Interstate 94 in Illinois
Interstate 94 (I-94) generally runs north–south through the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Illinois, in Lake and Cook counties. It is marked east–west in Illinois in accordance with its general alignment across the country. I-94 in Illinois is 78.00 miles (125.53 km) long.[1]
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I-94 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by IDOT and ISTHA | ||||
| Length | 77.41 mi[1] (124.58 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |    | |||
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| East end |   | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties | Lake, Cook | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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The William G. Edens Expressway (also known as the Edens Parkway and the Edens Superhighway) is the main major expressway north from the city of Chicago to Northbrook, Illinois. Only the short portion from the spur ramp to the expressway's end in Highland Park does not carry I-94. It was the first expressway in Chicago and was opened on December 20, 1951. It has three lanes in each direction. The original name of the expressway was the Edens Parkway, named after William G. Edens, a banker and early advocate for paved roads. He was a sponsor of Illinois' first highway bond issue in 1918.
Route description
The control cities for I-94 generally are Wisconsin or Milwaukee to the north and west, Chicago or Chicago Loop for those heading to the central portion, and Indiana to the south and east.
Wisconsin to Downtown Chicago
I-94 traverses rural and suburban areas in Lake County, and serves Six Flags Great America and the Gurnee Mills mall; extensive office developments and residential districts in southern Lake County and the North Shore region of Cook County, and serves the Old Orchard Shopping Center; the length of the city of Chicago, running just west of the Chicago Loop on the Kennedy Expressway.
Entering Illinois from Wisconsin, I-94 becomes the Tri-State Tollway just after exit 1B (Skokie Highway), with eight lanes (four in each direction), until just north of Deerfield Road where it widens further to 10 lanes as it approaches I-294 and the Edens Spur. This is where three lanes for the Tri-State Tollway branch off and begin I-294 while two lanes for I-94 head east onto the Edens Spur which only has four lanes total (two in each direction).
The highway turns south and widens back to six lanes as it merges with U.S. Route 41 and becomes the Edens Expressway, and then widens to ten lanes (four lanes in each direction plus two reversible lanes) along the Kennedy Expressway. At Ohio Street, the reversible lanes terminate and the highway has 10 lanes to the Jane Byrne Interchange, where the left lane ends and the right lane exits onto the Eisenhower Expressway.
Until 2010, mileposts along the Tri-State Tollway portion of I-94 reflected the distance from the southeastern terminus of the tollway, that led to a counterintuitive increase in the mile numbers as one proceeds "west." In 2010, the mile markers were renumbered to indicate mileage of I-94 traveled in Illinois, increasing from the Wisconsin border to the Indiana border.[2]
Downtown Chicago to Indiana
South of downtown Chicago, I-94 serves the southeast suburbs of Chicago, including Dolton, Calumet City, and South Holland, Illinois, until it joins I-80 on the Kingery Expressway, which finally enters Indiana east of Lansing, Illinois.
I-94 has ten lanes (five in each direction) from the exit ramps of the Jane Byrne Interchange to the Stevenson Expressway. It then splits into a 14-lane freeway on the Dan Ryan, with three and four lanes alternating between the local and express lanes in both directions. At the Chicago Skyway, a two-lane ramp carries traffic to I-90, leaving ten lanes (five in each direction) running south to the I-57/I-94 junction.
From I-57, where I-94 is called the Bishop Ford Freeway, to Cottage Grove Avenue, the route has four lanes (two lanes each way), with six lanes (three lanes each way) between Michigan Avenue and Cottage Grove Avenue. The freeway connection ramp to Stony Island Avenue has four lanes (two in each direction). I-94 then has six lanes (three in each direction) south to I-80, where it departs the Bishop Ford Freeway (which continues south as IL 394) for the Kingery Expressway. On these ramps to and from I-80, I-94 has two lanes in each direction. On the Kingery itself, the combined I-80/I-94 route widens to eight lanes (four in each direction) to the Indiana state line.
The section including the Southland Interchange with I-80 and I-294 was reconfigured as part of the Kingery Expressway reconstruction project, completed in 2007, including four lanes south of 159th Street, with the split between I-80 and 94 east to the left, and I-80 west, I-294 north, and IL 394 south on the right located north of the 170th Street overpass. The configuration of I-80 and I-94 is discussed in connection with the Kingery Expressway.
