Interstate 55 in Illinois

Interstate 55
Route information
Maintained by IDOT
Length:	294.38 mi[1] (473.76 km)
Major junctions
South end:	I-55 / I-64 / US 40 at East St. Louis
	I-64 / I-70 / IL 3 in East St. Louis I-255 in Collinsville I-70 / I-270 / US 40 in Troy I-72 / US 36 / I-55 Bus. in Springfield I-155 near Lincoln I-74 in Bloomington I-39 / US 51 in Normal I-80 in Joliet I-355 in Bolingbrook I-294 in Indian Head Park I-90 / I-94 in Chicago
North end:	US 41 in Chicago
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Illinois State Highway System Interstate U.S. State Tollways ← IL 54 IL 56 →

Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Illinois that connects the St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago metropolitan areas. It enters the state from Missouri on the Poplar Street Bridge near East St. Louis and runs to U.S. Route 41 (US 41, Lake Shore Drive) near downtown Chicago where the highway ends, a distance of 294.38 miles (473.76 km).^[2] The Road also runs through the cities of Springfield, Bloomington, and Joliet. The section in Cook County is officially named the Stevenson Expressway.

Route description

I-55 within Illinois carries heavy traffic, with an average of more than 20,000 vehicles per day for most of its length.^[3] Significant portions of I-55 contain six lanes (three lanes in each direction) and are heavily used by commuters.^[4] I-55 in Illinois begins in East St. Louis on the Poplar Street Bridge over the Mississippi River at the Missouri–Illinois state line^[4] and runs southwest to northeast through the state, ending in Chicago at US 41 (Lake Shore Drive). Along the way, it goes through four metropolitan areas in the state: the Illinois portion of the St. Louis metropolitan area, the Springfield metropolitan area, the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area, and the Chicago metropolitan area (also known as Chicagoland).^[4]

I-55 enters the Chicago metro area as the Stevenson Expressway and provides easy access to downtown Chicago via both the I-90/I-94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) interchange and US 41 (Lake Shore Drive) at the northern terminus of I-55, near Cermak Road and the lakefront.

History

I-55 in Illinois is the fourth road to connect St. Louis and Chicago. The first was the Pontiac Trail in 1915. This was largely improved and paved as the new Illinois Route 4 (IL 4) by 1924.^[5] In 1926, IL 4 was designated as the route of the new U.S 66, and a new section of US 66 was built to bypass slower sections of IL 4 south of Springfield by 1930. Through the 1950s US 66 was continually widened, straightened, and improved to handle its growing traffic, until its entire length was four lanes wide by 1957.^[6]

The roots of I-55 could be traced back to the need of a national highway system.^[7] President Dwight D. Eisenhower saw the need of a national network of highways that would help with the mobilization of the army. He had been impressed with the autobahn he saw in Germany during World War II. In 1956 he signed the Federal Aid Highway Act into existence.^[7] Although the act provided for a highway replacing Route 66, it was spared destruction for a while because of it being more modern than other routes at the time.^[7] Illinois would build its first new Interstate highways on other routes such as I-80, I-57, and I-70, before turning its attention once again to the St. Louis-to-Chicago route.

However, during the 1970s, Route 66 was finally replaced by I-55 as the fourth St. Louis-to-Chicago highway, serving most of the same communities along the way as the original Pontiac Trail. It was built in sections across Illinois, often on the original Route 66 roadbed. A common construction tactic where Route 66 was already four lanes wide, was to build new southbound lanes for I-55 west of the original road, then rebuild the original southbound lanes of US 66 to be the new northbound lanes for I-55, leaving the original northbound lanes of old US 66 as a two-way service road.^[7] One can find many signs posted for Historic US 66, especially where it deviates from I-55.

The earliest stretch of I-55 was a portion of US 66 which had already been built as a freeway between Gardner and I-294 (Tri-State Tollway) in Indian Head Park, and which was added to the Interstate system by simply erecting new signs in 1960.^[8] Later portions of the highway were built in the 1960s between East St. Louis and Hamel, as bypasses of Springfield and Bloomington-Normal.^[9] The rest of the road was completed in the 1970s.

