Tri-State Tollway

Tri-State Tollway
Route information
Maintained by ISTHA
Length:	78 mi[1] (126 km)
Existed:	Mid to late 1950s – present
Major junctions
South end:	I-80 / I-94 / I-294 / IL 394 in Thornton
North end:	I-94 / US 41 west of Zion
Highway system
Main route of the Interstate Highway System Main • Auxiliary • Business Illinois state highway system Illinois Tollway system

The Tri-State Tollway is a U.S. toll road maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) in northeastern Illinois which is considered one of the most heavily traveled highways in the country (according to the IBTTA, the tollway is the nation's 4th busiest toll road^[2]). It is actually a combination of three different Interstates:

• Interstate 80 between Interstate 94 at Thornton and Interstate 294 near Hazel Crest
• I-294, which is routed concurrently with I-80 to Hazel Crest, and then turns north to Deerfield
• I-94 north from Deerfield to U.S. Route 41

The segment containing Interstate 294 is 53 miles (85 km) long; in total, the Tri-State Tollway is actually about 78 miles (126 km) long. Only the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway is longer. Despite its name, the Tri-State Tollway does not enter either Indiana or Wisconsin. On the Indiana side, the Tri-State Tollway ends three miles (5 km) away from the Indiana border and continues as the Kingery Expressway; however both the Kingery and the Indiana portion, which was later named the Borman Expressway, were known as the Tri-State Highway before the Tollway was completed. On the Wisconsin side, the toll road ends just before the border at U.S. Route 41 and Russell Road, although ISTHA maintenance continues to the state line.^[3][4]

Features

Northbound Interstate 294 in Alsip, one-half mile south of 127th Street.

• Over-the-road Oases — These oases are a part of the entire tollway system, but the most are on the Tri-State Tollway. They provide food and gas without having to exit the tollway proper.
• Pay-as-you-go tolling — Like all Illinois tollways, rather than getting an entry ticket and paying upon exiting the tollway, drivers pay a flat toll at toll barriers along the main line (every 10 miles (16 km) south of O'Hare Airport). There are also automated toll collection lanes at some exits and entrances.
• Open road tolling — Open road tolling allows the automatic collection of tolls via an I-Pass (compatible with E-ZPass), without the need to slow down or stop at a toll booth.
• Thornton Quarry — About 0.75 mile (1200 m) of the highway crosses a quarry being converted into a large lake for overflow storm water. (See the Deep Tunnel project.) Currently, the road's elevation over the floor of the quarry is up to 100 feet (30 m) deep on both sides of the highway, making for a unique view.

• No direct interchange with Interstate 57 — Despite the fact that these two highways cross paths, there has always been room for an interchange to be built, and one is currently being planned by the Illinois Department of Transportation, ISTHA, and others.^[5] I-57 and I-355 are the only Chicago area expressways that cannot be directly accessed from the Tri-State Tollway.

• Six Flags Great America — an amusement park in Gurnee.

Edens Spur

Edens Spur
Location:	Deerfield–Glencoe, IL
Length:	4 mi (6 km)

The Edens Spur is a 5-mile (8-kilometre) cutover from the Tri-State Tollway to the Edens Expressway. It connects the Interstate 94 portions of the tollway and the Edens Expressway. It is technically a toll road.

Northbound traffic on the Edens Expressway has the option of cutting over to the northbound Tri-State Tollway, or remaining on U.S. Highway 41 (Skokie Highway). Southbound traffic on the Tri-State Tollway has the option of cutting over to the southbound Edens Expressway, or remaining on the Tri-State Tollway on the loop Interstate 294. There are no other ways to enter the Edens Spur at the ends.

There is one exit eastbound on the Edens Spur at Illinois Route 43 (Waukegan Road). There is also an entrance ramp to the Edens Spur westbound at that point.

The spur has one toll barrier, as it is still part of the Illinois toll highway system. This toll plaza has been upgraded and now has (I-Pass) open tolling lanes, which have eliminated most congestion at this toll.

Lingo

The Tri-State Tollway near Illinois Route 176 in Libertyville.

