Northwest Tollway

Interstate 90 (I-90) in the US state of Illinois runs roughly northwest-to-southeast through the northern part of the state. From the Wisconsin state line at South Beloit, it heads south to Rockford before heading east-southeast to the Indiana state line at Chicago. I-90 traverses through a variety of settings, from farmland west of the Fox River Valley through the medium-density suburbs west of O'Hare International Airport, through Downtown Chicago, and through the heart of the industrial southeast side of Chicago before entering Indiana.

I-90 comprises several named highways. The Interstate runs along the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (previously called the Northwest Tollway) from South Beloit to O'Hare Airport, the Kennedy Expressway from O'Hare to the Chicago Loop, the Dan Ryan Expressway from the Loop to the Chicago Skyway, and the Skyway to the Indiana state line. The Jane Addams and Chicago Skyway are toll roads maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) and the Skyway Concession Company (SCC), respectively. The remainder of the highway is maintained by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

Route description

I-90 enters from Beloit, Wisconsin, with I-39. US Route 51 (US 51) joins at exit 1. At the Rockton Road exit, I-39/I-90/US 51 becomes the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway. The two Interstates and the US Route run concurrently south to Cherry Valley, passing by Rock Cut State Park. At Cherry Valley, I-39/US 51 continues as a freeway south to Bloomington–Normal. I-90 makes a 90-degree turn and continues east and crosses the Kishwaukee River before entering Boone County.

I-90 heads east and then turns southeast and crosses under US 20 and then turns east.

The Jane Addams Memorial Tollway features an Illinois Tollway oasis in Belvidere, an over-highway oasis. This unique rest stop provides several vendors and allows tollway travelers to rest, refuel, and eat without having to exit the tollway. Another oasis was previously sited in Des Plaines near O'Hare, but it was closed and demolished in 2014 to make room for the widening of I-90 and the O'Hare West Bypass.

After the oasis, I-90 has an interchange with Genoa Road and turns southeast toward McHenry County. I-90 does not have another interchange until Illinois Route 23 (IL 23). This interchange gap is long.

I-90 has a short segment in McHenry County but does have an interchange at IL 23. The route heads southeast in the entire county passing by farms. I-90 heads toward Kane County in this direction.

I-90 heads southeast and has an interchange with US 20, then it continues southeast toward the Elgin Toll Plaza. It widens to eight lanes and enters the Chicago suburbs at Randall Road and turns due east for . I-90 crosses the Fox River before entering Cook County.

I-90 enters heading due east and passes by housing areas and shopping centers. It then passes north of a forest preserve with active traffic management gantries appearing after crossing under Barrington Road. I-90 then turns southeast toward O'Hare International Airport. In Schaumburg, I-90 meets the western end of I-290, the only loop from I-90 in Illinois. I-90 then turns slightly to the south after the interchange and widens to five lanes in each direction after I-290. At Elmhurst Road, I-90 narrows down to four lanes in each direction and turns slightly to the northeast. It then goes through the areas north of O'Hare International toward Rosemont and I-190/I-294.

After the I-190/I-294 interchange, I-90 becomes a freeway called the Kennedy Expressway heading due east. It then turns southeast and meets I-94. I-90/I-94 then turns south and meets the east end of I-290 and the Chicago–Kansas City Expressway. After the interchange, the Kennedy Expressway becomes the Dan Ryan Expressway and meets I-55. I-90 splits from I-94 at Englewood and becomes the Chicago Skyway with three lanes in each direction, turning southeast. It then crosses the Calumet River and continues into Indiana.

History

Jane Addams Memorial Tollway

The Northwest Tollway portion of I-90 opened on August 20, 1958. Prior to the opening, the first vehicle to officially travel the new roadway was a covered wagon navigated by local resident John Madsen who took five days to make the journey.

On September 7, 2007, highway officials responding to an effort by state lawmakers renamed the Northwest Tollway to Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, after Jane Addams, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Settlement House movement in the US.

The Illinois Tollway's 2005–2012 Congestion-Relief Program provided $644.1 million (equivalent to $ in ) in improvements to the I-90 corridor. Projects included rebuilding and widening of the tollway between I-39 and Rockton Road, including a reconfiguration of the I-90/I-39 interchange to improve traffic flow. This construction started in 2008 and was completed by the end of 2009.

From 2013 to 2016, over $2 billion (equivalent to $ in ) was spent on rebuilding and widening the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway from I-39 to the Kennedy Expressway. The inside shoulders were widened for future transit opportunities, and active traffic management was incorporated into the corridor from IL 59 to the eastern end. In addition, almost all of the crossroad bridges were rebuilt and several interchanges were reconfigured/expanded. In 2019, a $33.4-million (equivalent to $ in ) interchange with IL 23 was added near Marengo to provide the first I-90 interchange in McHenry County.