History
I-494 (and later I-694) was originally planned to serve as a loop in Chicago and follow Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan. After local opposition prevented I-494 and I-694 from being completed, both numbers were completely dropped. Portions of the old I-494/I-694 exist as US 41 (Lake Shore Drive) and the Ohio Street connector. In addition, I-494 was also planned at one point to be a western bypass of Chicago, as the Crosstown Expressway.
In 1998, the Illinois Tollway removed the entire Deerfield Toll Plaza north of the I-294/I-94 merge point, then considered one of the worst snags on the tollway system. It was replaced with the Huehl Road Toll Plaza on the Edens Spur to charge traffic that followed I-94 into Chicago. Tolls were removed from the northbound exit/southbound entrance to I-294 at Lake Cook Road, while tolls at the Waukegan Toll Plaza were increased, and additional toll plazas were built on exits south of Deerfield at Lake–Cook Road, Willow Road and Golf Road (Illinois Route 58, IL 58). Toll collection facilities were also added to entrance ramps to northbound I-94 at those points.
The Edens Expressway section of I-94 was last rehabilitated from 1978 through 1980.[3] From 2007 to 2009, I-94 was widened from six to eight lanes between IL 173 (Rosecrans Road) and IL 22 (Half Day Road).[4]
In 1996, the Calumet Expressway was renamed in honor of Bishop Louis Henry Ford, the leader of the Church of God in Christ who had died the previous year.[5]
On April 4, 2008, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) closed one lane in each direction for the entire length of the freeway. The closures lasted until August 2008, occurred in advance of patching and resurfacing of the mainline. In addition, the $42.8 million project was to rehabilitate six bridges and improve drainage at four underpasses.[6]
The Calumet Expressway was originally an extension of Doty Avenue. There were traffic lights at the intersections of Doty with 111th, 115th, and 130th, but interchanges were built in the early 1960s. The expressway was originally designated as IL 1, Alternate US 30, and certain portions as US 6 and IL 83, but IL 1 returned to Halsted Street, and US 6 and IL 83 were routed onto Torrence Avenue. In 1962, the connection between the Calumet Expressway and Dan Ryan Expressway opened, and is now signed as part of the Bishop Ford.
In 2006–07, the portion south of 159th Street was reconstructed as part of the Kingery Expressway-Southland Interchange project. The section between 159th Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive was rehabilitated and resurfaced in mid-to late 2009.[7]
Exit list
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Exit[1] | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake | Newport Township | 0.00 | 0.00 | | Continuation into Wisconsin | |
| 0.56 | 0.90 | 1A |  | Signed as exit 1 westbound | ||
| 0.96 | 1.54 | 1B |  | Eastern end of I-41/US 41 overlap; northern end of Tri-State Tollway; southern terminus of I-41; eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| Zion | 2.36 | 3.80 | 2 | | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
| Wadsworth | 4.90 | 7.89 | Waukegan Toll Plaza | |||
| Gurnee | 8.48 | 13.65 | 8 |  | Signed as exits 8A (west) and 8B (east) | |
| 10.21 | 16.43 | 10 |  | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 11.23 | 18.07 | 11 |  | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 11A (east) and 11B (west) | ||
| North Chicago | 13.85 | 22.29 | 13 |  | ||
| Libertyville | 16.11 | 25.93 | 16 |  | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
| Lake Forest | 18.07 | 29.08 | Lake Forest Oasis | |||
| 19.03 | 30.63 | 19 |  | |||
| Lincolnshire | 21.88 | 35.21 | 21 |  | ||
| Deerfield | 24.31 | 39.12 | 24 | Deerfield Road | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; no trucks allowed on Deerfield Road east | |
| Lake–Cook county line | Deerfield–Northbrook city line | 25.32 | 40.75 | 25A | Lake Cook Road | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; via I-294 |
| 24.91– 25.58 | 40.09– 41.17 | 25B |    | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; northern terminus of I-294; western end of Edens Spur | ||
| Cook | Northbrook | 26.44 | 42.55 | Edens Spur Toll Plaza[8] | ||
