| Tri-State Tollway | |
|---|---|
| Route information | |
| Maintained by ISTHA | |
| Length: | 78 mi[1] (126 km) |
| Existed: | Mid to late 1950s – present |
| Major junctions | |
| South end: | I-80 / I-94 / I-294 / IL 394 in Thornton |
| North end: | I-94 / US 41 west of Zion |
| Highway system | |
|
Main route of the Interstate Highway System |
|
The Tri-State Tollway is a U.S. toll road maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) in northeastern Illinois which is considered one of the most heavily traveled highways in the country (according to the IBTTA, the tollway is the nation's 4th busiest toll road[2]). It is actually a combination of three different Interstates:
The segment containing Interstate 294 is 53 miles (85 km) long; in total, the Tri-State Tollway is actually about 78 miles (126 km) long. Only the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway is longer. Despite its name, the Tri-State Tollway does not enter either Indiana or Wisconsin. On the Indiana side, the Tri-State Tollway ends three miles (5 km) away from the Indiana border and continues as the Kingery Expressway; however both the Kingery and the Indiana portion, which was later named the Borman Expressway, were known as the Tri-State Highway before the Tollway was completed. On the Wisconsin side, the toll road ends just before the border at U.S. Route 41 and Russell Road, although ISTHA maintenance continues to the state line.[3][4]
Contents |
| Edens Spur | |
|---|---|
| Location: | Deerfield–Glencoe, IL |
| Length: | 4 mi (6 km) |
The Edens Spur is a 5-mile (8-kilometre) cutover from the Tri-State Tollway to the Edens Expressway. It connects the Interstate 94 portions of the tollway and the Edens Expressway. It is technically a toll road.
Northbound traffic on the Edens Expressway has the option of cutting over to the northbound Tri-State Tollway, or remaining on U.S. Highway 41 (Skokie Highway). Southbound traffic on the Tri-State Tollway has the option of cutting over to the southbound Edens Expressway, or remaining on the Tri-State Tollway on the loop Interstate 294. There are no other ways to enter the Edens Spur at the ends.
There is one exit eastbound on the Edens Spur at Illinois Route 43 (Waukegan Road). There is also an entrance ramp to the Edens Spur westbound at that point.
The spur has one toll barrier, as it is still part of the Illinois toll highway system. This toll plaza has been upgraded and now has (I-Pass) open tolling lanes, which have eliminated most congestion at this toll.
Portions of the Tri-State Tollway are referred to in somewhat archaic language during traffic reports and casual conversation. The following are the most common, from south to north:
The Tri-State Tollway was built in the mid- to late 1950s as a bypass of Chicago, as the Indiana Toll Road-Chicago Skyway (opened in 1956) ran towards downtown. The first section opened August 28, 1958, running from Wisconsin south to and east along the Edens Spur. The rest of the road, from the Edens Spur south to the Calumet Expressway and Kingery Expressway, opened December 23 of the same year. It was at first marked as U.S. Highway 41 Toll, which continued east on the Kingery Expressway (now I-80/I-94) to Calumet Avenue (US 41) in Hammond, Indiana, and ended at the north end of the Tollway, where it merges with US 41. It was also marked as U.S. Highway 30 Toll between its south end (the Calumet Expressway was U.S. Highway 30 Alternate) and the East–West Tollway. In 1959 the Tollway was designated as parts of I-94 and I-294, and the short concurrency with I-80 was assigned.
In 1998, the authority removed the entire multilane Deerfield Toll Plaza on the Tri-State, then considered one of the worst snags on the tollway system. To make up for the lost tolls, the Tollway Authority built the Huehl Road Toll Plaza on the Edens Spur to charge traffic that followed Interstate 94 into Chicago. In addition, tolls at the Waukegan Toll Plaza were increased, and additional toll plazas built on exits south of Deerfield at Lake-Cook Road, Willow Road and Golf Road (Illinois Route 58). Toll collection facilities were also added to entrance ramps to the northbound Tri-State at those points.
