Interstate 88 (Western)

A former button copy end sign for Interstate 88. Photo by Don Hargraves (09/02).
Overview
Formerly IL 5, and before that IL 190, the western Interstate 88 is the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway and the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway from Interstate 80 near the Quad Cities east to the I-290 (Eisenhower Expressway) and I-294 (Tri-State Tollway) interchange near Hillside. Until 2004, the toll road section from Sterling east to Hillside was known as the East-West Tollway.
Interstate 88 provides an alternative to I-80 between the Quad Cities area and Chicago, especially points north and west of the Loop. The tollway passes through Dixon, which is the boyhood home of former President Ronald Reagan.
History
Interstate 88 was commissioned in July 2, 1987,1 replacing former IL 5. AASHTO previously approved the designation subject to FHWA concurrence on May 25, 1987. The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority indicated that the renumbering was necessary so that they could raise the speed limit to 65 MPH due to a federal law at the time that allowed states to increase speed limits on highways designated as Interstates. The limit was increased between Napierville and Rock Falls.4 A similar process occurred with the unnumbered portion of the Kansas Turnpike, which was designated Interstate 335 to allow for 65 MPH speed limits.
The section of Interstate 88 (East-West Tollway) from I-290 (Eisenhower Expressway) west to Aurora was built between 1956 and 1958. The original construction of the 28-mile initial section of the East-West Tollway (and the other original tollways) was funded by a bond issuance in the amount of $415 million by the state tollway commission (which was created in 1953).2,3 All of the urban tollways (including the Northwest Tollway, the easternmost portion of the East-West Tollway, the Tri-State Tollway, and the Chicago Skyway) were open to traffic by 1958.
The second major section of the East-West Tollway opened was 69 miles long, from IL 56 in Aurora west to IL 40 near Sterling and Rock Falls. This portion was funded with a bond issuance by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority in 1970. This route was shown as under construction in the 1972 Rand McNally Road Atlas and as complete in 1974. The Illinois Department of Transportation built the remainder of the highway from the interchange with IL 40 west to the Quad Cities in the 1970s; this section is toll free.
The first segment of the East-West Tollway (Aurora to Chicago) was originally designated as U.S. 30 Toll. It was changed to IL 190 in 1965 and renumbered again to IL 5 in 1972 (before the extension to the Quad Cities was completed).
Route Information
- East End – Elmhurst, IL
- West End – East Moline, IL
Branch Routes – 0
- Mileage – 140.60
- Cities – Sterling, Rock Falls, Rochelle, DeKalb, Aurora, Naperville, Downers Grove, Lombard, Elmhurst
- Junctions –
Source: December 31, 2018 Interstate Route Log and Finders List
The East-West Tollway carried the designation of U.S. 30 Toll until 1965, when it was renumbered to IL 190. The original west end of the tollway to Sugar Grove was eventually designated as IL 56.
The original studies for the East-West Tollway included a route northwest to Clinton, Iowa. It was determined however that traffic on the proposed route would not be high enough to justify construction.5
IL 5 was extended west from Interstate 80 to Rock Island in 1975. The route within the Quad Cities remained after the 1987 commissioning of Interstate 88.
Highway Guides
East End
– Elmhurst, Illinois
West End
– East Moline, Illinois
West at
East at
East at
West
East at
Sources:
- Personal Email from Jason Hancock on 07/09/06, citing an article from the Moline Daily Dispatch on 7/29/87.
- Encyclopedia of Chicago: Expressways by Dennis McClendon of the Chicago Historical Society.
- Encyclopedia of Chicago: Tollways by David M. Young of the Chicago Historical Society.
- “East-West Tollway now I- 88 – speed 65 in one area.” Chicago Sun-Times, July 2, 1987.
- “Motor Club To Hear Study On Tollway.” Chicago Tribune, September 26, 1963.
Page updated May 8, 2020.