Kennedy Expressway

Kennedy Expressway

The John F. Kennedy Expressway is a 17.8-mile (28.65 km) long highway that travels northwest from the Chicago Loop to O'Hare International Airport. The expressway is named for the 35th U.S. President, John F. Kennedy. The Interstate 90 portion of the Kennedy is a part of the much longer I-90 (which runs 3,111.52 miles (5,007.51 km) from Boston, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington). The Kennedy's official endpoints are the Circle Interchange with Interstate 290 (Eisenhower Expressway/Congress Parkway) and the Dan Ryan Expressway (also I-90/94) at the east end, and the O'Hare Airport terminals at the west end. The Interstate 190 portion of the Kennedy is 3.07 miles (4.94 km) long and is meant to serve airport traffic. Interstate 90 picks up the Kennedy destination and runs a further 6.29 miles (10.12 km), before joining with I-94 for the final 8.44 miles (13.58 km).

Traveling eastbound from O'Hare, the Kennedy interchanges with the eastern terminus of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (Interstate 90) and with the Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294) at a complex junction just west of Illinois Route 171 (Cumberland Avenue). The Kennedy later merges with the southern end of the Edens Expressway (Interstate 94) at Montrose Avenue; the Kennedy (at this point both I-90 and I-94) then turns south to its junction with the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower Expressways and Congress Parkway at the Circle Interchange in downtown Chicago.

With up to 327,000 vehicles traveling on some portions of the Kennedy daily, the Kennedy and its South Side extension, the Dan Ryan, are the busiest roads in Illinois.