adequate when first built in the 1950s, has become a hazardous part of the highway because of its tight turns and extremely short approaches. However, redesign of the interchange has been determined to be prohibitively expensive because of the small, 2-to-4 city-block area that the interchange is built on.

• Post Office — Just east of the I-290 - I-90/94 Junction in downtown Chicago, the Post Office is a building that stretches over Congress Parkway. If one drives eastbound on I-290 and continues past I-90/94, the highway ends and becomes Congress Parkway. The Post Office is a landmark which is sometimes used in referring to the end of I-290 in downtown Chicago; for example, a traffic reporter might say "... forty minutes from Mannheim to the Post Office...".

The building was used by the United States Postal Service until 1996. It was bought by a developer in 1998, but as of early 2006 no progress has been made with regards to development on the site. The building itself was built from 1921 to 1933 in the Art-Deco style, and is 2.5 million square feet (230,000 m²) in size. The vast majority of the space is away from windows, and as a result has markedly less value than would be expected for a downtown structure. In spite of its unused state, the building is still known to visitors and commuters alike as the unofficial gateway into the Chicago Loop area.^[9]

• The Ike — Dwight D. Eisenhower's nick-name, 'Ike', also refers to the Eisenhower Expressway.

[edit] Exit list

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
Cook	Schaumburg	0.0	None	Interstate 90 (Northwest Tollway) - Rockford, Chicago Illinois Route 53 North - North Suburbs	Western terminus of Interstate 290. Illinois 53 continues northbound. Interchange is part of a collector-distributor (local and express) lane configuration. This configuration serves Illinois Route 62 - Algonquin Road on Illinois 53.
		0.75	1A-B	Illinois Route 58 - Golf Road Illinois Route 72 - Higgins Road Woodfield Road	Collector-Distributor exit for Schaumburg and the Woodfield Mall. Eastbound exit only accessible from local lanes that also serve Interstate 90. Eastbound uses Woodfield Road as exit to Illinois 58; this is exit 1A. Exit 1B is for Illinois 72 only. Westbound, signed solely as exit 1 and exits to a frontage road with access to all three streets.
	Elk Grove Village		4	Illinois Route 53 South - Biesterfield Road	Illinois 53 northbound multiplexes with Interstate 290 westbound at this point.
DuPage	Itasca		5	Thorndale Avenue - Elgin-O'Hare Expressway
	Addison		7	Interstate 355 South - Joliet	Westbound exit also serves U.S. Route 20 directly. Eastbound requires following Interstate 355 to reach U.S. 20.
			10A-B	Illinois Route 83 - Kingery Highway	Full cloverleaf interchange to northbound and southbound Illinois 83.
	Elmhurst		12	U.S. Route 20 West - Lake Street, York Road	U.S. 20 eastbound multiplexes with Interstate 290 eastbound.
			13A-B	Illinois Route 64 - North Avenue U.S. Route 20 East - Lake Street	Eastbound primary feeder ramp to Interstate 294 North (Tri-State Tollway). Westbound Interstate 290 exits are for eastbound U.S. 20 (exit 13B) and Illinois 64 West (exit 13A) only, but Illinois 64 East is accessible via eastbound U.S. 20 and Railroad Avenue. Westbound U.S. 20 multiplexes with Interstate 290 west at this point. Eastbound Interstate 290 exit is for eastbound Illinois 64 and U.S. 20 only, and is marked exit 13.
			14A-B	St. Charles Road	Full cloverleaf interchange to eastbound and westbound St. Charles Road. No trucks permitted eastbound.
	Hillside		15	Interstate 294 South (Tri-State Tollway) - Indiana	Eastbound exit only. Access to Interstate 88 (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) - Aurora via southbound Interstate 294.
Cook			15A-B	Interstate 294 (Tri-State Tollway) - Indiana, Wisconsin Interstate 88 West (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) - Aurora	Westbound exits only. Access to Illinois Route 38 West (Roosevelt Road) and southbound Interstate 294 via westbound Interstate 88 exit. Exits are 1/4 mile (400 m) apart.
			16	Wolf Road	Westbound exit only. Eastbound entrance ramps to exit 17 collector-distributor ramps.
			17	U.S. Routes 12/20/45 - Mannheim Road	Eastbound exit accessible via collector/distributor ramp.
		N/A	Addison Creek
	Maywood		18A-B	25th Avenue	Partial cloverleaf interchange with exits to north and south 25th Avenue.
			19A	17th Avenue	Full interchange.
			19B	9th Avenue	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
			20	Illinois Route 171 - 1st Avenue
		N/A	Des Plaines River
	Oak Park		21A	Des Plaines Avenue	Westbound entrance; eastbound exit.
		21.7	21B	Illinois Route 43 - Harlem Avenue	Left exit/entrance.
		23.2	23A	Austin Boulevard (6000 West)	Left exit/entrance.
	Chicago		23B	Central Avenue (5600 West)
			24A	Laramie Avenue (5200 West)	Westbound exit; eastbound entrance
			24B	Illinois Route 50 - Cicero Avenue (4800 West)	Westbound entrance; eastbound exit
			25	Kostner Avenue (4400 West)	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance
			26A	Independence Boulevard (3800 West)
			26B	Homan Avenue (3400 West)	Westbound exit only
			27A	Sacramento Avenue (2800 West)	Westbound entrance, eastbound exit
			27B	California Avenue (2600 West)	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance
			27C	Western Avenue (2400 West) - Oakley Street (2300 West)	Oakley Street is first cross street on westbound exit ramp.
			28A	Damen Avenue (2000 West)	Eastbound access to Historic U.S. Route 66 - Ogden Avenue.
			28B	Ashland Avenue (1600 West) - Paulina Avenue (1700 West)	Paulina Avenue is first cross-street on eastbound ramp. Westbound access to Historic U.S. Route 66 - Ogden Avenue.
			29A	Racine Avenue (1200 West)	Westbound entrance, eastbound exit.
			29B	Morgan Avenue (1000 West)	Westbound exit only.
		29.84	None	Interstates 90/94 (Kennedy Expressway / Dan Ryan Expressway) - Indiana, Wisconsin	Eastern terminus of Interstate 290. Also known as the Circle Interchange.

[edit] External links

• Kurumi's 3di page — I-290
• Illinois Highway Ends: Interstate 290

[edit] References

	edit Auxiliary routes of Interstate 90
	Current and Future (F)	Former
	Illinois - Massachusetts - New York - South Dakota
	Illinois - Massachusetts - New York	Ohio
	New York
	New York - Ohio
	New York
	New York
	New York
	New York
	New York

edit Expressways in Chicagoland
	Stevenson Expressway		Interstate 57		Interstate 65
	Kingery Expressway | Borman Expressway		Tri-State Tollway		Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway
	Northwest Tollway | Chicago Skyway | Indiana Toll Road		Dan Ryan Expressway		Interstate 190 | Kennedy Expressway
	Edens Spur | Edens Expressway | Bishop Ford Freeway		Eisenhower Expressway		North-South Tollway
	Elgin Bypass		Lake Shore Drive | Skokie Highway		Illinois Route 53
	Kingery Highway		Amstutz Expressway		Illinois Route 394
	Elgin-O'Hare Expressway		Cline Avenue
Former / Future Expressways
	Crosstown Expressway		Illiana Expressway		Prairie Parkway