Illinois Route 4 is a major north–south highway that runs south from the

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

business loop around the state capital of Springfield, south to

Illinois Route 13 Illinois Route 13 (IL 13) is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentuck ...

just north of Murphysboro. This is a distance of .

Route description

Illinois Route 4 starts at Illinois 13 and Illinois 127 at a point about north of Murphysboro. It zigzags through small southern towns such as Steeleville,

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

, and Marissa, before straightening out near

Mascoutah Mascoutah is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States, named for the Mascoutens, a tribe of the Michigan Indians. The population was 7,483 at the 2010 census. According to the US Census Bureau, the population was estimated at 7,994 i ...

. IL Route 4 is an important road in St. Clair and Madison counties as it connects many suburbs and exurbs on the eastern edge of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, including Mascoutah, Lebanon, Troy, Highland, Edwardsville, Hamel, Staunton, Benld, and Gillespie. From Carlinville northwards the route is important since it connects many medium-sized rural towns and bedroom communities in Macoupin and Sangamon counties, such as Girard, Virden, Auburn, and Chatham, with Springfield. The road passes directly through Chatham, a fast-growing city that has transformed into a southern suburb and bedroom community for Springfield, which directly abuts the north edge of Chatham. Within the City of Springfield, IL Route 4 is known as Veterans Parkway. It completes the western loop around the city, and is a divided four-lane highway that serves the major commercial area centered around the intersection of Veterans Parkway and Wabash Avenue, which includes White Oaks Mall. It is also worth noting that the northbound lane of IL 4 is in Washington County for less than , on its southwest corner near the unincorporated town of Clarmin where it runs concurrently with IL 13.

History

Illinois State Bond Issue Route 4 was the first numbered through route between

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

and

, as shown on the 1924 Illinois Road Map. As such it was the forerunner of more famous routes US 66 and

. In 1926, a new alignment for Route 4 was opened between Joliet and Lyons, on the north side of the

Des Plaines River The Des Plaines River () is a river that flows southward for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 through southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois''American Her ...

. The old alignment on the east and south sides of the curving river through Lemont was renamed Illinois Route 4A and then renamed again in 1967 as

Illinois Route 171 Illinois Route 171 (IL 171) is a north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in Joliet north to Illinois Route 72 at the Chicago– Park Ridge border. The section of IL 171 on Archer Av ...

. Illinois Route 4A generally followed Archer Avenue from the Chicago city limits to Lemont. When U.S. Route 66 was first designated in 1926, it coincided with IL 4 for its entire length; however, the earliest state map in 1927 erroneously showed Route 66 coinciding with IL 4A through the near Chicago suburbs instead of IL 4. Also, the section of IL 4 from just south of Staunton to Springfield was originally shown only as "Temporary U.S. Route 66," whereas the permanent routing of Route 66 was shown as proposed or under construction on a more eastern route, away from IL 4 through Litchfield. The new path of U.S. Route 66 was completed as SBI 16 and SBI 126 in 1930, and the Route 66 designation was then removed from IL 4 between Staunton and Springfield. Illinois Route 4 and U.S. Route 66 remained as coincident, co-signed routes between 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 fl ...

and Staunton and between Springfield and Chicago until 1935, when the IL 4 designation was dropped from portions where it overlapped with Route 66, leaving only the portion from Staunton to Springfield as IL 4. This left IL 4A as an orphan alternate route of IL 4 from Lyons to Joliet, until it was renumbered as IL 171 in 1967. The section of modern IL 4 from Staunton to its southern end near Murphysboro was originally IL 43. In 1964, IL 4 was extended on this highway, and the number IL 43 was eventually reused in the Chicago metro area to mark parts of Waukegan Road and Harlem Avenue.

Historical designation

A bypassed portion of old route 4 north of Auburn is listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as " Illinois Route 4-North of Auburn". It was added in 1998 as structure #98000979 and consists of two c.1920 bridges over Little Panther Creek and portions of Curran and Snell roads. One section is a c.1932 1.53 mile long brick road and the other is a c.1921

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th ...

road wide and long.

Major intersections

References

External links

Illinois Highway Ends: Illinois Route 4

Illinois Digital Archives: State Highway Maps
{{Registered Historic Places

004 004, 0O4, O04, OO4 may refer to: * 004, fictional British 00 Agent * 0O4, Corning Municipal Airport (California) * O04, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation * Abdul Haq Wasiq, Guantanamo detainee 004 * Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine * Lauda Ai ...

Interstate 55 Transportation in Jackson County, Illinois Transportation in Perry County, Illinois Transportation in Randolph County, Illinois Transportation in Washington County, Illinois Transportation in St. Clair County, Illinois Transportation in Madison County, Illinois Transportation in Macoupin County, Illinois Transportation in Sangamon County, Illinois