Tri-State Tollway

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Tri-State Tollway
Length:	78 miles (126 km)
Formed:	Mid to late 1950s
Direction:	North-south
From:	Interstates 80/94/294, Illinois Route 394 in Thornton, IL
To:	Interstate 94, U.S. Route 41 west of Zion, IL
Major cities:	Franklin Park, IL, Des Plaines IL, Gurnee, IL
System:	Interstate Highway system Illinois Tollway system

The Tri-State Tollway is a U.S. toll road maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority in northeastern Illinois. It is actually a combination of three different Interstates:

Interstate 80 between Interstate 94 at Thornton and Interstate 294 near Hazel Crest
Interstate 294, which is routed on top of Interstate 80 to Hazel Crest, and then turns north to Deerfield
Interstate 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 in length. 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 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 Tri-State Tollway ends just before the border at U.S. Route 41. The road continues as Interstate 94/U.S. Route 41 to Milwaukee.

1 Features
2 Lingo
- 2.1 Edens Spur
3 History
4 Interchanges
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Features

For being a relatively short highway, the Tri-State Tollway has numerous notable oddities.

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

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 (typically every 10 miles south of O'Hare), and there are automated toll collection lanes at some exits and entrances sufficiently distant from the main line barriers.

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.

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 and there is room for an interchange to be built, I-57 is the only Chicagoland highway that cannot be directly accessed from the Tri-State Tollway).

Six Flags Great America

[edit] Lingo

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, the bridge over the aforementioned Thornton Quarry.
Mile-Long Bridge — on I-294, 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.
Bensenville Bridge — on I-294, the bridge over the Metra Milwaukee District West line and Mannheim Road (U.S. 12/45).
Grand Avenue Curve — The curve immediately south of the Bensenville Bridge. This portion of the tollway functions as a long S-curve, causing delays due to limited visibility beyond both curves.
The Water Tower — on I-294, a water tower by Willow Road.

[edit] Edens Spur


Edens Spur
Length:	4 miles (6 km)
Formed:	Mid 1950s
Direction:	East-west
From:	Interstates 94/294 in Deerfield, IL
To:	Interstate 94, U.S. Route 41 in Glencoe, IL
Major cities:	None
System:	Illinois Tollway system Interstate Highway system

The Edens Spur is a 5 mile (8 km) 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.

[edit] History

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.

[edit] Interchanges

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority numbers toll plazas, including plazas on exit ramps. Exits are not marked on overhead signs as of 2006. In the exit number column, below, only the exits indicated as exits of or have exit numbers on the signs.

[edit] South Tri-State Tollway

County	Location	Mile	Exit # or Toll Plaza #	Destinations	Notes
Cook	South Holland	0	160A-B	Interstates 80 East, 94 (Bishop Ford Freeway, Kingery Expressway) — Chicago, Indiana Illinois Route 394 South — Danville	Southern terminus of Interstate 294 and Tri-State Tollway. Westbound Interstate 80 joins I-294 northbound. Eastbound I-80 continues multiplexed with Interstate 94 eastbound to Indiana on the Kingery Expressway.
	South Holland	Abraham Lincoln Oasis
	East Hazel Crest	3	47	Illinois 1 - Halsted Street
	East Hazel Crest	4	N/A	Dixie Highway	southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Hazel Crest	5	43-45	Interstate 80 West - Iowa	Marked as "To I-57 South - Memphis". Eastbound I-80 joins with I-294 southbound at this point; westbound I-80 leaves I-294.
	Hazel Crest		41	163rd Street Toll Plaza
	Markham	6	40	U.S. Highway 6 - 159th Street	Cloverleaf interchange. Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
	Alsip	12		127th Street	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
	Alsip	12		Illinois Routes 50/83 - Cicero Avenue/127th Street	Southbound exit, northbound entrance. Southbound ramp has dedicated ramp to southbound Cicero Avenue; access to northbound Cicero Avenue is via 127th Street, which is Illinois 83 at this point. Southbound Illinois 50 ramp also leads to southbound Illinois 83, which multiplexes with Illinois 50 at corner of Cicero/127th Street.
	Hickory Hills	18	38	U.S. Routes 12/20 - 95th Street/76th Avenue	Southbound exit to 95th Street/76th Avenue; northbound exit to 95th Street only. Access to Illinois Route 43 - Harlem Avenue, and Illinois Route 7 - Southwest Highway via this exit.
			39	83rd Street Toll Plaza	Northbound only.
			36	82nd Street Toll Plaza	Southbound only.
	Justice	21		Illinois 171 - Archer Avenue	Southbound entrance only (no exits); former southbound exit to Illinois 171 and U.S. Routes 12/20/45 - LaGrange Road closed late 1980s for safety reasons.
	Hodgkins	22	34	75th Street/Willow Springs Road	Access to UPS facility.
	Indian Head Park	23-24	37	Interstate 55 (Stevenson Expressway) - Chicago, St. Louis, Missouri / Wolf Road	Southbound exit, northbound entrance to collector-distributor ramp; northbound exit direct to I-55. No southbound access to Wolf Road, which is accessed via I-55 southbound ramp. Access to U.S. Routes 12/20/45 - LaGrange Road via I-55 northbound.

