Illinois Route 72 is an east–west state road in northern
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
. It runs from the intersection with
Illinois Route 73 north of
Lanark
Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...
east to
Illinois Route 43 (Harlem Avenue) in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. This is a distance of .
Route description
Illinois 72 is called Higgins Road for most of its length in the Chicago area, and has been redirected in parts of the area to accommodate for new features. Near
Rosemont, the road has been shifted to make way for
O'Hare International Airport — further east, parts of the road have been moved to make room for the
Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90). The road serves as a major six-lane thoroughfare for several western suburbs, including
Schaumburg,
Elk Grove Village, and
Hoffman Estates.
Illinois 72
runs concurrently for one block with
Illinois Route 83 in Elk Grove Township, and
Illinois Route 47
Illinois Route 47 (IL 47) is a largely rural north–south state highway that runs from the Wisconsin state border at Highway 120 near Hebron, to IL 10, just south of Interstate 72 (I-72) near Seymour. IL 47 is in primarily rural ...
and
U.S. Highway 20 by
Starks, an unincorporated village approximately from Chicago. The latter is 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 concurr ...
, where one can be driving both west on Illinois 72 and east on U.S. 20 at the same time. West from Chicago, Illinois 72 largely parallels Interstate 90 until Starks, crossing over and under the highway six times without an intersection. On a larger scale, it is the main east–west artery to Chicago between Interstate 90 and
Illinois Route 64.
It serves the towns and cities of, from west to east, Lanark, Shannon, Forreston, Leaf River, Byron, Stillman Valley, Kirkland, Kingston, Genoa, Hampshire, Gilberts, Sleepy Hollow, West Dundee, East Dundee, South Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Elk Grove Village, Des Plaines, Rosemont, and Chicago. Higgins Road/Higgins Avenue continues east-southeast from Harlem Avenue in Chicago to Milwaukee Avenue near Lawrence Avenue.
Route 72 is one of seven state roads to enter the city of Chicago. It was once part of the Galena-Chicago Stagecoach Trail.
History
SBI Route 72 originally ran from
Lanark
Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...
to
Starks. It was extended east in 1937 and 1938 to
East Dundee, and then to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. In 1968, the designation of IL 72 was truncated back to
IL 43 (Harlem Avenue), lopping off .
In 1982, it was shortened again, this time to
Illinois Route 73.
[
The crash site of American Airlines Flight 191 is located along the road as Touhy Avenue, just north of the road and north of O'Hare International Airport near a trailer park.
]
Major intersections
See also
* Galena–Chicago trail
References
External links
{{Commons category, Illinois Route 72
Illinois Highway Ends: Illinois Route 72
072
Transportation in Carroll County, Illinois
Transportation in Ogle County, Illinois
Transportation in DeKalb County, Illinois
Transportation in Kane County, Illinois
Transportation in Cook County, Illinois