Interstate 294

Interstate 294 Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System
Maintained by Illinois Tollway
Length:	53.42 mi[1] (85.97 km)
Formed:	1957 (completed 1968)
South end:	I-80 / I-94 / IL 394 in Lansing
Major junctions:	I-80 in Hazel Crest I-55 in Indian Head Park I-88 in Hillside I-290 in Hillside I-190 in Chicago I-90 in Chicago
North end:	I-94 in Deerfield
Illinois state highway system < I-290 IL 336 >

Interstate 294 (I-294) is a tolled Interstate Highway in northeastern Illinois, U.S.A.. It forms the southern portion of the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois. I-294 runs from South Holland at Interstates 80 and 94, and Illinois Route 394 to Deerfield at I-94. Interstate 294 is 53.42 miles (85.97 km) long; 5.32 miles (8.56 km) are shared with I-80.^[1] It serves as a bypass around the city of Chicago.

Route description

Interstate 294 has four of the Tri-State Tollway's five mainline barriers. These are located at:

• 163rd Street
• 82nd Street (Southbound)/83rd Street (Northbound)
• Cermak Road
• Irving Park Road (Illinois Route 19) (Southbound)/ Touhy Ave. (Northbound)

The fifth is on I-94 near Waukegan.

The full length of Interstate 294 is 8 lanes wide (4 lanes each direction). Prior to 2006, only the portion between O'Hare (Interstate 90) and 95th Street (U.S. 12/U.S. 20) was 8 lanes, with the remainder being 6 lanes. In 2009, The Illinois Tollway Authority completed reconstruction on the remainder of Interstate 294, expanding the tollway from 6 to 8 lanes from 95th Street to its Southern terminus at the Kingery Expressway, and from Interstate 90 to its Northern terminus at Interstate 94 in Deerfield.

History

The portion of the Borman Expressway that was completed from Gary westward and the Kingery Expressway were originally designated as I-80, 90, and 294 from shortly after the Interstate Highway program was enacted until about 1965, when the connection between the Borman and the Indiana Toll Road was completed, and I-90 was swapped with I-94 west of that junction, cutting back I-294 to its current south terminus. Indiana later proposed to extend Interstate 294 east on the current Borman Expressway to Indiana State Route 912, before having it turn north at that point, west at U.S. Highway 12, and then back to I-94, most likely somewhere on the Bishop Ford Expressway near 130th Street. The request was denied.

In the early 1990s, reconstruction expanded the portion of Interstate 294 between 95th Street and Interstate 90 from 6 to 8 lanes in each direction. In 2006, reconstruction to widen the Southern portion of the tollway, where I-80 and I-294 are multiplexed, was completed in conjunction with simultaneous projects on the Borman and Kingery Expressways, expanding this portion of the tollway from 6 to 8 lanes. By late 2009, additional reconstruction projects on the remainder of the tollway were completed, bringing the entire length of Interstate 294 to 8 lanes wide (4 lanes each direction).

Interstate 294 was built largely before the growth and maturation of the suburbs that run along Interstate 294. As a result, the vast majority of the interchanges are partial, or were configured to have entrance ramps feeding the toll plazas. "Gaps" between exit ramps are common, the 9.5 mile (15.3 kilometer) gap between Cicero Avenue (Illinois 50/83) and 95th Street (U.S. 12/20) being one of the more notable ones. Partial interchanges are located at Roosevelt Road (Illinois Route 38) (southbound exit, northbound entrance), Irving Park Road (Illinois 19) (southbound exit, northbound entrance), Touhy Avenue (northbound exit, southbound entrance), Dempster Street (U.S. 14) (northbound exit, southbound entrance), and Golf Road (Illinois 58) (southbound exit, northbound entrance). Several former partial interchanges have been converted to full interchanges, with automated toll collection facilities on the new ramps, such as at 159th Street (U.S. 6) (northbound on and southbound off added), and 95th Street (U.S. 12/20) (southbound on and northbound off added). The 79th Street exit was moved to 75th Street/Willow Springs Road, and made a complete interchange in the same manner.

Future

As of 2009^[update], Interstate 294 has no interchange on Interstate 57, although one is being considered. This is one of the only places that two Interstate Highways cross but do not feature connecting ramps. Plans for the interchange are currently at PE 1, or preliminary engineering, but have been repeatedly put on hold due to insufficient funding since 1993. In 2006, a consortium of south suburbs again pushed the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Tollway Authority to construct the interchange, whose construction costs are now estimated at between $235 million and $250 million USD.^[2]

Interstate 294 northbound in Indian Head Park, IL one half-mile south of the Hinsdale Oasis.

Exit list

County	Location	Plaza #[3]	Mile [4][1]	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

References

External links

• Kurumi's 3di page: Interstate 294
• Illinois Highway Ends: Interstate 294

v • d • e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 94 North Dakota: 194 (unsigned) — Minnesota: 394 • 494 • 694 — Wisconsin: 794 • 894 — Illinois: 294 — Michigan: 194