Illiana Expressway - History

History

The Illiana Corridor would become the third east–west expressway to connect northeastern Illinois and northwest Indiana. In 1953, the Kingery-Borman expressway combination opened. Subsequently a part of Interstate 80, this route would become part of one of the most important coast-to-coast Interstate highways in the United States. The Chicago Skyway opened five years later, on April 16, 1958. With the newly opened Indiana Toll Road, the Skyway and Toll Road became part of a second coast-to-coast Interstate highway, as Interstate 90 ran through city of Chicago proper.

The Skyway-Toll Road combination paralleled the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and was a popular road until the Dan Ryan Expressway opened in 1962, with Interstate 94 providing a free route from Chicago to northwestern Indiana. For a brief time in the 1970s and 1980s, the city of Chicago considered tearing down the Skyway because of escalating maintenance costs and falling traffic volumes.

Shortly after a feasibility study was announced for an Illiana expressway concept, a group of citizens organized the opposition group Citizens Against the Privatized Illiana Toll Road (CAPIT).

As of June 9, 2010, governors Pat Quinn of Illinois and Mitch Daniels of Indiana have brought the project to life. A bill was signed, SB3659, that will incorporate states partnering with private groups to plan, build, and maintain the proposed expressway. The Illinois Department of Transportation had three proposed alternative route locations in its Final Report published on April 30, 2010; however, the current study is looking at eight primary routes with several potential connecting points.