| 27.84 | 44.80 | 27 |  | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 29.96 | 48.22 | 29 | | Western end of US 41 overlap; westbound exit and eastbound entrance; eastern end of Edens Spur; western end of Edens Expressway | ||
| 30.23 | 48.65 | 30 |  | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 30A (west) and 30B (east); eastern terminus of IL 68 | ||
| Northfield | 31.92 | 51.37 | 31 | Tower Road | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |
| 33.04 | 53.17 | 33 | Willow Road | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 33A (west) and 33B (east) | ||
| Wilmette | 33.95 | 54.64 | 34A | | Eastern end of US 41 overlap; eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |
| 34.58 | 55.65 | 34B–C | Lake Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 34B (west) and 34C (east) | ||
| Skokie | 35.84 | 57.68 | 35 | Old Orchard Road | ||
| 37.38 | 60.16 | 37 |  | Signed to Northwestern University | ||
| Skokie–Lincolnwood city line | 39.87 | 64.16 | 39 | Touhy Avenue | Signed as exits 39A (west) and 39B (east via Cicero Avenue westbound) | |
| Chicago | 41.37 | 66.58 | 41A |  | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
| 41B | | |||||
| 41.91 | 67.45 | 41C |   | Eastbound exit | ||
| 42.49 | 68.38 | 42 | Foster Avenue | Westbound exit and entrance; eastbound entrance via Elston Ave | ||
| 43.25 | 69.60 | 43A | Wilson Avenue | |||
| 43.26– 43.37 | 69.62– 69.80 | 43B | | Western end of I-90 overlap; westbound exit and eastbound entrance; western end of reversible express lanes; eastern end of Edens Expressway | ||
| 43.55 | 70.09 | 43C | Montrose Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 43.81 | 70.51 | 43D | Kostner Avenue | Westbound exit | ||
| 44.17– 44.40 | 71.08– 71.45 | 44A |  | Eastbound exit and entrance; westbound entrance | ||
| 44.40– 44.59 | 71.45– 71.76 | 44B | | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 45.12 | 72.61 | 45A | Addison Street | |||
| 45.55 | 73.31 | 45B | Kimball Avenue | |||
| 45.86 | 73.80 | 45C | Belmont Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 46.42 | 74.71 | — | Sacramento Avenue | Eastbound entrance | ||
| 46.57 | 74.95 | 46A | California Avenue | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 46.74 | 75.22 | 46B | Diversey Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 47.31– 47.68 | 76.14– 76.73 | 47A | Western Avenue / Fullerton Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance via Western Avenue | ||
| 47.86 | 77.02 | 47B | Damen Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 48.30 | 77.73 | 48A | Armitage Avenue | |||
| 48.88 | 78.66 | 48B |  | |||
| 49.44 | 79.57 | 49A | Division Street | |||
| 49.69 | 79.97 | 49B | Augusta Boulevard / Milwaukee Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 50.18 | 80.76 | 50A | Ogden Avenue | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 50.40 | 81.11 | 50B | Ohio Street | Eastern end of reversible express lanes via Ohio Street / Ontario Street | ||
| 50.97 | 82.03 | 51A | Lake Street | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 51.05 | 82.16 | 51B | Randolph Street west | |||
| 51.12 | 82.27 | 51C | Washington Boulevard east | Eastbound and westbound exit | ||
| 51.22 | 82.43 | 51D | Madison Street | |||
| 51.31 | 82.58 | 51E | Monroe Street | Eastbound exit | ||
| 51.40 | 82.72 | 51F | Adams Street west | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 51.49 | 82.87 | 51G | Jackson Boulevard east | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 51.50– 52.13 | 82.88– 83.90 | 51H |     | Jane Byrne Circle Interchange; southeastern end of Kennedy Expressway; northern end of Dan Ryan Expressway; eastern termini of I-290/IL 110; Congress Parkway renamed Ida B. Wells Drive | ||
| 51I | Congress Parkway – Chicago Loop | |||||
| 52.20 | 84.01 | 52A | Taylor Street / Roosevelt Road | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 52.35 | 84.25 | 52B | Roosevelt Road / Taylor Street | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 53.00 | 85.30 | 52C | 18th Street | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 53.00– 54.82 | 85.30– 88.22 | 53B–C |  | Signed as exits 53B (south) and 53C (north) westbound and exit 53 eastbound; 22nd access from westbound only; western end of express lanes | ||
