Transportation
Three Interstate highways pass through Normal. Interstate 55 wraps around the north and northwest edge of the town. Interstate 74 shares the I-55 roadway on the western edge of Normal before splitting off toward the northwest. Normal is the southern terminus of Interstate 39.
The Central Illinois Regional Airport is located on Route 9 in Bloomington, approximately five miles east southeast from Uptown Normal. The airport is served by four airlines, five rental car agencies, and has direct daily flights to Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Detroit, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. A record 559,481 passengers flew to or from CIRA in 2010.
The Bloomington-Normal Amtrak station is located in Normal at 100 E. Parkinson St. The station serves five trains in each direction between St. Louis and Chicago each day. The station also serves connecting bus service to Peoria and Amtrak stations in Galesburg and Champaign/Urbana. It is the second busiest Amtrak station in the state of Illinois after Chicago, servicing nearly a quarter million passengers in fiscal year 2011. Traveling to Bloomington-Normal via Amtrak is a two and a half hour ride from both St. Louis and Chicago.
The Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System has 11 color-coded fixed routes in the area; a lift-assisted paratransit service called NiteRide, which operates when Illinois State University is in session; and a campus shuttle for ISU called Redbird Express.
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