Portions of the Tri-State Tollway are referred to in somewhat archaic language during traffic reports and casual conversation. The following are the most common, from south to north:

• Thornton Quarry — on I-80/294 just east of Halsted Street, the bridge over the aforementioned Thornton Quarry.
• Mile-Long Bridge — on I-294 between I-55 and La Grange Road, the bridge over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Des Plaines River, a large portion of the UPS transmodal facility, a few rail lines, and some Commonwealth Edison power lines.
• Grand Avenue Curve — The curve immediately south of the Bensenville Bridge (see below). This portion of the tollway functions as a long S-curve, causing delays due to limited visibility beyond both curves.
• Bensenville Bridge — on I-294 just south of O'Hare, the bridge over the Metra Milwaukee District West line and Mannheim Road (U.S. 12/45).

History

Tri-State Tollway in Glenview following late 2000s widening/rebuild, two miles south of Willow Road.

The Tri-State Tollway was built in the mid- to late 1950s as a bypass of Chicago, as the Indiana Toll Road-Chicago Skyway (opened in 1956) ran towards downtown. The first section opened August 28, 1958, running from Wisconsin south to and east along the Edens Spur. The rest of the road, from the Edens Spur south to the Calumet Expressway and Kingery Expressway, opened December 23 of the same year. It was at first marked as U.S. Highway 41 Toll, which continued east on the Kingery Expressway (now I-80/I-94) to Calumet Avenue (US 41) in Hammond, Indiana, and ended at the north end of the Tollway, where it merges with US 41. It was also marked as U.S. Highway 30 Toll between its south end (the Calumet Expressway was U.S. Highway 30 Alternate) and the East–West Tollway. In 1959 the Tollway was designated as parts of I-94 and I-294, and the short concurrency with I-80 was assigned.

In 1998, the authority removed the entire multilane Deerfield Toll Plaza on the Tri-State, then considered one of the worst snags on the tollway system. To make up for the lost tolls, the Tollway Authority built the Huehl Road Toll Plaza on the Edens Spur to charge traffic that followed Interstate 94 into Chicago. In addition, tolls at the Waukegan Toll Plaza were increased, and additional toll plazas built on exits south of Deerfield at Lake-Cook Road, Willow Road and Golf Road (Illinois Route 58). Toll collection facilities were also added to entrance ramps to the northbound Tri-State at those points.

Numerous projects to rebuild and widen the entire Tri-State Tollway were completed by early 2010.^[6]

As of December 30, 2009, Clearview Font signage was installed on the Tollway system, and the mileposts of the I-94 portion of the Tri-State Tollway and Edens Spur no longer use the original milepost signage from IL-394 and I-80. Milepost signs north of Lake-Cook Road now use I-94's mileage from south of the Wisconsin state line. Example: I-294 going north has milepost numbers going up to mile 53. I-294 mile 53 becomes I-94 mile 25 going north with the milepost numbers going down. Milepost numbers are now visible every 1/4 mile, as opposed to the previous signage at 1/2 mile intervals.^[7]

