U.S. Route 45 in Illinois

U.S. Route 45
Route information
Maintained by Illinois Department of Transportation
Length:	428.99 mi[1] (690.39 km)
Major junctions
South end:	US 45 near Brookport
	I-24 in Metropolis I-64 near Mill Shoals US 50 in Flora I-70 / US 40 in Effingham I-74 in Urbana I-57 in Kankakee US 30 in Frankfort I-80 in Tinley Park I-55 in Hodgkins US 20 in Stone Park
North end:	US 45 near Antioch
Location
Counties:	Massac, Johnson, Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, White, Wayne, Clay, Effingham, Shelby, Cumberland, Coles, Douglas, Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, Kankakee, Will, Cook, Lake
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List Bannered Divided Replaced Illinois State Highway System Interstates U.S. State Tollways ← IL 43 IL 47 →

In the U.S. state of Illinois, U.S. Route 45 is a major north–south highway that runs from the Brookport Bridge over the Ohio River at Brookport north through rural sections of eastern Illinois and then through the suburbs of Chicago to the Wisconsin border east of Antioch. This is a distance of 428.99 miles (690.39 km).^[1] U.S. 45 is the longest numbered route in Illinois.

Route description

Champaign/Urbana

US 45 serves as the western boundary of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. Entering downtown Champaign as Neil Street, US 45 then goes east on Springfield Avenue, running concurrently with US 150. Farther east of downtown Champaign, it again serves as a boundary for the campus. Following Wright Street, US 45 then moves east on University Avenue, forming the northern border of the University. This path continues to Cunningham Avenue in Urbana. US 45 then turns onto Cunningham Avenue northward towards Chicago.

Kankakee to Hickory Hills

US 45 overlaps US 52 at an intersection with Illinois 49 east of Ashkum. US 45/52 intersects with Illinois Route 17 in Kankakee and Illinois Route 102 in Bourbonnais. Just west of Peotone, US 52 takes a westward course, and US 45 heads north. From this point on until its intersection with Cermak Road/22nd Street in Westchester, US 45 is also known as La Grange Road.

In Frankfort, US 45 intersects with US 30. From that point on until its interchange with Archer Avenue/Illinois Route 171, US 45/La Grange Road is also known as 96th Avenue (9600 W in Chicago's street grid, 96 blocks and 12 miles (19 km) west of State Street). During this stretch it intersects with Interstate 80 and US 6/159th Street in Orland Park. It also intersects Illinois Route 83 (Calumet Sag Road) for the first time in Palos Hills, just south of the Cal-Sag Channel.

Starting at 95th Street near Hickory Hills, US 45 becomes concurrent US 12 and US 20. Two miles further north, at Archer, the road loses its 96th Avenue designation; this is due to the road entering suburbs that do not use Chicago's address system, and that most of its alignment north of Archer would be at 10000 W anyway, if the address system extended to these suburbs.

Hickory Hills to O'Hare International Airport

The concurrent US 12/20/45, past 87th Street, briefly becomes a 4-lane freeway as it intersects with Illinois Route 171 (Archer Avenue) in Justice and Interstate 55 (The Stevenson Expressway) in Hodgkins (along with Interstate 294, which only has a southbound interchange ramp). North of Interstate 55, US 12/20/45 becomes a regular 4-lane highway before itintersects with the former US 66 at Joliet Road in Countryside.

In Downtown La Grange, US 12/20/45 intersects the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe railroad tracks and intersects with US 34 (Ogden Avenue), possibly the only intersection of 4 separate US routes in Illinois.

Following the intersection with US 34, US 12/20/45 passes through La Grange Park (as La Grange Road), moving in a slight northwesterly direction. After passing over Salt Creek, US 12/20/45 intersects with Cermak Road/22nd Street in Westchester and is known as Mannheim Road north of this intersection. Mannheim Road, as US 12/20/45 serves as the Eastern starting point for Illinois Route 38 (Roosevelt Road) in Hillside, has a full interchange with Interstate 290, also in Hillside, and serves as the Eastern starting point for Illinois Route 56 (briefly Washington Boulevard in Bellwood, before becoming Butterfield Road).

After passing over a Union Pacific rail yard, US 45 becomes concurrent with only US 12 in Melrose Park as US 20 breaks off at Lake Street there. US 12 and US 45 remain concurrent on Mannheim Road, passing Interstate 294 again without an interchange, but, after passing Illinois Route 19 (Irving Park Road), has a full interchange with Interstate 190, which leads directly to O'Hare International Airport or Interstate 90 East (into Chicago). This area between IL19 and IL72 once ran straight though but was realigned to the east in 1960 for the construction of O'hare's 4R22L runway.

O'Hare International Airport to Antioch

Past O'Hare airport, US 12/45 intersects with Illinois Route 72 in Illinois, and continues along Mannheim Road in Des Plaines. Mannheim Road ends and feeds into Lee Street at the end of an S-curve. The northbound and southbound routes are split in downtown Des Plaines between Lee Street (West 12/North 45) and Graceland Avenue (East 12/South 45). During this time, US 12/45 intersects with US 14 (Miner Street) at two separate points, due to the separation of their directions.