The Stevenson Expressway near Countryside, heading southwest

The Stevenson Expressway opened on October 24, 1964 as the Southwest Expressway. It was renamed after Adlai Stevenson,^[10] the former governor of Illinois, on September 1, 1965, a month and a half after his death. The Stevenson's original termini were US 66 in DuPage County to the west, and the Dan Ryan Expressway to the east.

In 1999–2000, the expressway was completely rebuilt from Central Avenue north to Lake Shore Drive, including the ramps to the Dan Ryan. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) was criticized at the time for not adding a fourth lane in each direction to the highway.^[11]

Recent upgrades and current construction

Because of the heavy traffic on I-55, IDOT must spend millions per year maintaining the roadway, adding lanes, and replacing bridges to increase the capacity of the highway.^[12][13]

In northeastern Illinois near Joliet, a widening project that expanded I-55 from two to three lanes in each direction between I-80 (exit 250) and Weber Road (exit 263) was completed on October 29, 2008.^[14]

In the 2000s decade, the Damen Avenue (exit 290) and Pulaski Road (exit 287) interchanges were rebuilt as a single-point urban interchange (SPUI) configuration; in 2014 reconstruction as a SPUI was completed for the Central Avenue (exit 285) interchange. The Arsenal Road (exit 245) interchange was under complete rebuilding and reconfiguration as of 2012, and the deteriorated overpass at IL 129 (exit 238) was removed in 2012 in anticipation of future construction of a full interchange, temporarily leaving the IL 129 interchange with only a northbound exit and northbound entrance.^[15][16]

At St. Louis, the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge carrying I-70 across the Mississippi River, and costing $667 million, was completed in 2014 to relieve congestion on I-55's Poplar Street Bridge.^[17][18]

Future

Governor Bruce Rauner, in early 2016, made a proposal to explore expanding the Stevenson Expressway portion of I-55 by adding an additional lane in each direction to ease congestion. Under his proposal, toll lanes would be constructed and operated through a potential private-public partnership.^[19]