Until 1978, I-90 was routed on the Congress Street Expressway (later named the Eisenhower Expressway) which was extended from the Loop to the interchange of the Northwest Tollway and IL 53. The Kennedy Expressway was signed only as I-94, and the portion of present-day I-90 between the Edens Expressway and IL 53 was not signed as an Interstate Highway. This provided a non-toll section of I-90 between Downtown Chicago and IL 53. The route designations were changed to their present form when I-90 was moved to follow the entire length of the Kennedy Expressway and the Jane Addams Tollway, and the original route was designated I-290.

In 2018, ISTHA raised the speed limit on I-90 from from the I-39 split to Randall Road. They also raised it from from Randall Road to Mount Prospect Road and raised it from from Mount Prospect Road to the Kennedy. The speed limit for buses is , and the speed limit for trucks is .

Chicago Skyway

The Chicago Skyway was originally known as the Calumet Skyway. It cost $101 million (equivalent to $ in ) to construct and took about 34 months (nearly three years) to build. Nearly of elevated roadway, the Chicago Skyway was originally built as a shortcut from State Street, a major north–south street on Chicago's South Side that serves the Loop, to the steel mills on the Southeast to the Indiana state line where the Indiana Toll Road begins. Later, when the Dan Ryan Expressway opened, the Chicago Skyway was extended west to connect to it. There are only two eastbound exits east of the toll barrier, whereas there are four westbound exits west of the toll barrier (so that no exits are available until one has crossed the bridge and paid the toll). The Chicago Skyway opened to traffic on April 16, 1958.

The Skyway's official name, referring to it as a "toll bridge" rather than a "toll road", is the result of a legal quirk. At the time of its construction, the city charter of Chicago did not provide the authority to construct a toll road. However, the city could build toll bridges, and it was found that there was no limit to the length of the approaches to the bridge. Therefore, the Skyway is technically a toll bridge spanning the Calumet River with a approach. This also is part of the reason that there are no exits available until after one has crossed the bridge and paid the toll.

Historically, the Chicago Skyway was signed as, and was widely considered to be part of, I-90 from the mid-1960s forward (after I-90 in this area had been swapped with I-94). However, around 1999, the City of Chicago realized they had never received official approval to designate the Skyway as I-90. The city subsequently replaced most of the "I-90" signage with "TO I-90/I-94" signage. However, IDOT has always and continues to report the Skyway as part of the Interstate Highway System, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) also considers the Chicago Skyway an official part of I-90. As of 2022, the Skyway is signed as part of I-90.

In the 1960s, the newly constructed Dan Ryan Expressway and the neighboring Calumet, Kingery, and Borman expressways provided free alternatives to the tollway, and the Skyway became much less used. As a result, from the 1970s through the early 1990s, the Skyway was unable to repay revenue bonds used in its construction. Traffic volumes rebounded from the late 1990s onward, partially because of the construction of casinos in Northwest Indiana, along with reconstruction of the Dan Ryan, Kingery, and Borman expressways. In June 2005, the Skyway became compatible with electronic toll collection, with users now able to pay tolls using I-Pass or E-ZPass transponders.

Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation formerly maintained the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge System. A 2004 transaction that gave the city a $1.83-billion (equivalent to $ in ) cash infusion leased the Skyway to the Skyway Concession Company, a joint-venture between the Australian Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Spanish Cintra, which assumed operations on the Skyway on a 99-year operating lease. The agreement between the Skyway Concession Company and the City of Chicago marked the first time an existing toll road was moved from public to private operation in the US.

Exit list

Related routes

I-90 has two related auxiliary Interstate Highways within Illinois. I-190 is a spur into O'Hare International Airport in Chicago that is also known as the Kennedy Expressway O'Hare Extension or the O'Hare Expressway. I-290 takes a southeasterly dogleg left route accessing the western suburbs and heading eastward into Downtown Chicago. It is also known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway.

See also

*List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Illinois

References

External links

Illinois Tollway official siteOfficial website of the Chicago SkywayChicago Department of Transportation
at Richard Carlson's Illinois Highways
Historic, Current & Average Travel Times For The Jane Addams TollwayBest of Transportation PageChicago Skyway (I-90)
at Steve Anderson's ChicagoRoads.com
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{{Crossings navbox
, structure = Bridges
, place = Calumet River
, bridge = Chicago Skyway
, bridge signs =
, upstream = East 100th Street Bridge
, upstream signs =
, downstream = Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway bridge
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Illinois
Expressways in the Chicago area
90
Transportation in Winnebago County, Illinois
Transportation in Boone County, Illinois
Transportation in McHenry County, Illinois
Transportation in Kane County, Illinois
Transportation in Cook County, Illinois