Metro East highways
Note: Highways in Bold are current routes. Highways in Italics indicate decommissioned routes. Underlined routes are the routes planned for the Metro East. Hyperlinked routes take you to the Madison County Highways Page.
Illinois 3: Widened over the past decade in Monroe County from Waterloo to I-255. Plans are in the works for a realignment of Route 3 from Sauget to Granite City. This highway is multiplexed twice -- one from Columbia to just south of Cahokia on I-255/US 50; the other with I-55/70 in East St. Louis. It was once multiplexed with IL 158 and BY US 50, but IDOT dropped that in the early 1980's. This highway has changed several times in the past few decades with new alignments, getting put back on old alignments, etc.
Illinois 4: This highway was recently realigned in eastern St. Clair County from I-64 to Mascoutah due to the new Mid-America Airport. In recent years, Route 4 from I-64 to Lebanon has either been closed to thru traffic or to wide loads due to 3 bridge replacements this decade alone. Part of this highway was once Illinois 43 until 1964.
Illinois 11: This highway existed until the late 1940's and entered on the old US 40 route (Collinsville Road) into East St. Louis. It was rerouted onto present IL 140 in the 1930's before getting decommissioned after WW2. This number is retired.
Illinois 12: This number was the present day US 50; old US 50 in Clinton County is known as CO Highway 50 even though it is not marked -- its marked as old US 50. This highway, like IL 11, is also retired. There is no county highway 12 in either St. Clair or Clinton counties today due to this. (Actually, Clinton County does have a County Highway 12, but it is not the original route -- the original route is still called Route 50 even though Route 50 was put on its original alignment from Summerfield to Carlyle in 1987. It's likewise in St. Clair County from Route 158 along Lincoln Trail and State St.)
Illinois 13: This quad-directional has gotten notoriety of quietly becoming St. Clair County's most dangerous highway over the decade due to the fatal accidents that occur when there is dense fog. IL 13 once went to I-55/70 in East St. Louis on Bond Ave -- which was turned over to the city back in 1976.
This highway was mentioned in the Harrison Ford movie, The Fugitive.
Illinois 15: This highway was once US 460 until 1974; and has only changed slightly during the years. The only major change was during the 1960's where IL 15 was changed to the present day IL 177 west of Okawville and IL 160 east of Okawville and the current IL 15 has been the present routing ever since even though improvements has been made since then.
This highway is very dangerous in Washington County, especially east of Nashville. There has been debate going on there since the start of my senior year of high school to get the highway straightened out from Nashville to Ashley.
Illinois 16: The original routing was a straight NE/SW route in the early days as it went from Livingston (to old IL 4) to the IL/IN state line. The route was changed in the late 20's to go from Hardin to the IL/IN state line. IL 16 has not changed very much since it got rerouted.
Illinois 38: This route is present day IL 138 from IL 159 to I-55.
Illinois 43: This route is the current IL 4 from Marine to just north of Murphysboro. It got changed in 1964.
Illinois 96: This north/south highway goes from Kampsville to Lomax. The first and last 10 miles are so are east/west.
Illinois 100: This highway was originally IL 3 and US 67 in the early days. This highway slowly grew along the Illinois River from Godfrey to Dunfermline. In 1987, IL 3 and IL 100 "switched" to their present locations between the Alton area and Grafton.
Route 100 was closed for most of 1993 due to the flooding. It also was closed for part of 1982, 1983, and 1986 for the same reason.
Illinois 108: It goes from the Kampsville Ferry to I-55 and this route has not changed very much since it got commissioned.
Illinois 109: This route was originally IL 3 and US 67 at first, and got its present designation sometime in the early 1950's (?). This is one of the shortest highways in Illinois as it only goes 8 miles.
Illinois 111: This highway goes from East St. Louis to Waverly and has changed very little over the years. The only changes came in the 1960's when the Homer M. Adams Parkway in Alton opened; the other came in 1987 when IL 111 not only got multiplexed with IL 3 on the Adams Parkway, it also lost priority on that same route.
Illinois 112: This is the present day IL 159 from Edwardsville to IL 16. 112 got renumbered in 1964 on the route that has not changed very much if any. 112 is retired in both Madison and Macoupin Counties.
Illinois 127: This highway hasn't changed much since the early days -- the only major change was realignment south of Nashville -- but that was several decades ago. It was once multiplexed with IL 3 into Cairo, but not anymore.
Also, note that 127 is a speedtrap from New Minden to Pickneyville. It’s a fact due to personal experience.
Illinois 127A: This letter-appended route is today's IL 143 from Highland to IL 127 in Bond County. This route has changed little since it got renumbered in the late 30's.
