U.S. Route 50 in Illinois

U.S. Route 50 (US 50) in the state of Illinois is an east–west highway across the southern portion of the state. It runs from the Jefferson Barracks Bridge over the Mississippi River to Missouri east to the Red Skelton Memorial Bridge over the Wabash River to Indiana. This is a distance of 165.79 miles (266.81 km).[1]

This article is about the section of U.S. Route 50 in Illinois. For the entire route, see U.S. Route 50.

U.S. Route 50
US 50 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by IDOT
Length	165.79 mi[1] (266.81 km)
Existed	1926–present
Major junctions
West end	I-255 / US 50 in Columbia
	I-64 / I-255 in Washington Park I-64 / IL 158 in O'Fallon US 51 in Sandoval I-57 in Salem US 45 in Flora
East end	US 50 in Lawrenceville
Location
Counties	Monroe, St. Clair, Clinton, Marion, Clay, Richland, Lawrence
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided Illinois State Highway System Interstate U.S. State Tollways ← IL 49 IL 50 →

Route description

US 50 runs east–west across the southern portion of the state, between Interstate 70 (I-70) to the north and I-64 to the south. Along many portions of US 50, the road has been moved onto either a bypass or an expressway.

History

Much of US 50 in Illinois, especially the section between Carlyle and Vincennes, lies atop or adjacent to the trail taken by George Rogers Clark and his 170 volunteers in the forlorn-hope march on Vincennes in February 1779.

Up until 1935, Illinois Route 12 (IL 12) followed roughly along the old alignment of US 50 from St. Louis to Vincennes, IN.[2] By 1935, IL 12 was decommissioned.[3]

As of 2011, much of US 50 is a two-lane highway, but portions around Lawrenceville and Vincennes are configured as a four-lane, limited access bypass, built to Interstate Highway standards in the 1960s. Another modern bypass portion between O'Fallon and IL 127 shows evidence of a four-lane right of way as each bridge is paralleled by a second that remains unused and the graded road bed for additional lanes is visible.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[4]	km	Destinations	Notes
Mississippi River		0.00	0.00	I-255 west / US 50 west – Memphis, Tulsa	Continuation into Missouri
Monroe	​	2.9	4.7	IL 3 south	Southern end of IL 3 concurrency
St. Clair	​	7.2	11.6	IL 3 north – Cahokia	Northern end of IL 3 concurrency
	​	9.5	15.3	IL 157
	East St. Louis	13.3	21.4	IL 15
		16.6	26.7	I-64 west / I-255 north – St. Louis, Chicago	Northern end of I–255 concurrency; western end of I–64 concurrency
	Fairview Heights	17.9	28.8	IL 157
		21.4	34.4	IL 159
	O'Fallon	28.1	45.2	I-64 east / IL 158	Eastern end of I–64 concurrency
	Lebanon	32.9	52.9	IL 4 south – Mascoutah	Southern end of IL 4 concurrency
		33.5	53.9	IL 4 north	Northern end of IL 4 concurrency
Clinton	Trenton	40.1	64.5	IL 160
	Carlyle	57.2	92.1	IL 127 north	Northern end of IL 127 concurrency
		58.3	93.8	IL 127 south	Southern end of IL 127 concurrency
Marion	Sandoval	72.4	116.5	US 51 south – Centralia	Southern end of US 51 concurrency
	​	72.6	116.8	US 51 north – Vandalia	Northern end of US 51 concurrency
	Salem	80.4	129.4	I-57 – Mt. Vernon, Effingham
		81.8	131.6	IL 37 – Mt. Vernon, Effingham
Clay	Flora	106.7	171.7	US 45 north – Effingham	Western end of US 45 concurrency
		110.6	178.0	US 45 south – Fairfield	Eastern end of US 45 concurrency
Richland	​	120.9	194.6	IL 250 east	Western terminus of IL 250
	Olney	129.6	208.6	IL 250 west / IL 130	Western end of IL 250 concurrency
Lawrence	​	142.2	228.8	IL 250 east	Eastern end of IL 250 concurrency
	Lawrenceville	151.0	243.0	US 50 Bus. east	Western terminus of US 50 BUS
		152.2	244.9	IL 1 – Lawrenceville, Marshall
		154.7	249.0	US 50 Bus. west	Eastern terminus of US 50 BUS
	​	159.5	256.7	IL 33 north	Southern terminus of IL 33
	​	165.79	266.81	US 50 east – Vincennes	Indiana state line
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

1. Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2007). "T2 GIS Data". Retrieved November 8, 2007.
2. Illinois Secretary of State; Rand McNally (1934). Official Road Map Illinois (Map). [c. 1:950,000 and c. 1:1,110,000]. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State. OCLC 183709045 – via Illinois Digital Archives.
3. Illinois Secretary of State; H.M. Gousha (1935). Official Road Map Illinois (Map). [c. 1:950,000 and c. 1:1,110,000]. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State – via Illinois Digital Archives.
4. Google (March 19, 2017). "Overview Map of US 50" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved March 19, 2017.

External links

Template:Attached KML/U.S. Route 50 in Illinois

KML is from Wikidata

U.S. Route 50
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