Exit list

County	Location	mi[20]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Mississippi River		0.00	0.00	Poplar Street Bridge I-55 south / I-64 west / US 40 west continues into Missouri
St. Clair	East St. Louis				IL 3 south / Great River Road south – Cahokia	Southern end of IL 3/GRR overlap
					13th Street, Tudor Avenue
				1	IL 15 (Barack Obama Avenue) – East St. Louis Business District	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				2A	Third Street – Eads Bridge	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				2BC	Martin Luther King Bridge – Downtown St. Louis	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; left exit is signed as exit 2B and right exit as 2C
				2	I-64 east / I-70 west / IL 3 north (St. Clair Avenue) – Louisville, Kansas City	Northern end of I-64/IL 3 overlap; Southern end of I-70 overlap; no access to westbound I-70 eastbound
				3	Exchange Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				4	IL 203 / Collinsville Road – Fairmont City, Granite City	Signed as exits 4A (south) and 4B (north) southbound
Madison	Fairmont City			6	IL 111 / Great River Road north – Wood River, Washington Park	Northern end of GRR overlap
	Collinsville			9	Black Lane	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				10	I-255 to I-270 – Memphis
				11	IL 157 – Collinsville, Edwardsville
	Maryville			15	IL 159 – Collinsville, Maryville	Signed as exits 15A (south) and 15B (north)
				17	US 40 east – St. Jacob, Highland	Northern end of US 40 overlap
	Troy			18	IL 162 – Troy
				20A	I-70 east – Indianapolis	Northern end of I-70 overlap
				20B	I-270 west – Kansas City
				23	IL 143 – Edwardsville, Marine
	Hamel			30	IL 140 – Alton, Greenville
				33	IL 4 – Staunton, Lebanon
	Livingston			37	Livingston, New Douglas
Macoupin				41	Staunton
	White City			44	IL 138 – Mount Olive, Benld
Montgomery	Litchfield			52	IL 16 – Gillespie, Litchfield
				60	IL 108 – Carlinville
				63	IL 48 / IL 127 – Raymond, Taylorville, Hillsboro
	Farmersville			72	Farmersville, Girard
Sangamon	Divernon			80	Divernon
				82	IL 104 – Pawnee, Auburn
				83	Glenarm
	Springfield			88	East Lake Drive – Chatham
				90	Toronto Road
				92A	I-55 Bus. north (6th Street)
				92B	I-72 west / US 36 west – Jacksonville	Southern end of I-72/US 36 overlap
				94	Stevenson Drive, East Lake Drive
				96	IL 29 (South Grand Avenue) – Taylorville	Signed as exits 96A (south) and 96B (north)
				98A	I-72 east / US 36 east – Decatur	Northern end of I-72/US 36 overlap
				98B	IL 97 west (Clear Lake Avenue)
				100	IL 54 east (Sangamon Avenue) – Clinton	Signed as exits 100A (east) and 100B (west)
	Sherman			105	I-55 Bus. south – Springfield, Sherman
	Williamsville			109	IL 123 – Williamsville, Petersburg
Logan	Elkhart			115	Elkhart
				119	Broadwell
				123	I-55 Bus. north – Lincoln
	Lincoln			126	IL 10 / IL 121 – Lincoln, Mason City
				127	I-155 north – Peoria	South end of I-155, exits 0A-B.
				133	I-55 Bus. south – Lincoln, Lawndale
				140	Atlanta, Lawndale
McLean				145	US 136 – McLean, Heyworth
				154	Shirley
				157A	I-74 east / US 51 south – Indianapolis, Decatur	Southern end of I-74/US 51 overlap
	Bloomington			157B	I-55 Bus. north (Veterans Parkway)	Signed as exit 134B (north) southbound
				160	US 150 / IL 9 (Market Street) – Pekin
				163	I-74 west – Peoria	Northern end of I-74 overlap
				164	I-39 north / US 51 north – Rockford	Northern end of US 51 overlap
	Normal			165	US 51 Bus. – Bloomington-Normal	Signed as exits 165A (south) and 165B (north) northbound
				167	I-55 Bus. south (Veterans Parkway) – Central Illinois Regional Airport
				171	Towanda
	Lexington			178	Lexington
	Chenoa			187	US 24 – El Paso, Chenoa
Livingston				197	IL 116 – Flanagan, Pontiac
				201	IL 23 – Pontiac, Streator
				209	Odell
	Dwight			217	IL 17 – Streator, Kankakee
Grundy				220	IL 47 – Dwight, Morris
				227	IL 53 – Gardner
Grundy–Will county line				233	Reed Road – Braidwood
Will				236	IL 113 – Kankakee, Coal City
				238	IL 129 south (Will Rogers Highway) – Braidwood	Northbound exit and northbound entrance
				240	Lorenzo Road
				241	Wilmington
				244	Arsenal Road
				247	Bluff Road
	Channahon			248	US 6 – Joliet, Morris
				250	I-80 – Iowa, Indiana	I-80 exits 126A-B; signed as exits 250A (east) & 250B (west).
	Shorewood			251	IL 59 north (Will Rogers Highway) / Historic US 66 alt. – Shorewood, Plainfield	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Shorewood–Joliet city line			253	US 52 – Joliet, Shorewood
	Joliet			257	US 30 – Aurora, Joliet
	Plainfield			261	IL 126 west (Will Rogers Highway, Main Street) / Historic US 66 alt. – Plainfield	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Romeoville–Bolingbrook city line			263	Weber Road
	Bolingbrook			267	IL 53 – Bolingbrook, Romeoville
				268	Historic US 66 west (Will Rogers Highway, Joliet Road)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				269	I-355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway) – Northwest Suburbs, Southwest Suburbs	I-355 exits 12A-B.
DuPage	Darien			271	Lemont Road	Signed as exits 271A (south) and 271B (north)
				273	Cass Avenue	Signed as exits 273A (south) and 273B (north)
	Willowbrook–Burr Ridge city line			274	IL 83 (Kingery Hwy)
DuPage–Cook county line	Burr Ridge	276.43	444.87	276	County Line Road	Signed as exits 276A (south) and 276B (north)
Cook	Indian Head Park	277.08	445.92	276C	Historic US 66 east (Will Rogers Highway, Joliet Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Indian Head Park–Countryside city line	277.64	446.82	277	I-294 (Tri-State Tollway) – Indiana, Wisconsin	Signed as exits 277A (north) and 277B (south); southbound exit to I-294 south is via exit 279A
	Countryside–Hodgkins city line	278.99	448.99	279	US 12 / US 20 / US 45 (La Grange Road)	Signed as exits 279A (east/south) and 279B (west/north)
	Summit	282.32	454.35	282	IL 171 (1st Avenue)	Signed as exits 282A (south) and 282B (north) northbound
	Summit–Chicago city line	283.19	455.75	283	IL 43 (Harlem Avenue (7200 West))
	Chicago	285.93	460.16	285	Central Avenue (5600 West)
		286.96	461.82	286	IL 50 (Cicero Avenue (4800 West)) – Chicago Midway Airport
		287.98	463.46	287	Pulaski Road (4000 West)
		289.00	465.10	288	Kedzie Avenue (3200 West)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		289.52	465.94	289	California Avenue (2800 West)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		290.05– 290.07	466.79– 466.82	290	Damen Avenue (2000 West)
				290	Ashland Avenue (1600 West)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		292.63	470.94	292	I-90 / I-94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) – Indiana, Wisconsin	Signed as exits 292A (west) and 292B (east) northbound, and as exits 292 (west) and 293B (east) southbound
		293.00	471.54	293A	Cermak Road – Chinatown (2200 South)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		293.22	471.89	293C	State Street (0 East/West)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		293.67	472.62	293D	Martin L. King Drive (400 East)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		294.38	473.76	—	US 41 (Lake Shore Drive)	Northern end of freeway; northbound exit to and southbound exit from Lake Shore Drive
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

