U.S. Route 20 in Illinois

This article is about the section of U.S. Route 20 in Illinois. For the entire route, see U.S. Route 20.

U.S. Route 20 marker

U.S. Route 20
Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Highway
Route information
Maintained by IDOT
Length: 233.93 mi[1] (376.47 km)
Existed: 1926 – present
Major junctions
West end: US 20 in East Dubuque
  I-39 / US 51 in Rockford
I-39 / I-90 / US 51 in Rockford
I-355 in Addison
I-290 / I-294 in Elmhurst
US 12 / US 45 in Stone Park

I-290 / IL 110 (CKC) in Westchester
I-55 in Hodgkins
I-294 in Bridgeview
I-94 in Chicago
US 41 in Chicago
East end: US 12 / US 20 / US 41 in Chicago
Highway system
← IL 19IL 21 →

In the U.S. state of Illinois, U.S. Route 20 (abbreviated US 20) is a major arterial highway that runs from the Iowa state line at East Dubuque at the northwestern tip of Illinois, to the Indiana state line at Chicago south of the Chicago Skyway. A distance of 233.93 miles (376.47 km).[1]

For its entire length, US 20 is designated as the General Ulysses S. Grant Highway, often abbreviated the U.S. Grant Memorial Highway. However, this name is only commonly used west of Elgin. From Elgin to Melrose Park, US 20 is commonly called Lake Street. It then is called Mannheim Road, and further south La Grange Road. US 20 is then called 95th Street as it turns east through Chicago's southwestern suburbs. It also takes on the names of several smaller streets through the southern portion of Chicago, before leaving Illinois on Indianapolis Boulevard.

Route description

Northwest Illinois

As the highway enters Illinois across the Julien Dubuque Bridge, it continues southeasterly for a while, paralleling the Upper Mississippi River before turning east into the rugged country of the Driftless Area in Jo Daviess County, then turning flat and straight west of Stockton, Illinois and entering Stephenson County. The Ulysses S. Grant Home, a national landmark, fronts near the highway at the eastern edge of Galena, Illinois.

In Freeport, US 20 is routed onto a limited-access freeway bypass. Between Freeport and Rockford there are two traffic light-controlled intersections. The Rockford bypass routes US 20 onto a full limited-access freeway; it remains this way until it overlaps Interstate 39 southeast of downtown Rockford. Interchanges on the Rockford Bypass include West State Street (Business US 20), South Meridian Road, Montague Road, South Main Street (Illinois Route 2), 11th Street (Illinois Route 251), and South Alpine Road.

Rockford to Elgin

East of Rockford, the routing of US 20 runs parallel with Interstate 90, with US 20 serving minor cities that are not accessible from the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway. It is a four-lane divided highway from I-39 to just east of Belvidere; for the rest of this segment, it is a winding, rural two-lane road.

US 20 travels through the downtowns of the small towns and unincorporated areas of Garden Prairie, Harmony and Starks, as well as the city of Marengo. At Starks, eastbound US 20 overlaps southbound Illinois Route 47 and westbound Illinois Route 72, forming a wrong-way concurrency. All three routes pass beneath a railroad viaduct before separating south of Starks.

Continuing east, US 20 travels through Pingree Grove before entering the Elgin area. Before entering Elgin, US 20 widens to a four lane limited-access freeway that bypasses Elgin. This road is known as the Elgin Bypass.

Elgin to Indiana

Markers for the original Ulysses S. Grant Highway on Old Lake Street in Bartlett.

At the end of the Elgin bypass, US 20 takes on the name of Lake Street. US 20 has numerous high-volume intersections, including a grade-separated interchange with Illinois Route 59. In Hanover Park, an early-2000s reconstruction project widened lanes on the road and created a median for safer travel; east of Barrington Road / County Farm Road, the road briefly becomes six lanes for one mile (1.6 km) until the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway.

