Illinois Route 21 (IL 21) is an arterial north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 43 (Harlem Avenue) in Niles to U.S. Route 41 (Skokie Highway) north of

Gurnee Gurnee ( ) is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Its population was 30,706 as of the 2020 census. It borders the city of Waukegan, and is a popular tourist attraction within the Chicago metropolitan area. Best known for be ...

. Illinois 21 is 28.13 miles (45.27 km) long.Illinois Technology Transfer Center
T2 GIS Data
Retrieved April 7, 2006. As documented in Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Lengths/Illinois. Along most of its length, Illinois 21 is called Milwaukee Avenue. North of Gurnee, it is called Riverside Drive.

Route description

Illinois 21 was the principal route to Milwaukee, Wisconsin before the construction of both the Skokie Highway and the Tri-State Tollway (

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

and

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 ...

). The towns of Glenview, Libertyville, and Gurnee are principally located along this road. It follows the Des Plaines River for its entire length, and overlaps U.S. Route 45 between Lincolnshire and Prospect Heights. South of Illinois 43, Milwaukee Avenue remains a major arterial road until it reaches the downtown area of Chicago, where its historical terminus at Lake Street has been moved back to Grand Avenue. It is one of the few diagonal streets in the grid street layout of Chicago.

History

SBI Route 21 ran from Chicago to Antioch along Milwaukee Avenue and current Illinois Routes 43, 83 and

137 137 may refer to: *137 (number) *137 BC *AD 137 *137 (album), an album by The Pineapple Thief *137 (MBTA bus) The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus division operates bus routes in the Boston, Massachusetts metropolitan area. All ro ...

. In Chicago, it also ran along Elston Avenue. In 1940, the route was moved to a new route to

Grayslake Grayslake is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Chicago's downtown, 14 miles (23 km) west of Lake Michigan, and 15 miles (24 km) sout ...

, and then continued to Antioch. In 1963, Illinois 21 was dropped entirely from Grayslake to Antioch, and in 1972, it was shortened further to its current southern terminus at Illinois 43. The next year, Illinois 21 was rerouted to Gurnee. Illinois 83 and 137 replaced the old Route 21 to (and through) Grayslake.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=inline,title
Illinois Highway Ends: Illinois Route 21

021 021 is: * in Brazil, the telephone area code for the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities (Greater Rio de Janeiro) * in China, the telephone area code for the city of Shanghai. * in Indonesia, the area code for the city of Jakarta and su ...

Transportation in Cook County, Illinois Transportation in Lake County, Illinois