| 53.26 | 85.71 | 53A | Canalport Avenue / Cermak Road | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 54.94 | 88.42 | 54 | 31st Street | |||
| 55.23 | 88.88 | 55A | 35th Street | U.S. Cellular Field, Illinois Institute of Technology | ||
| 55.76 | 89.74 | 55B | Pershing Road | 3900 South | ||
| 56.22 | 90.48 | 56A | 43rd Street | |||
| 56.75 | 91.33 | 56B | 47th Street | |||
| 57.66 | 92.79 | 57 | Garfield Boulevard | 5500 South | ||
| 58.28 | 93.79 | 58A | 59th Street | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 58.78 | 94.60 | 58B | 63rd Street | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 58.78– 59.11 | 94.60– 95.13 | 59A |   | East end of I-90 overlap; eastbound exit and westbound entrance; eastern end of express lanes | ||
| 59.36 | 95.53 | 59B | Marquette Road / 67th Street | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 59.87 | 96.35 | 59C | 71st Street | |||
| 60.37 | 97.16 | 60A | 75th Street | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 60.48 | 97.33 | 60B | 76th Street | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 60.86 | 97.94 | 60C | 79th Street | |||
| 61.36 | 98.75 | 61A | 83rd Street | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 61.87 | 99.57 | 61B | 87th Street | |||
| 62.87 | 101.18 | 62 |   | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 62.87– 63.88 | 101.18– 102.80 | Michigan Avenue | Westbound entrance only | |||
| 63 |  | Northern terminus of I-57; east end of Dan Ryan Expressway; west end of Bishop Ford Freeway | ||||
| 64.53 | 103.85 | 65 | Stony Island Avenue to 95th and 103rd Streets | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 65.73 | 105.78 | 103rd Street / Stony Island Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
| 66.18 | 106.51 | 66A | 111th Street | Access to Pullman Historic District | ||
| 66.73 | 107.39 | 66B | 115th Street | |||
| 68.67 | 110.51 | 68 | 130th Street – Illinois International Port | Signed as exits 68A (west) and 68B (east) | ||
| 69.76 | 112.27 | 69 | Beaubien Woods Forest Preserve | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| Calumet City | 70.62 | 113.65 | 70 | Dolton Avenue | Eastbound exits; westbound entrances; signed as exits 70A (west) and 70B (east) | |
| 71.42 | 114.94 | 71 |  | Signed as exits 71A (west) and 71B (east) | ||
| South Holland | 72.96 | 117.42 | 73 | | Signed as exits 73A (west) and 73B (east) | |
| South Holland–Thornton Township line | 73.97– 74.89 | 119.04– 120.52 | 74B | | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; I-294 exit 0 | |
| Thornton Township–Lansing line | 74A |  | No exit number westbound | |||
| Lansing | 75.62 | 121.70 | 161 | | Exit number follows I-80 mileage; no westbound exit | |
| 76.51 | 123.13 | — | | West end of I-80/US 6 overlap; westbound left exit and eastbound left entrance; eastern end of Bishop Ford Freeway; western end of Kingery Expressway; southern terminus of I-294; I-80 exit 160 | ||
| 77.41 | 124.58 | | Continuation into Indiana; eastern end of Kingery Expressway | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2006). "T2 GIS Data". Retrieved November 8, 2007.
- Hilkevitch, Jon (October 19, 2009). "Illinois Tollways: New Markers to Be Posted Every Quarter-mile instead of Half-mile". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
- Hilkevitch, John (March 26, 2006). "Buckle up, it looks like a long ride". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 26, 2006.
- "North Tri-State Tollway (I-294/94) Rebuild and Widen Project". Illinois Tollway Authority. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
- Varon, Ron (February 17, 2012). "Interstate Identities: Kingery, Bishop Ford, Edens". ABC 7 News. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
- Claffey, Mike; Kollias, Marisa (March 31, 2008). "IDOT: Edens/I-94 Rehab Project Will Close One Lane In Each Direction Until Late Summer" (Press release). Illinois Department of Transportation. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
- Batty, Stuart. "404". General-refresh.
- System Map (Map). Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. November 2007. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate 94 in Illinois. |
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