US 20 continues in an east-southeast direction through the town center of Bloomingdale and becomes six lanes at the Bloomingdale-Roselle border. It maintains six lanes through a very high traffic corridor to Interstate 290 and onwards to Illinois Route 53 before it returns to four lanes while serving downtown Addison, paralleling Interstate 290 to the north. Past Elmhurst, the road overlaps Interstate 290 for a mile, technically giving US 20 ten lanes of traffic, although the rightmost two are exit-only lanes. At the interchange, westbound US 20 has only one lane, but eastbound US 20 has two.

US 20 continues through Stone Park and Melrose Park before turning south and joining U.S. Routes 12/45. At this point, US 20 becomes Mannheim Road, and later, La Grange Road, until it turns onto 95th Street eastbound with U.S. 12. This combination later joins with U.S. Route 41, where the three routes follow Ewing Avenue and Indianapolis Boulevard, which are the last portions of US 20 prior to its crossing the state line into Indiana.

Business routes

The US 20 / IL 84 bridge over the Galena River in Galena

US 20 has been rerouted around the cities of Freeport, Rockford, Elgin and Chicago. A bypass is currently planned for Galena.

The longest Business US 20 in Illinois runs 21 miles (34 km) from just west of Rockford to just east of Belvidere. The route begins just west of Weldon Road and runs as State Street into downtown Rockford, where it is split into two one-way streets (Chestnut Street and Walnut Street for eastbound traffic, Jefferson Street for westbound traffic). The route continues east along State Street all the way through Rockford and becomes a two-lane highway between Rockford and Belvidere. Business US 20 is then routed in an outer loop around the city of Belvidere before merging back with US 20 near Genoa Road and I-90.

Business US 20 in Elgin was removed in 1984. This ran along Larkin Avenue, Highland Avenue, Chicago Street and Villa Avenue. The current routing of US 20 south of Elgin is called the Elgin Bypass.

Business US 20 in Chicago was removed in 1968. This existed from 1960 through 1968; before then, it was City US 20 from 1938 to 1960.[2]

History

The routing of US 20 has not changed since 1938. Prior to 1938, US 20 continued east on Lake Street east of Mannheim Road (US 12/US 45). It ran through downtown Chicago and exited Chicago south on what is now Torrence Avenue.[2] In 1955, the Illinois General Assembly designated the entire length of US 20 in Illinois the "U.S. Grant Memorial Highway". New signs were produced in late 2007 to reflect this designation along its entire length.[3]

Future

Long-range plans call for US 20 to be upgraded to a full four-lane highway from Rockford to the Iowa border near Dubuque. The project dates back to the 1970s, when a major supplemental freeway system was proposed in Illinois. One of the routes, FAP 401, was a freeway that was to run across northwestern Illinois from Rockford to Dubuque.[4] Portions of the freeway were built in the form of bypasses around Rockford and Freeport, while a four-lane divided expressway was built between those two cities. In addition, a four lane divided expressway was constructed between Galena and East Dubuque.

A freeway between Freeport and Galena has been proposed. The new roadway would run from an interchange with IL 84, northwest of Galena, to an interchange on the west end of the previously constructed Freeport bypass.[5] However, funding is the biggest obstacle to constructing the roadway, estimated at over $1 billion.[6] Only the Galena bypass segment has received any funding beyond Phase I, and no segment has received any construction funding.[7]

This would complete the last remaining section of US 20 in northwestern Illinois not upgraded to four lanes. Upon the completion of this project and construction a new four lane bridge over the Mississippi River, US 20 will be a continuous four lane divided highway between Rockford and Interstate 35 in Iowa.

