Illinois Route 6 is a 4-lane

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 ...

entirely in

Peoria County Peoria County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. The 2020 United States Census listed its population at 181,830. Its county seat is Peoria. Peoria County is part of the Peoria, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Peoria County was ...

in central

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 begins as a northern extension of

Interstate 474 Interstate 474 (I-474) is an Interstate Highway loop route that provides a southwestern bypass around the north-central Illinois city of Peoria. I-474's parent Interstate is I-74. As the first digit of the Interstate's number is even, it f ...

Interstate 74 } Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa (Quad Cities); the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interchange ...

west of Peoria, and ends at

Illinois Route 29 Illinois Route 29 (IL 29) is a two to four lane state road that runs south from U.S. Route 6/Illinois Route 89 at Spring Valley to U.S. Route 51/Illinois Route 16 at Pana, running through Pekin, Peoria and Springfield. The nearest major north& ...

at the 9th Mile in Mossville, south of Chillicothe. The freeway currently has a total length of , including the connector ramp to Illinois 29.

Route description

Although fairly short, Illinois 6 draws more traffic than a rural highway because it passes through the developing north and northwest edge of Peoria. A stretch of road around the

U.S. Route 150 U.S. Route 150 (US 150) is a 571-mile (919 km) long northwest-southeast United States highway, signed as east–west. It runs from U.S. Route 6 outside of Moline, Illinois to U.S. Route 25 in Mount Vernon, Kentucky. Route description Il ...

(War Memorial Drive) exit has become a major commercial development area that now includes a major mall and a nearby strip mall with over 30 movie screens between them. In addition, new development is occurring rapidly around the other interchanges of Allen Road (old

Illinois Route 174 Illinois Route 174 (IL 174) was a state highway in Illinois from 1924 to 1983. The route connected IL 88 (now IL 40) and IL 91 through the community of Alta. IL 174 was established in 1924 as part of the later series of Sta ...

), Knoxville Avenue (

Illinois Route 40 Illinois Route 40 (IL 40) is a north–south route in central portion of the U.S. state of Illinois. It runs from Interstate 74 (I-74) in East Peoria north to IL 78 at Mt. Carroll, just south of U.S. Route 52 (US 52) and IL 64. Route de ...

), and

History

SBI Route 6 initially ran from

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

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

. It roughly followed present-day US 30,

Illinois Route 38 Illinois Route 38 is an west–east state highway that runs across northern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 52 (US 52) in downtown Dixon to US 12/ US 20/ US 45 (Mannheim Road) in Westchester. It runs concurrently with ...

, and

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 ...

. In 1935, IL 6 was decommissioned and was replaced with a portion of US 330 (now IL 38/Roosevelt Road) and US 30. The Illinois Route 6 designation remained decommissioned until the early 1980s when the present freeway north of Peoria was finished. By 1988, the freeway was extended to

near Mossville.

Future

Several plans have been considered for continuing the Illinois 6 corridor. One is extending Illinois 6 into a loop by building a bridge over the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

and running the highway south to Interstates 74 and 474 near Interstate 155 in

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

. In 2013, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn proposed a $12.3 billion road plan that earmarked funds for engineering work and corridor studies, renewing interest in connecting Route 6 with I-74.

Exit list

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illinois Route 006 Freeways in the United States 006 Transportation in Peoria County, Illinois Year of establishment missing U.S. Route 30