U.S. Route 45 in Illinois

Infobox road
state=IL
type=US
route=45
alternate_name=
maint=Illinois Department of Transportation
section=


length_mi=428.99
length_round=2
length_ref=cite web |author=Illinois Technology Transfer Center |url=http://www.dot.state.il.us/gist2/select.html |title=T2 GIS Data |accessdate=2007-11-08 |date=2007]

length_notes=
established=
decommissioned=
direction_a=South
terminus_a=Ohio River in Brookport, IL
beltway_city=
junction=
direction_b=North
terminus_b=Wisconsin state line east of Antioch, IL
counties=Massac, Johnson, Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, White, Wayne, Clay, Effingham, Shelby, Coles, Douglas, Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, Kankakee, Will, Cook, Lake
rural_municipalities=
cities=Effingham, Mattoon, Champaign-Urbana, Kankakee, Chicago, Des Plaines, Mundelein
previous_type=IL
previous_route=43
next_type=IL
next_route=47
browse=
commons=
customcommons=

In the U.S. state of Illinois, U.S. Route 45 is a major north-south highway that runs from the Irvin S. Cobb 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 convert|428.99|mi|km|2. 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 campus at Champaign-Urbana. Entering downtown Champaign, Illinois as Neil Street, US 45 then becomes Springfield Ave, running concurrently with US 150. Further west of downtown Champaign, it again serves as a boundary for the UofI campus. Following Wright Street, US 45 then becomes University Avenue, forming the Northern boarder of the University. US 45 parallels University Avenue to Cunningham Avenue in Urbana, Illinois. US 45 will then parallel Cunningham Avenue northwards towards Chicago.

Kankakee to Hickory Hills

US 45 overlaps US 52 at Illinois Route 116 (ironically at one end of a state route that US 34, which it intersects, is at the other end of) west 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 leaves US 45 to head north. From this point on until its intersection with Cermak Road/22nd Street in Westchester, it 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 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 anyways, 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 it has no interchanges with.) 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 passes over 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 northwesternly 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.)

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 (at 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, and Illinois Route 173 just south of the Wisconsin border.

References