Illinois Route 38 is an west–east

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

that runs across northern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. It runs from

U.S. Route 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...

(US 52) in downtown Dixon to US 12/ US 20/ US 45 (Mannheim Road) in Westchester. It runs concurrently with the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

between Dixon and the junction of

Illinois Route 31 Illinois Route 31 (IL 31) is a north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois, United States. It travels from U.S. Route 34 (US 34) in Oswego north to US 12, near the Wisconsin state line, just south of Richmond ...

in Geneva where it transitions via State Street onto

Roosevelt Road Roosevelt Road (originally named 12th Street) is a major east-west street in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only south of Madison Street. It runs under this ...

at the junction of Kirk Road and continues through the western suburbs to its terminus at the junction of Mannheim Road.

continues on an additional 14 miles without a route designation until terminating at US 41 (

Lake Shore Drive Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive, and called DuSable Lake Shore Drive, The Outer Drive, The Drive, or LSD) is a multilevel expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and adjacent to ...

). Illinois Route 38 travels along the former route of US 330, that existed from 1926 to 1942. It spanned from

Galt Galt or GALT may refer to: Biology and biochemistry * Galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase, an enzyme * Gut-associated lymphoid tissue, a subset of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue People and fictional characters * Galt (surname), a list o ...

to Lynwood.

Route description

Illinois 38 runs along the historic

for much of its length, and parallels Interstate 88 as well. Illinois 38 serves some cities that have no interchanges on Interstate 88. It enters the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

metropolitan area at Elburn, as this border is pushed west with the extension of the

Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. I ...

rail system. Except in cities, Illinois 38 has two lanes west of

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. Illinois 38 generally has two lanes west of the Fox River, except in cities, and four lanes east of the river. From

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

Interstate 294 Interstate 294 (I-294) is a tolled auxiliary Interstate Highway in northeastern Illinois. It forms the southern portion of the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois. I-294 runs from South Holland at I-80/ I-94 and Illinois Route 394 (IL 394) to N ...

, Illinois 38 expands to six lanes and becomes a limited-access

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

with exits to

Illinois Route 56 Illinois Route 56 (IL 56) is a east–west state highway in northern and northeastern Illinois. It runs from the interchange of Illinois Route 47 at U.S. Route 30 (US 30) in Sugar Grove east to US 12/US 20/US 45 (Mannheim Road) by Bellwoo ...

Illinois Route 83 Illinois Route 83 (IL 83) is a major north–south state highway in northeast Illinois. It stretches from U.S. Route 30 (US 30, Lincoln Highway) by Lynwood and Dyer, Indiana, north to the Wisconsin border by Antioch at Wisconsin High ...

, Interstate 290 and Interstate 294. The ramp to Interstate 290 has an automated gate system that closes during high-volume periods, such as rush hours.

History

SBI Route 38 initially ran between Kampsville and Jerseyville. In 1937, IL 38's western terminus was truncated as IL 100 was extended south of Kampsville while its eastern terminus was extended to Mount Clare. By 1941, the original route of IL 38 was decommissioned and was replaced by IL 16, IL 112, and IL 138. It remained decommissioned until 1972 when Alt US 30 was partly replaced with Illinois Route 38 while the rest was removed. In 1914, one mile of a road near

Malta, Illinois Malta is a village in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,143 at the 2020 census. History Malta was founded in 1855, under the name of Milton. Shortly afterwards, the name was changed to Etna, then Malta after the Galena R ...

was paved with concrete. This was the first "Seedling Mile" of the concrete road on the Lincoln Highway. Seedling Miles were constructed on several portions of the Lincoln Highway to encourage the paving of the highway from coast to coast. The Lincoln Highway was routed along modern-day Route 38 between

and Dixon. When numbered US Highways began to replace named cross-country roads (like

US 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...

for the Lincoln Highway), this stretch of highway was signed as Alternate US 30. In 1972, as traffic patterns shifted, these alternates to US highways became unnecessary and fell out of favor.

U.S. Route 330

U.S. Route 330 (US 330) was a

U.S. Highway The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

that traveled from

to Lynwood, and was in service from 1926 to 1942. It has since been replaced in its entirety by Illinois Route 38 west of Bellwood, and by other local roads east of Bellwood to Lynwood. US 330 branched off at

, where US 30 ran along present Illinois Route 38 and

, and ran east to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. After several extensions on the west end, it became part of U.S. Route 30 Alternate from 1942 to 1971 and then Illinois 38 west of Mannheim Road since 1971.

Major intersections

References

External links

Illinois Highway Ends: Illinois Route 38

{{US 30 U.S. Route 30 038 Lincoln Highway DeKalb, Illinois Transportation in Lee County, Illinois Transportation in Ogle County, Illinois Transportation in DeKalb County, Illinois Transportation in Kane County, Illinois Transportation in DuPage County, Illinois Transportation in Cook County, Illinois