Illinois 138: This short highway follows part of the old IL 38 and has not changed since it got designated a few decades ago.
Illinois 140: This highway was once IL 160 and then IL 11 until 140 got its present designation in the late 40's. It parallels I-70 from Greenville to an exit between Vandalia and St. Elmo on the opposite side of US 40.
Once, this highway was signed across the Mississippi River with US 67 and Lindbergh Bvld. From US 40 to the current US 67/MO 367 spilt was MO 140. That changed in 1975. IL 140 now ends at IL 143 just east of US 67.
Illinois 143: This highway was once a two-lane highway that changed very little until 1987. Since the 1987 "Switch" (this highway got the better deal in the process), 143 is now four lanes from the Clark Bridge all the way to just west of the SIU-E turnoff (though there is a short two-lane section in that stretch). There is only 7 stoplights from Edwardsville city limits to the Clark Bridge to worry about -- and just 2 once west of IL 3.
This highway goes through a very treacherous hilly section east of Edwardsville to Highland.
The section from Highland to IL 127 was once IL 127A, but that was over 60 years ago.
In 1964, this highway was extended to East Alton as IL 159 went from quad-directional to a straight north/south route.
Illinois 150: This highway currently goes from Chester to IL 154.
Once, this highway went from Edwardsville to Chester thru Mascouthah, but that was many years ago. The county road from New Athens to Chester via Baldwin is part of the old IL 150.
Illinois 152: This highway is only 7 miles long from Pyatts to DuQuoin. It has not changed from the early days.
Illinois 153: This narrow, 2-lane highway goes from Eden to IL 15 and is known for accidents at night. (That number has since gone down due to widening last year.) 153 once went on County Highway 12 or 13 in Washington County, but that was several decades ago. However, IL 153 is now up to IL Highway standards in Washington County.
Illinois 156: This highway goes from just west of New Athens to Harrisonville (near the Mississippi River in Monroe County) and is about 28 miles long. This highway has not changed much over the years.
Illinois 157: This highway has changed from its earlier days. At first, IL 157 was signed from Columbia to Edwardsville; that changed when IL 150 got changed. Today, IL 157 is on its current route from Cahokia to Hamel and the only changes came in the mid-1980's, when it got widened in the Collinsville area.
Illinois 158: This is a quad-directional highway from Columbia to east of O'Fallon. The only changes came in the 1970's when the section from IL 161 to I-64 was widened to 4 lanes. The other change, came shortly after I-255 was opened, when the western end of IL 158 was pushed 3 miles east to the present western end.
For fun and games, there is a wrong-way multiplex with IL 161 just south of Scott Air Force Base as you are going East on 161 and West on 158 at the same time and vice versa.
Illinois 159: This highway goes from Red Bud to IL 16, but that was not the original route. Until 1964, the current IL 143 from East Alton to Edwardsville was marked IL 159 and the current 159 from Edwardsville to IL 16 was IL 112.
This highway is known for its massive bottlenecks from Belleville to Edwardsville. Residents have rejected plans for a 4 lane 159 from I-64 to Edwardsville in recent years. However, a new 2-lane alignment is on the planning table but I have no other information at the present time.
Illinois 160: This route has changed a lot too. It was first an east/west route from Alton to Greenville -- it changed in the 1930's to IL 11. (Now, that route is IL 140.) 160 became an north/south route after that, going from IL 140 north of Grantfork to IL 15 in New Memphis in the 1940's. It changed again in the 1950's, when IL 15 was multiplexed with US 460 from south of Addieville to East St. Louis. That change extended both IL 160 and IL 177 onto their current routes, which hasn't changed since then.
Illinois 161: This route has seen little change over the years, despite the fact its been widened and realigned a few times since the 80's. It is marked from IL 157 to IL 37, but not marked from IL 37 all the way to IL 1. (The only people that know the "extension" are the people that live out in that area.) The only real interesting thing about 161 is that wrong-way multiplex with IL 158 for about a mile.
Illinois 162: Although this route has not changed since 1967, it has been on a string of bad luck since 1996, when it got closed over I-55/70 after a truck slammed into the 162 overpass. Since it got reopened, the overpass has been under a legal weight, legal width restriction.
162 has existed since at least 1950, where it only went from IL 3 to IL 157. When I-270 first opened in Madison County, it took its current route from IL 203 to IL 157. In January 1967, 162 was extended to its current route from Granite City to Troy, ending 4 miles east of Troy at US 40.
