Illinois Route 116

Illinois Route 116
Route information
Maintained by IDOT
Length:	176.07 mi[1] (283.36 km)
Existed:	1924[2] – present
Major junctions
West end:	US 34 / IL 94 in Gladstone
	US 67 / IL 110 (CKC) in Roseville IL 8 / US 24 / IL 29 in Peoria IL 8 / US 150 in East Peoria I-74 in East Peoria US 24 / US 150 in East Peoria I-39 / US 51 in Benson I-55 in Pontiac I-57 in Ashkum
East end:	US 45 in Ashkum
Location
Counties:	Henderson, Warren, Knox, Fulton, Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Livingston, Ford, Iroquois
Highway system
Illinois State Highway System Interstate U.S. State Tollways ← IL 115 IL 117 → ← IL 123 IL 124 →

Illinois Route 116 (IL 116) is a cross-state rural state highway that runs from U.S. Route 34 by Gladstone east to the intersection of U.S. Route 45 (North Front Street) and Old U.S. Route 45, on the north side of Ashkum. This is a distance of 176.07 miles (283.36 km).^[1]

Route description

Cedar Street Bridge over the Illinois River in Peoria, Illinois

The western terminus of Illinois 116 is approximately 10 miles (16 km) from the Iowa state line, east of Burlington, Iowa. It crosses the Illinois River from Peoria to East Peoria with Illinois Route 8 and Illinois Route 29 on the Cedar Street Bridge.

On the southeast side of the Illinois River, Route 116 and U.S. Route 150 form a wrong-way concurrency. Travelling northeast along the river, U.S. 150 is marked west before crossing the river to enter Peoria, and Illinois 116 is marked east. Travelling southwest, U.S. 150 is marked east before branching to Morton, and Illinois 116 is marked west before crossing the river to enter Peoria on its southern side.

History

U.S. Route 124 (abbreviated US 124) was a U.S. Highway that was commissioned from 1926 to 1938, and was located in Illinois, running from Peoria through Biggsville. It was approximately 80 miles (130 km) in length, and followed much of the route of IL 116, prior to its decommissioning.^[3] SBI Route 116 originally ran separately from east of Ashkum to East Peoria.

US 124 was one of the original 1928 US routes in Illinois, since US routes didn't appear on Illinois maps until then. It originally went from Peoria to Galesburg, along with the then IL-8, via Farmington and Maquon on the route of the current IL 116, west from Peoria to IL-97, north to IL-8, west to IL-97, then northwest on IL-97 to Galesburg, with the last few miles on the current US 150.^[4]

In 1934, US 124 was rerouted west on the current IL 116 to near Biggsville, where it connected to US 34, for access to the Mississippi River crossing into Iowa. West bound traffic from Peoria had a choice. Proceed along US 24 to cross the Mississippi River at Quincy (south-west route) - the old Peoria to Quincy stage coach route, or take US 124 to cross the Mississippi River (US 34) at Burlington, Iowa (north-west route).

With the completion of Interstate 474 as a western bypass of Peoria in 1978, an Interstate connector (Exit 3 on Interstate 474) was constructed as the eastern terminus for the proposed western Illinois expressway (Peoria to Kansas City via Macomb and Quincy). The connector provides access to IL 116.

Related routes

Illinois Route 97A was a short rural spur (state maintained) that ran from U.S. Route 124 (now IL 116) south of Media, south to the community of Raritan.

• 1937 IL-97A was a spur off the current IL-116, Media to Raritan. This 1924 route designation was dropped.
• 1938 - US Route 124 was decommissioned and changed to Illinois 116 as an extension of that route in east central Illinois. Illinois 116 was a popular agricultural and commercial truck route from Burlington, Iowa (on the Mississippi River) to Peoria, Illinois (on the Illinois River) during World War II and through the late 1960s. This was due to the: Iowa Army Ammunition Plant near Burlington; active strip mining of coal in Fulton County (largely south of the route); farm livestock traffic to the Peoria stockyards; and grain transport (corn and soybeans) to the Illinois and Mississippi barge terminals.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Henderson	​			US 34	Interchange under construction as part of the Biggsville bypass
	​			IL 94 south	East end of IL 94 overlap
Warren	​			US 67 / IL 110 (CKC)
	Roseville			US 67 Bus. (Main Street)
Knox	St. Augustine			IL 41
Fulton	​			IL 97
	Farmington			IL 78 south (South Main Street)	West end of IL 78 overlap
Fulton–Peoria county line	​			IL 78 north	East end of IL 78 overlap
Peoria	Bellevue			To I-474 / Maxwell Road
	Peoria			IL 8 west (Western Avenue)	West end of IL 8 overlap
Illinois River				Cedar Street Bridge
Tazewell	East Peoria			Edmund Street	Interchange
				US 24 west / IL 29 south	Interchange; west end of US 24 / IL 29 overlap
				US 150 east / IL 8 east (Camp Street)	West end of US 150 overlap; east end of IL 8 overlap
				I-74 / IL 29 north – Bloomington, Peoria	Interchange; east end of IL 29 overlap
				US 150 west (McClugage Bridge) / US 24 east – Peoria, Washington	Interchange; east end of US 24 / US 150 overlap
	​			IL 26 north
Woodford	Metamora			IL 89 north (North Niles Street)
	​			IL 117 south	West end of IL 117 overlap
	Benson			IL 117 north	East end of IL 117 overlap
	​			I-39 / US 51 – Bloomington–Normal, Rockford
	​			IL 251 south	West end of IL 251 overlap
	​			IL 251 north	East end of IL 251 overlap
Livingston	Pontiac			I-55 – Bloomington, Joliet
				Historic US 66 west	West end of Historic US 66 overlap
				IL 23 north / Historic US 66 east	East end of Historic US 66 overlap
	Saunemin			IL 47
Iroquois	Ashkum			I-57 – Champaign, Kankakee
				US 45 (North Front Street)
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

See also

• Illinois Route 336

References