Exit list

County	Location	Plaza #[8]	Mile [8][9][10]	Destinations	Notes
Cook	South Holland		0	I-80 east / I-94 east – Indiana	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			0	I-94 west / IL 394 south – Chicago, Danville	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			1	Chicago Southland Lincoln Oasis
	East Hazel Crest	47	3	IL 1 (Halsted Street (800 West))
			4	Dixie Highway	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Hazel Crest	43-45	5	I-80 west to I-57 – Iowa	North end of I-80 overlap
		41	6	163rd Street Toll Plaza
	Markham	40	6.5	US 6 (159th Street)
	Alsip		12	IL 50 (Cicero Avenue (4800 West)) / IL 83 (127th Street)
	Hickory Hills	38	17.5	US 12 (95th Street) / US 20 / 76th Avenue
		39	19.5	83rd Street Toll Plaza (northbound)
		36	20	82nd Street Toll Plaza (southbound)
	Justice		21	US 12 / US 20 / US 45 (LaGrange Road) / IL 171 (Archer Avenue)	Southbound entrance only
	Mile-Long Bridge over Des Plaines River
	Hodgkins	34	22	75th Street, Willow Springs Road (10800 West)
	Indian Head Park	37	23	I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) – Chicago, St. Louis	No southbound entrance from I-55 south
			24	Wolf Road (11200 West)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Hinsdale		25	Hinsdale Oasis
	Western Springs		28	US 34 (Ogden Avenue)
	Hillside		29	I-88 west (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) – Aurora	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			29.5	Cermak Road, 22nd Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		35	30	Cermak Road Toll Plaza
			30.5	IL 38 (Roosevelt Road (1200 South))	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			31	I-88 west (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) – Aurora	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			32	I-290 east (Eisenhower Expressway) – Chicago
	Berkeley		34	I-290 west (Eisenhower Expressway) to US 20 / IL 64 – Rockford
	Franklin Park		38	O'Hare Oasis
			38.5	IL 19 (Irving Park Road (4000 North))	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		33	39	Irving Park Toll Plaza (southbound)
	Rosemont	32	40	I-190 west (Kennedy Expressway) / River Road – O'Hare
		31	41	I-90 (Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, Kennedy Expressway) – Rockford, Chicago
	Park Ridge	29	42	Touhy Avenue Toll Plaza (northbound)
			42	Touhy Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Des Plaines		44.5	US 14 (Dempster Street)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		28	45	IL 58 (Golf Road)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Glenview	27	49	Willow Road
	North end of I-294; south end of I-94 overlap
	Northbrook	24	50.5- 53	I-94 east (Edens Expressway via Edens Spur) – Chicago	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Deerfield	26	54	Lake-Cook Road
Lake
			55	Deerfield Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Lincolnshire	23	56.5	IL 22 (Half Day Road)
	Lake Forest	22	59	IL 60 (Town Line Road)
			60	Lake Forest Oasis
	Libertyville		62	IL 176 (Rockland Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	North Chicago	20	64.5	IL 137 (Buckley Road)
	Gurnee		67	IL 120 (Belvidere Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			68	IL 21 (Milwaukee Avenue)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			70	IL 132 (Grand Avenue)
	Wadsworth	21	73.5	Waukegan Toll Plaza
	Zion		76	IL 173 (Rosecrans Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		1B	0.96	US 41 south – Waukegan	Southbound exit and northbound entrance. Last exit before tollway.
		1A	0.20	Russell Road	Signed as exit 1 northbound
				I-94 west / US 41 north – Milwaukee	Wisconsin state line

Edens Spur

County	Location	Plaza #[8]	Mile [8][10]	Destinations	Notes
Cook	Northbrook		53	I-94 west (Tri-State Tollway) – Milwaukee	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		24	52	Edens Spur Toll Plaza[8]
			50.5	IL 43 (Waukegan Road)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
				I-94 east / US 41 south (Edens Expressway) – Chicago	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance

External links

• Illinois Tollway official site
  • System Map
  • Entrance and Exit Information
• Historic, Current & Average Travel Times For The Tristate Tollway
• Illinois Highways Page (Rich Carlson)

References

• Illinois Highways Page - Illinois Tollways
• Dennis McClendon, Re: (CHICAGOTRANSIT) Expressway openings

1. ^ Illinois Tollway page
2. ^ "Drivers to see major toll hikes". USAToday. 2008-01-27. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-27-tolls_N.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
3. ^ Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, Minutes of the Regular Meeting, May 31, 2007: "Intergovernmental Agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation for routine day-to-day roadway maintenance on I-94 from Russell Road north to the Wisconsin line."
4. ^ Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, North Tri-State Tollway (I-294/94) Rebuild & Widen Project, accessed February 2008: "The section between Russell Road and the Wisconsin state line will be resurfaced."
5. ^ "Proposed Tri-State Tollway I-294/I-57 Interchange". Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=133,2045125&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL. Retrieved 2008-10-13. 
6. ^ "Tollway rebuild, widening project completed". Pioneer Press. January 7, 2010. http://www.pioneerlocal.com/glencoe/news/1975601,glencoe-tollway-010710-s1.article. 
7. ^ Jon Hilkevitch (October 19, 2009). "Illinois tollways: New markers to be posted every quarter-mile instead of half-mile". Chicago Tribune. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/oct/19/travel/chi-getting-around-19oct19. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d e} Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (November 2007). System Map (Map). http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=133,1495438&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL. Retrieved 2008-03-05. 
9. ^ Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2006). "T2 GIS Data". http://www.dot.state.il.us/gist2/select.html. Retrieved 2007-11-08. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Tollway maps do not reflect the renumbering of the I-94 sections, noted in the preceding section of text.