Illinois 163: This is one of the shortest routes in Illinois as it goes only 7 miles, but is heavily traveled from Millstadt to Alorton. This route is a good shortcut from people from Millstadt that needs to go to IL 15, but does not want to go out of their way on IL 158.
Illinois 177: This route only went from Okawville to Irvington in the early days (and still resembled that until last year), but when IL 15 was rerouted in the late 50's onto US 460, IL 177 got extended from Okawville to Belleville. This route has not changed since then. Better watch out in Okawville as this highway is a major speedtrap.
Illinois 203: This route existed since 1964 from Wood River to East St. Louis, and has changed a lot. This route was once US 66, US 67, and IL 3 over the years until IL 3 was realigned to Missouri Ave. in Granite City and onto a new alignment from I-270 to Alton in 1964.
IL 203 from IL 3 south of Hartford to Wood River (Delmar Road) was turned over to the county in the late 1960's. In 1987, Old Alton Road was turned over to the county as well, and IL 203 has had I-270 as its northern end ever since then. The route south of I-55/70 was turned over to the city of East St. Louis in 1990 or 1991 but you get no proof of that at all.
At that time, many indicators appeared that this highway was eligible for decommissioning. However, in 1996, Gateway International Racetrack was built, and IDOT decided to not turn IL 203 over to the county.
Illinois 255: This route is supposed to be the likely designation for the Alton Bypass. The section from IL 143 to I-270 is scheduled to open in October; construction from IL 143 to IL 140 could start next year.
Illinois 267: This route was US 67 until the 1950's when 67 was shifted to its present location from IL 111 to Murrayville. The old 67 became Alt. US 67 until that changed in 1965 into IL 267. The highway has not changed since, but its one of the most dangerous highways in Central Illinois.
Locals are now planning a "corridor 67" from Alton to Jerseyville, which could replace 267 in the near future.
US 36: This highway crosses the river at Hannibal, but a new bridge is getting built upstream and it's scheduled to be done in 2000. This route has changed a lot since 1975 and the US 36 freeway in Central Illinois is now I-72. (It became I-72 right before the start of that season where the Bulls won 72 games to set a NBA record for victories in a season.)
Before the freeway was built, US 36 had one of the longest multiplexes in the state of Illinois, with US 54 from Pittsfield to Springfield. The freeway has existed since 1974 in the Springfield area and to Jacksonville by 1978.
US 40: This highway changed quite a bit in Illinois. In the early days, it was IL 11. This route became US 40 in the 1930's and the only major changes came when US 40 was routed through the city in the 1950's, and with I-70 from St. Louis to Troy. The current route of US 40, though, has not changed very much since I-70 was built.
US 50: This route was once IL 12 and really did not change until the 1970's. In 1976, it was changed from going through St. Louis to go around it. When I-255 was built, US 50 was multiplexed with it from I-64 to just east of US 61/67. The other change was when a new alignment, somewhat a super-two (not totally, though), opened from Summerfield to Carlyle in 1987.
Most of old US 50 in Fairview Heights, O'Fallon, and in Clinton County is still called Route 50 today; as a matter of fact even the people at IDOT still do it!
US 54: This highway once went all the way to Chicago, but IDOT truncated it at Pittsfield in 1964. However, it was extended back into Winchester in 1993 when the US 36 freeway was completed from IL 336 to Springfield.
Part of old US 54 exists as IL 54, personally in my opinion should be US 54 anyway.
US 60: This was the short-lived numbering for US 66 in 1926.
US 66: This highway was the fabled "Mother Road", and had several alignments in the Metro East. The most famous alignment was from 1930's to 1950's, when it crossed the old Chain of Rocks Bridge. (The alignment that Madison Countians still refer as Route 66.)
In the 1960's, it went through St. Louis with US 40 and eventually I-55/70. US 66 was decommissioned in Illinois in 1977.
US 67: Although this highway did not enter Illinois until 1932, this highway had several routes. In the late 50's, US 67 went from the present-day IL 203 to the present day IL 3. It was changed to cross the river at the Clark Bridge at that time and the old route became US 67-A. In 1964, it changed again, to its present location north of Alton, and US 67-A became IL 3.
The route changed in 1994, when the new Clark Bridge opened and US 67 went from Belle St. in Alton to a new alignment along an abandoned railroad grade (Piasa St.) from IL 100 to IL 111 in Godfrey.
US 460: This route is the present-day IL 15, 142, and 14 in Illinois. It crossed the river at the MacAruthur Bridge in St. Louis until it closed in 1981 (that bridge is still being used as a railroad crossing, though). 460 was decommissioned west of Frankfurt, KY in 1974.
For more information about highways in Illinois, go to
Rich Carlson's Page.