[edit] Central Tri-State Tollway

County	Location	Mile	Exit # or Toll Plaza #	Destinations	Notes
Cook	Hinsdale			Hinsdale Oasis	Also the entrance ramp from I-55 to northbound I-294.
	Western Springs	28		U.S. Highway 34 - Ogden Avenue	Full cloverleaf interchange. Brookfield Zoo
	Hillside	29		Interstate 88 West (East-West Tollway) - Aurora	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		30		Cermak Road/22nd Street	Southbound exit, northbound entrance
		30	35	Cermak Road Toll Plaza
		31		Illinois Route 38 - Roosevelt Road	Northbound exit, southbound entrance
		31		Interstate 88 West (East-West Tollway) - Aurora	Southbound exit, northbound entrance
		32		Interstate 290 East (Eisenhower Expressway) - Chicago
	Berkeley	32-34		Interstate 290 West (Eisenhower Expressway) - Rockford	Access to westbound Illinois Route 64 - North Avenue, U.S. Route 20 - Lake Street.
	Franklin Park			O'Hare Oasis
		39		Illinois Route 19 - Irving Park Road	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
			33	Irving Park Toll Plaza	Southbound only.
	Chicago	40	32	Interstate 190 West - O'Hare / River Road
	Chicago	31	41	Interstate 90 (Kennedy Expressway, Northwest Tollway) - Chicago/Rockford

[edit] Northern Tri-State Tollway

County	Location	Mile	Exit # or Toll Plaza #	Destinations	Notes
Cook	Park Ridge		29	Touhy Avenue Toll Plaza	Northbound only.
	Park Ridge	42		Touhy Avenue	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
	Des Plaines	44		U.S. Highway 14 - Dempster Street	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
	Des Plaines	45	28	Illinois 58 - Golf Road	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
	Northbrook	49	27	Willow Road	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
	Deerfield	54	26	Lake-Cook Road
Lake		53	24	Interstate 294 South, Interstate 94 East (Edens Expressway) - Chicago, Indiana	Northern terminus of Interstate 294. Tri-State Tollway follows I-94 northbound and I-294 southbound. I-94 southbound becomes the Edens Spur of the Tri-State Tollway; see below for exit list.
		55		Deerfield Road	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
	Lincolnshire	56	23	Illinois 22 - Half Day Road
	Lake Forest	59	22	Illinois 60 - Town Line Road
	Lake Forest			Lake Forest Oasis
	Libertyville	62		Illinois 176 - Rockland Road	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
	North Chicago	64	20	Illinois 137 - Buckley Road
	Gurnee	67		Illinois 120 - Belvidere Road	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		68		Illinois 21 - Milwaukee Avenue	Southbound exit, northbound entrance
		70		Illinois 132 - Grand Avenue	Main exit for Six Flags Great America.
	Wadsworth		21	Waukegan Toll Plaza
	Zion	76		Illinois 173 - Rosecrans Road	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		78	1B	U.S. Highway 41 South - Waukegan	Southbound exit, northbound entrance. Northbound U.S. 41 multiplexes with I-94 at this point; southbound U.S. 41 continues toward Waukegan, and to the junction with the Edens Spur (below) on the Edens Expressway. Northern terminus of Tri-State Tollway.
		78	1	Russell Road	Signed as exit 1A southbound.

[edit] Edens Spur

County	Location	Mile	Exit # or Toll Plaza #	Destinations	Notes
Cook	Northbrook		24	Huehl Road Toll Plaza
		50.5		Illinois Route 43 - Waukegan Road	Westbound entrance, eastbound exit. Mileposts count back from I-94/I-294 junction.
				Interstate 94 East, U.S. Route 41 South (Skokie Highway, Edens Expressway) — Chicago	Eastbound I-94 merges and multiplexes with southbound U.S. 41. Westbound I-94 splits from northbound U.S. 41 at this point. One thru lane traveling eastbound; two exit lanes traveling westbound.

[edit] External links

Illinois Highways

[edit] References

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

edit Toll highways in Illinois
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
Highways
Northwest Tollway (I-39/I-90) \| Tri-State Tollway (I-80/I-94/I-294) Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) \| North-South Tollway (I-355)
Miscellaneous
I-Pass \| Illinois Tollway oasis

edit Expressways in Chicagoland
	Stevenson Expressway	Interstate 57	Interstate 65
	Kingery Expressway \| Borman Expressway	Tri-State Tollway	Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway
	Northwest Tollway \| Chicago Skyway \| Indiana Toll Road	Dan Ryan Expressway	Interstate 190 \| Kennedy Expressway
	Edens Spur \| Edens Expressway \| Bishop Ford Freeway	Eisenhower Expressway	North-South Tollway
	Elgin Bypass	Lake Shore Drive \| Skokie Highway	Illinois Route 53
	Kingery Highway	Amstutz Expressway	Illinois Route 394
	Elgin-O'Hare Expressway	Cline Avenue
Former / Future Expressways
	Crosstown Expressway	Illiana Expressway	Prairie Parkway