Illinois Route 116 (IL 116) is a cross-state rural state highway that runs from

U.S. Route 34 U.S. Route 34 (US 34) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from north-central Colorado to the western suburbs of Chicago. Through Rocky Mountain National Park it is known as the Trail Ridge Road where it reaches elevation ...

(US 34) by

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

east to the intersection of

US 45 U.S. Route 45 (US 45) is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as . US 45 is notable for incorporatin ...

(North Front Street) and Old US 45, on the north side of Ashkum.

Route description

The western terminus of Illinois 116 is approximately from the

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

state line, east of

Burlington, Iowa Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area, which includes ...

. It crosses 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 ...

from Peoria to

East Peoria East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

with

Illinois Route 8 Illinois Route 8 (IL 8) is an east–west state route in central Illinois. It runs east from Illinois Route 97 south of Maquon, Illinois, Maquon to the intersection of U.S. Route 24 (McClugage Avenue) and Business U.S. 24 near Washington, ...

on the

Cedar Street Bridge The Cedar Street Bridge carries Illinois Route 8 and Illinois Route 116 over the Illinois River. The bridge is a steel arch design that rises approximately 70 to above the surface of the river. The name of the bridge comes from the original name ...

. On the southeast side of the Illinois River, Route 116,

U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Missouri, in the west. Today, the highway's eastern terminus is in Independence Township, Mic ...

and

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 ...

form a

wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurre ...

. Travelling northeast along the river, U.S. 150 is marked west before crossing the river to enter Peoria, Illinois 116 is marked east, and U.S. 24 is also marked east before branching to north of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. Travelling southwest, U.S. 150 is marked east before branching to

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 ...

, Illinois 116 is marked west before crossing the river to enter Peoria on its southern side, and U.S. 24 is also marked west before continuing south with

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& ...

History

U.S. Route 124

U.S. Route 124 (US 124) 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 was commissioned from 1926 to 1938, and was located in

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 ...

, traveling from Peoria through Biggsville. It was approximately in length, and followed much of the route of IL 116, prior to its decommissioning. SBI Route 116 originally traveled separately from east of Ashkum to East Peoria. US 124 was an original 1928 US route in Illinois, since before then US routes didn't appear on Illinois maps. Its original route was from Peoria to Galesburg, along by the then IL 8, via

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

and Maquon now on the route of IL 116, west from Peoria to IL 97, north to IL 8, west to IL 97, then northwest on IL 97 to Galesburg, then continues its last few miles on the current US 150. In 1934, US 124 was rerouted west on the current IL 116 to near Biggsville, where it connected to US 34, for access to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

crossing into Iowa. Westbound traffic from Peoria had a choice. Proceed along US 24 to cross the Mississippi River at Quincy (south-west route) – the old Peoria to Quincy stagecoach route, or take US 124 to cross the Mississippi River (US 34) at Burlington, Iowa (north-west route).

Illinois Route 116

After the entirety of US 124 changed to Illinois 116 as an extension of that route in east-central Illinois. Illinois 116 was a popular agricultural and commercial truck route from

(on the

) to

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

(on the

) during World War II and through the late 1960s. This was due to the:

Iowa Army Ammunition Plant The Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP), located in Des Moines County in southeastern Iowa, near the city of Burlington, produces and delivers component assembly, and medium- and large-caliber ammunition items for the United States Department of ...

near Burlington; active

strip mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

(largely south of the route); farm livestock traffic to the Peoria stockyards; and grain transport (corn and soybeans) to the Illinois and Mississippi barge terminals. With the completion 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 ...

as a western bypass of Peoria in 1978, an Interstate connector (exit 3 on Interstate 474) was constructed as the eastern terminus for the proposed western Illinois expressway (Peoria to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

via Macomb and Quincy). The connector provides access to IL 116.

Related routes

Illinois Route 97A

Illinois Route 97A was a short rural spur (state-maintained) that ran from IL 97 (later U.S. Route 124; now IL 116) south of Media to the community of Raritan. IL 97A was established in 1929 as well as IL 97. It lasted until 1937 when IL 97A was decommissioned. This is because US 124 had superseded what used to be IL 97 entirely in 1935. Today, the route is signed as CR 8.

Illinois Route 116A

Illinois Route 116A was a spur of IL 116 that followed what is now part of IL 117. Initially, IL 116A used to directly connect to Benson. In 1932, the route moved slightly west. It remained like this until 1993 when IL 117 extended north to IL 17 north of Toluca, removing IL 116A in the process.

Major intersections

References

External links

* {{Attached KML

116 116 (''one hundred and sixteen'') may refer to: *116 (number) *AD 116 * 116 BC * 116 (Devon and Cornwall) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, a military unit * 116 (MBTA bus) * 116 (New Jersey bus) * 116 (hip hop group), a Christian hip hop collect ...

Transportation in Fulton County, Illinois Transportation in Peoria County, Illinois Transportation in Henderson County, Illinois Transportation in Warren County, Illinois Transportation in Knox County, Illinois Transportation in Tazewell County, Illinois Transportation in Woodford County, Illinois Transportation in Livingston County, Illinois Transportation in Ford County, Illinois Transportation in Iroquois County, Illinois