Illinois Route 31 (IL 31) is a north–south state highway in northeastern

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It travels from U.S. Route 34 (US 34) in Oswego north to US 12, near the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

state line, just south of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Route description

IL 31 follows the Fox River along the western bank. It parallels IL 25, which travels along the eastern bank of the Fox River. It travels

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with IL 120 in McHenry. IL 31 is called Richmond Road north of IL 120 and Front Street south of IL 120 in McHenry, Main Street in

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

, Western Avenue in Carpentersville, Eighth Street in

West Dundee West Dundee is a village in Kane County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,686 as of the 2020 US Census. It is considered a far northwest Chicago suburb. West Dundee lies across the Fox River from East Dundee and Carpentersville. ...

, State Street in Elgin, La Fox Street in South Elgin, Second Street in St. Charles, First Street in

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 ...

, Batavia Avenue in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, Lincolnway Street in North Aurora, Lake Street (Southbound) and River Street (Northbound) in

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, and Lake Street in Montgomery. It is also, along with IL 25, signed as part of the Fox River Valley area. IL 31 between Aurora and Geneva was considered part of 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 ...

transcontinental route. The Western Algonquin Bypass was completed in 2014 and redirects traffic around downtown

History

SBI Route 31 traveled from Quincy to Canton along various routes. This was dropped in 1935 and was replaced with US 24. In 1937, it was reapplied along other routes on its modern routing. There have been no changes to the routing since.

U.S. Route 430

U.S. Route 430 (US 430) was commissioned from 1926 to 1935 in the U.S. state of

, and traveled from

Crystal Lake Crystal Lake or Crystal Lakes may refer to: Lakes Canada * Crystal Lake (Saskatchewan) * Crystal Lake (Ontario), drain into the Lynn River, which drains into Lake Erie United States * Crystal Lake, California, a mountain lake in Nevad ...

. It traveled concurrently with US 30 from Aurora to

at present-day IL 38. In 1934, US 430 was removed north of West Dundee after US 14 was formed. In 1935, US 430 was decommissioned after US 330 was extended north from Geneva to West Dundee. The northern extension was later removed in 1937 in favor of IL 31 and the western extension of US 330 to Dixon.

Future

McHenry

The intersection of IL 31 and IL 120 is now the most congested intersection in McHenry County.

IDOT The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is a state agency in charge of state-maintained public roadways of the U.S. state of Illinois. In addition, IDOT provides funding for rail, public transit and airport projects and administers fuel ...

is currently in Phase 1 of a planned widening of IL 31 from IL 176 in Crystal Lake to IL 120 in McHenry. A bypass of McHenry continues to appear in documents planning for a Metra station at Prairie Grove, that include an interchange with the existing IL 31 alignment and the proposed west McHenry bypass alignment to the north of Gracy Road. The west McHenry bypass was originally planned to travel over undeveloped farm lands from north of IL 31 and Gracy Road to IL 120 and Ringwood Road. The corridor was planned to be protected from development in the mid-1990s, but because of a lack of funding, the corridor was never protected from development and has since been developed.

Algonquin

The Western Algonquin Bypass is not the only limited-access bypass on the table as of 2015. A southern Algonquin bypass is being constructed as the

Longmeadow Parkway The Longmeadow Parkway is a bypass of Algonquin, Illinois, that is partially open with the remainder under construction. It is a four-lane Fox River Bridge crossing and four-lane arterial roadway corridor with a median, approximately in length ...

, that will have a grade separation with Route 31.

Major intersections

References

External links

Illinois Highway Ends: Illinois Route 31

{{US 30 031 Algonquin, Illinois Elgin, Illinois Transportation in Kendall County, Illinois Transportation in Kane County, Illinois Transportation in McHenry County, Illinois