Major intersections

CountyLocationmikmDestinationsNotes
Jo DaviessEast Dubuque0.00.0 US 20 west / Great River Road northIowa state line; western end of Great River Road concurrency
0.71.1 IL 35 northSouthern terminus of IL 35
 11.218.0 IL 84 northWestern end of IL 84 concurrency
 26.442.5 IL 84 south / Great River Road southEastern end of IL 84/Great River Road concurrency
Stockton41.767.1 IL 78 southWestern end of IL 78 concurrency
 42.969.0 IL 78 northEastern end of IL 78 concurency
StephensonLena50.881.8 IL 73
Freeport57.492.4
US 20 Bus. east		Western terminus of US 20 Bus
61.899.5 IL 26
65.0104.6 IL 75
68.8110.7
US 20 Bus. west		Eastern terminus of US 20 Bus
WinnebagoRockford85.9138.2
US 20 Bus. east		Western terminus of US 20 Bus
92.7149.2 IL 2
94.6152.2 IL 251
97.3156.6 I-39 south / US 51 southWestern end of I-39/US 51 concurency
100.4161.6 I-39 north / US 51 north to I-90Eastern end of I-39/US 51 concurency
Boone108.0173.8
US 20 Bus. west		Eastern terminus of US 20 Bus
McHenryMarengo119.2191.8 IL 23
KaneHampshire128.0206.0 I-90
Pingree Grove133.6215.0 IL 47 north / IL 72 eastNorthern end of IL 47/IL 72 concurency
134.0215.7 IL 47 south / IL 72 westSouthern end of IL 47/IL 72 concurency
Elgin144.4232.4 IL 31 (State Street)
145.1233.5 IL 25 (Liberty Street)
CookBartlett148.6239.1 IL 59
DuPageHanover Park152.6245.6 IL 390 east
Addison158.6255.2 I-355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway)
158.8255.6 IL 53 (Rohlwing Road)
162.6261.7 IL 83 (Kingery Highway)
Elmhurst163.8263.6 I-290 west (Eisenhower Expressway)Western end of I-290 concurrency
164.8265.2 I-290 east (Eisenhower Expressway)Eastern end of I-290 concurrency
165.2265.9 IL 64 (North Avenue)
CookBerkeley167.3269.2 US 12 west / US 45 north (Mannheim Road)Northern end of US 45 concurrency
Bellwood168.4271.0 IL 56 west (Washington Boulevard)Eastern terminus of IL 56
169.2272.3
I-290 / IL 110 (CKC) (Eisenhower Expressway)
Westchester169.7273.1 IL 38 west (Roosevelt Road)Eastern terminus of IL 38
La Grange172.9278.3 US 34 (Ogden Avenue)
Hodgkins176.8284.5 I-55 (Stevenson Expressway)
Justice178.1286.6 I-294 (Tri-State Tollway)
178.3286.9 IL 171 (Archer Avenue)
Palos Hills180.2290.0 US 45 south (96th Avenue, LaGrange Road)Southern end of US 45 concurrency
Bridgeview182.5293.7 I-294 (Tri-State Tollway)
182.9294.3 IL 43 (Harlem Avenue)
Oak Lawn185.9299.2 IL 50 (Cicero Avenue)
Chicago196.5316.2 US 41 north (Ewing Avenue)Northern end of US 41 concurrency
197.9318.5 I-90 (Chicago Skyway, Indiana Toll Road) to I-80 / I-94
198.0318.7 US 12 east / US 20 east / US 41 southIndiana state line
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2007). "T2 GIS Data". Retrieved November 8, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Carlson, Rich (March 15, 2005). "Illinois Highways Page: Routes 1 thru 20". Retrieved April 15, 2006.
  3. ↑ "IDOT Announces New Signs to Commemorate Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Highway" (Press release). Illinois Department of Transportation. August 31, 2007. Retrieved September 8, 2007.
  4. ↑ Dees, Dan (November 1, 1974). "Illinois Supplemental Freeway System Proposal" (PDF). Illinois Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 11, 2015 – via Midwest Roads.
  5. ↑ "US 20 Freeport to Galena (Glacier Shadow Pass)". Illinois Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
  6. ↑ Galena Gazette Staff (December 3, 2013). "Bustos Talks US 20 with Local Leaders". Galena Gazette. Retrieved January 11, 2015 – via Office of Cheri Bustos.
  7. ↑ "US 20 Galena Bypass". Illinois Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
U.S. Route 20
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