Just north of US 14, US 12/45 are reunited in both directions on Lee Street, only to be separated as US 12 diverges onto Rand Road and US 45 becomes Des Plaines River Road in a complicated intersection on the north side of Des Plaines, just south of Illinois Route 58.

US 45 continues along Des Plaines River Road, intersecting with Illinois 58 in Des Plaines, and eventually becomes concurrent with Illinois Route 21, Milwaukee Avenue, in Prospect Heights, until Lincolnshire (just north of Illinois Route 22) where US 45 takes a northwest route.

US 45 also intersects with Illinois Route 83 just south of Mundelein (where they exchange routes, as IL 83 goes northwest, and US 45 continues north), Illinois Route 60 in Mundelein, Illinois Route 137 in Libertyville, Illinois Route 120 in Grayslake, and Illinois Route 173 just south of the Wisconsin border.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
McCracken	Paducah			US 45	Continuation in Kentucky
Ohio River				Brookport Bridge
Massac	Metropolis			IL 145
				I-24
				IL 169
Johnson	Vienna			IL 146
				I-24
				IL 166
Saline	Harrisburg			IL 145 south / IL 34 south	Southern end of Route 34 concurrency
				IL 34 north	Northern end of Route 34 concurrency
				IL 13
	Eldorado			IL 142
Gallatin–White county line				IL 141
White	Norris City			IL 1
				IL 14
Wayne	Mill Shoals			I-64
	Fairfield			IL 15 east	Southern end of Route 15 concurrency
				IL 15 west	Northern end of Route 15 concurrency
Clay				US 50 east	Southern end of US 50 concurrency
				US 50 west	Northern end of US 50 concurrency
Effingham				IL 37
	Effingham			US 40 west	Southern end of US 40 concurrency
				US 40 east	Northern end of US 40 concurrency
				I-57 / I-70
Cumberland				I-57
				IL 121	Southern end of Route 121 concurrency
Coles	Mattoon			I-57
				IL 16 east	Southern end of Route 16 concurrency
				IL 16 west	Northern end of Route 16 concurrency
				IL 121 west	Northern end of Route 121 concurrency
Douglas	Arcola			IL 133
				US 36
Champaign	Pesotum			I-57
	Champaign			US 150 west	Southern end of US 150 concurrency
	Urbana			US 150 east	Northern end of US 150 concurrency
				I-74
	Rantoul			US 136
Ford	Paxton			IL 9 west	Southern end of Route 9 concurrency
				IL 9 east	Northern end of Route 9 concurrency
Iroquois	Gilman			US 24 west	Southern end of US 24 concurrency
				US 24 east	Northern end of US 24 concurrency
	Ashkum			IL 116
				US 52 east / IL 49	Southern end of US 52 concurrency
Kankakee	Kankakee			I-57
				IL 50
				IL 17 east	Southern end of Route 17 concurrency
				IL 17 west	Northern end of Route 17 concurrency
	Bourbonnais			IL 102 west
Will				US 52 west
	Frankfort			US 30
	Mokena–Orland Park–Tinley Park			I-80
Cook	Orland Park			US 6
				IL 7
				IL 83	Interchange
	Oak Lawn			US 12 east / US 20 east (95th Street)	Southern end of US 12 & US 20 concurrency
	Willow Springs			I-294 (Tri-State Tollway) / IL 171 (Archer Avenue) / to 79th Street	Interchange
	Hodgkins			I-55 (Stevenson Expressway)
	Countryside			Historic US 66 (Joliet Road)
	La Grange			US 34 (Ogden Avenue)
	Westchester			IL 38 west (Roosevelt Road)
				I-290 / IL 110 (CKC) (Eisenhower Expressway)
	Bellwood			IL 56 west
	Stone Park			US 20 west (Lake Street)	Northern end of US 20 concurrency
				IL 64 (North Avenue)
	Schiller Park			IL 19 (Irving Park Road)
	Rosemont			I-190 – Chicago, O'Hare International Airport
				IL 72 (Higgins Road)
	Des Plaines			US 14 (Miner Street)
				US 12 west (Rand Road)	Northern end of US 12 concurrency
				IL 58
	Prospect Heights			IL 21 south (Milwaukee Avenue)	Southern end of Route 21 concurrency
	Wheeling			IL 68 (Dundee Road)
Cook–Lake	Buffalo Grove – Wheeling			{{Lake Cook Road|city1=Deerfield|city2=Barrington}}	Interchange
Lake	Half Day			IL 22 (Half Day Road)
				IL 21 north (Milwaukee Avenue)	Northern end of Route 21 concurrency
	Mundelein			IL 83
				IL 60
				IL 176
	Libertyville			IL 137 – Volo, North Chicago	Interchange
	Lake Forest			IL 120 (Belvidere Road)
	Grandwood Park			IL 132
	Antioch			IL 173
Kenosha				US 45	Continuation into Wisconsin
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References