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U.S. Route 66 in Illinois connected St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois. U.S. Route 66 had previously been Illinois Route 4 and the road has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55.
St. Louis Metropolitan Area The highway crossed the Mississippi River originally at the McKinley Bridge, and later across the MacArthur Bridge, the Martin Luther King Bridge, and the Poplar Street Bridge. Bypass US 66 crossed on the Chain of Rocks Bridge. For more, see U.S. Route 66 in Missouri. The original alignment passed through Venice, Madison, and Granite City on Illinois Route 203. Other alignments passed through East St. Louis on surface streets, eventually turning north to join Illinois 203. At Mitchell, Historic 66 crosses Interstate 270. Mitchell to Gardner From Mitchell to Staunton, US 66 stayed to the west of modern I-55. At Staunton, the earliest alignment followed Illinois Route 4 to Springfield, the later alignment is now various frontage roads of I-55. At Springfield, the two different alignments unite. There have been multiple alignments through Springfield itself, one of which is Business I-55. From Springfield to Gardner, Historic 66 is now frontage road for I-55 (except for business loops for Lincoln and Bloomington-Normal). Gardner to Chicago At Gardner, Illinois Route 53 is old US 66 and continues through Joliet to Bolingbrook. A late alignment passed through Plainfield. From Bolingbrook to Indian Head Park, I-55 is on top of old US 66. From Indian Head Park, Old US 66 is Joliet Road and Ogden Avenue, passing through Lyons and Cicero before entering Chicago. At Adams Street, US 66 entered The Loop. It was originally Jackson Drive and ended at U.S. Route 41 (Lake Shore Drive) at the edge of Lake Michigan. Later, Jackson would become a one-way street, and the terminus was moved back to Michigan Avenue, which is where the current "End Historic US 66" marker is now located. | ||||||||
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