Illinois Route 131 (IL 131) is a north–south state road 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 ...

. It extends south from

Wisconsin Highway 31 State Trunk Highway 31 (often called Highway 31, STH-31 or WIS 31) is a state highway in Kenosha and Racine counties in the US state of Wisconsin that runs north–south as a suburban route passing Racine and Kenosha. With the exception of ...

and Lake CR A1/19 (128th Street) at the Illinois/

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 by Pleasant Prairie, south to

Illinois Route 176 Illinois Route 176 (IL 176) is a east–west state route in northern Illinois. It runs from IL 23 (State Street) in Marengo to the southern terminus of IL 131 (Green Bay Road) in Lake Bluff. Route description IL 176 ...

Lake Bluff Lake Bluff is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 5,616. History The first settler family to claim land within the area now part of Lake Bluff arrived in 1836. They claimed 100 acres of ...

, a distance of .

Route description

Illinois 131 is called Green Bay Road for its entire length, but Green Bay Road becomes a residential street and extends south through various North Shore communities to Evanston, a distance of approximately south of Illinois 176. It is one of very few state routes whose named road is longer than the marked state road. Green Bay Road actually continues south to Old Elm Road (Lake CR 52) while there is a second segment of Green Bay Road that starts at a dead end in Highwood and ends at Ridge Avenue in Evanston. The Green Bay Road name also stretches continuously through

Racine County Racine County (, sometimes also ) is a county in southeastern Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 197,727, making it Wisconsin's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat is Racine. The county was founded in 1836, then a par ...

and

Kenosha County Kenosha County is located in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 169,151 as of the 2020 census, making it the eighth most populous county in Wisconsin. The county shares the same name as the city of Kenosh ...

, WI, with route signage changing to

, before merging with

Wisconsin Highway 32 State Trunk Highway 32 (often called Highway 32, STH-32 or WIS 32) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin that runs north–south in eastern Wisconsin. It runs from the Illinois border (at Illinois Route 137) north to the Michigan bord ...

north of Racine. However, other large portions of the formerly continuous Green Bay Road still bear the name, such as Green Bay Avenue in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

and several Green Bay Road segments in

Ozaukee County Ozaukee County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,503. Its county seat is Port Washington, making it one of three Wisconsin counties on Lake Michigan not to have a county seat with the same ...

. The road parallels

U.S. Route 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

(Skokie Highway), which is only a few miles to the west, and

Illinois Route 137 Illinois Route 137 (IL 137) is a state highway in northeast Illinois. It runs from the Wisconsin Border north of Winthrop Harbor south to North Chicago, west to Libertyville, and then back northwest to Grayslake, terminating at IL 83 just sou ...

(

Amstutz Expressway Amstutz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adrian Amstutz (born 1953), Swiss politician * Dan Amstutz (1932–2006), American lobbyist * Hobart Baumann Amstutz (1896–1980), American Methodist bishop * Reto Amstutz (born 1993 ...

), which is only a few miles to the east. It is the major north–south road between those two expressways.

History

SBI Route 131 ran from Mattoon to Greenup in southeastern

. This was dropped in 1937 for

Illinois Route 121 Illinois Route 121 (IL 121) is a major state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Although it travels from northwest to southeast, it is marked as a north–south highway.Sarjeant, CharlesIllinois 121. Retrieved ...

. The next year, Illinois 131 was used on a road that extended Highway 31 south into Illinois. This had formerly been

Illinois Route 68 Illinois Route 68 (IL 68) is a east–west state highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. It travels east from IL 72 (Higgins Road) in the Dundee area to the concurrency of Interstate 94 (I-94)/U.S. Route ...

. Had Illinois 31 not already been in use, the road south of Wisconsin may have been designated Illinois 31 instead.

Major Intersections

References

External links

*{{ccat-inline

131 131 may refer to: *131 (number) *AD 131 *131 BC *131 (album), the album by Emarosa *131 (MBTA bus), the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus. For the MBTA bus, see 131 (MBTA bus). *131 (New Jersey bus), the New Jersey Transit bus {{numbe ...

Transportation in Lake County, Illinois