Numerous projects to rebuild and widen the entire Tri-State Tollway were completed by early 2010.[6]
As of December 30, 2009, Clearview Font signage was installed on the Tollway system, and the mileposts of the I-94 portion of the Tri-State Tollway and Edens Spur no longer use the original milepost signage from IL-394 and I-80. Milepost signs north of Lake-Cook Road now use I-94's mileage from south of the Wisconsin state line. Example: I-294 going north has milepost numbers going up to mile 53. I-294 mile 53 becomes I-94 mile 25 going north with the milepost numbers going down. Milepost numbers are now visible every 1/4 mile, as opposed to the previous signage at 1/2 mile intervals.[7]
| County | Location | Plaza #[8] |
Mile [8][9][10] |
Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook | South Holland | 0 | I-80 east / I-94 east – Indiana | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| 0 | I-94 west / IL 394 south – Chicago, Danville | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |||
| 1 | Chicago Southland Lincoln Oasis | ||||
| East Hazel Crest | 47 | 3 | IL 1 (Halsted Street (800 West)) | ||
| 4 | Dixie Highway | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |||
| Hazel Crest | 43-45 | 5 | I-80 west to I-57 – Iowa | North end of I-80 overlap | |
| 41 | 6 | 163rd Street Toll Plaza | |||
| Markham | 40 | 6.5 | US 6 (159th Street) | ||
| Alsip | 12 | IL 50 (Cicero Avenue (4800 West)) / IL 83 (127th Street) | |||
| Hickory Hills | 38 | 17.5 | US 12 (95th Street) / US 20 / 76th Avenue | ||
| 39 | 19.5 | 83rd Street Toll Plaza (northbound) | |||
| 36 | 20 | 82nd Street Toll Plaza (southbound) | |||
| Justice | 21 | US 12 / US 20 / US 45 (LaGrange Road) / IL 171 (Archer Avenue) | Southbound entrance only | ||
| Mile-Long Bridge over Des Plaines River | |||||
| Hodgkins | 34 | 22 | 75th Street, Willow Springs Road (10800 West) | ||
| Indian Head Park | 37 | 23 | I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) – Chicago, St. Louis | No southbound entrance from I-55 south | |
| 24 | Wolf Road (11200 West) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |||
| Hinsdale | 25 | Hinsdale Oasis | |||
| Western Springs | 28 | US 34 (Ogden Avenue) | |||
| Hillside | 29 | I-88 west (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) – Aurora | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||
| 29.5 | Cermak Road, 22nd Street | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |||
| 35 | 30 | Cermak Road Toll Plaza | |||
| 30.5 | IL 38 (Roosevelt Road (1200 South)) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |||
| 31 | I-88 west (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) – Aurora | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |||
| 32 | I-290 east (Eisenhower Expressway) – Chicago | ||||
| Berkeley | 34 | I-290 west (Eisenhower Expressway) to US 20 / IL 64 – Rockford | |||
| Franklin Park | 38 | O'Hare Oasis | |||
| 38.5 | IL 19 (Irving Park Road (4000 North)) | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |||
| 33 | 39 | Irving Park Toll Plaza (southbound) | |||
| Rosemont | 32 | 40 | I-190 west (Kennedy Expressway) / River Road – O'Hare | ||
| 31 | 41 | I-90 (Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, Kennedy Expressway) – Rockford, Chicago | |||
| Park Ridge | 29 | 42 | Touhy Avenue Toll Plaza (northbound) | ||
| 42 | Touhy Avenue | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |||
| Des Plaines | 44.5 | US 14 (Dempster Street) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||
| 28 | 45 | IL 58 (Golf Road) | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | ||
| Glenview | 27 | 49 | Willow Road | ||
| North end of I-294; south end of I-94 overlap | |||||
| Northbrook | 24 | 50.5- 53 |
I-94 east (Edens Expressway via Edens Spur) – Chicago | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| Deerfield | 26 | 54 | Lake-Cook Road | ||
| Lake | |||||
| 55 | Deerfield Road | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |||
| Lincolnshire | 23 | 56.5 | IL 22 (Half Day Road) | ||
| Lake Forest | 22 | 59 | IL 60 (Town Line Road) | ||
| 60 | Lake Forest Oasis | ||||
| Libertyville | 62 | IL 176 (Rockland Road) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||
| North Chicago | 20 | 64.5 | IL 137 (Buckley Road) | ||
| Gurnee | 67 | IL 120 (Belvidere Road) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||
| 68 | IL 21 (Milwaukee Avenue) | Southbound exit and northbound entrance | |||
| 70 | IL 132 (Grand Avenue) | ||||
| Wadsworth | 21 | 73.5 | Waukegan Toll Plaza | ||
| Zion | 76 | IL 173 (Rosecrans Road) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||
| 1B | 0.96 | US 41 south – Waukegan | Southbound exit and northbound entrance. Last exit before tollway. | ||
| 1A | 0.20 | Russell Road | Signed as exit 1 northbound | ||
| I-94 west / US 41 north – Milwaukee | Wisconsin state line | ||||
| County | Location | Plaza #[8] |
Mile [8][10] |
Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook | Northbrook | 53 | I-94 west (Tri-State Tollway) – Milwaukee | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
| 24 | 52 | Edens Spur Toll Plaza[8] | |||
| 50.5 | IL 43 (Waukegan Road) | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
| I-94 east / US 41 south (Edens Expressway) – Chicago | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||||
|
|||||||||||