Related routes

Auxiliary routes

I-55 has three auxiliary routes in Illinois:

• I-155: A spur from I-55 in Lincoln to I-74 just east of Peoria.
• I-255: The eastern third of the beltway around the St. Louis Metro Area (with I-270 forming the other two-thirds)
• I-355: The Veterans Memorial Tollway, serving the western and southwestern suburbs of Chicago, running from I-80 in New Lenox to I-290 in Addison

Springfield business loop

Business Loop 55 refers to a major arterial surface street that serves downtown Springfield, Illinois. It runs north from the intersection of Interstates 55 and Interstate 72 through downtown to Illinois Route 4 (Veterans' Parkway). It then runs northeast to Sherman.^[21]

All of Business Loop 55 was part of U.S. Route 66 at some point.

Major junctions
The entire route is in Sangamon County.

Location	mi[22]	km	Destinations	Notes
Springfield	0.0– 0.7	0.0– 1.1	I-55 / I-72 / US 36 – Jacksonville, Decatur, Chicago, St. Louis	Exit 92A (I-55), Exit 97B (I-72)
	4.9	7.9	IL 97 north (Jefferson Street)
	5.0	8.0	IL 97 south (Madison Street)
	7.0	11.3	IL 29 (Sangamon Avenue)	Southern end of IL 29 concurrency
	8.0	12.9	IL 4 south / IL 29 north (Veterans Parkway) – Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport	Northern end of IL 29 concurrency, northern terminus of IL 4
Sherman	12.1	19.5	IL 124 west (Andrew Road) – Andrew, Athens	Eastern terminus of IL 124
	12.7	20.4	I-55 south – Springfield	Exit 105 (I-55), no access to I-55 northbound from this point
Williams Township	13.9	22.4	I-55 north – Chicago	Only access to I-55 northbound
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

Lincoln business loop

Bloomington–Normal business loop

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate 55 in Illinois.

Route map: Bing / Google

• Stevenson Expressway Timeline at the Chicago Public Library
• Historic, Current & Average Travel Times For The Stevenson Expressway

Interstate 55
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