Interstate 88 (Illinois)

Interstate 88
Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway
Route information
Maintained by IDOT and ISTHA
Length:	140.60 mi (226.27 km)
Existed:	July 1987 – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-80 / IL 5 / IL 92 / IL 110 (CKC) in East Moline
	US 30 in Rock Falls I-39 / US 51 in Rochelle I-355 in Downers Grove I-294 in Hillside
East end:	I-290 / I-294 / IL 110 (CKC) in Hillside
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Illinois State Highway System Interstate U.S. State Tollways ← IL 84 IL 89 →

Interstate 88 (I-88) is an Interstate Highway in the US state of Illinois that runs from an interchange with I-80 near Silvis and Moline to an interchange with I-290 and I-294 in Hillside, near Chicago. I-88 is 140.60 miles (226.27 km) long. This route is not contiguous to I-88 in New York. Since 2010, all of I-88 has been part of the Chicago–Kansas City Expressway. The highway also runs through the cities of Aurora, Naperville, DeKalb, and Dixon.

History

Prior to its designation as an Interstate Highway, the route was known as IL 5, and before that, IL 190.

The reason for I-88's original designation and continued existence as an Interstate has to do with a technicality in the old National Maximum Speed Law (NMSL). Originally passed in 1973, NMSL was amended in 1987 to permit 65 mph (105 km/h) speed limits on rural stretches of Interstate Highways only. Even though IL 5 was fully up to Interstate standards, it still had to carry a 55 mph (90 km/h) limit because of this wording in NMSL. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) petitioned the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to re-designate IL 5 as an Interstate, and in 1987, AASHTO approved the request and assigned the Interstate 88 numbering to the highway. NMSL would be completely repealed only eight years later in 1995, but the I-88 shields remain up to this day, even though Illinois 110 shields are being posted throughout the entire Illinois I-88, since it is now part of the Chicago to Kansas City Expressway project, bannered with special "CKC" logos.

As of 2015, I-88 has no spur routes. None are planned for the near future. The proposed Prairie Parkway limited access highway will terminate at its north end via an interchange with I-88 near Kaneville, west of Illinois Route 47.

Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway in Naperville, heading east

Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway

The Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway, originally known as the East-West Tollway, is a toll road in northern Illinois.

Opened November 21, 1958, it was initially designated as U.S. Route 30 Toll, and later Illinois Route 190. The original routing extended from the Interstate 294 interchange near Hillside to Illinois Route 47 near Sugar Grove. Illinois Route 56 was overlapped on the East-West Tollway between North Aurora and Sugar Grove in 1965. That length of Route 56 makes it the only state road to be concurrent with one of the tollways of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

Map of the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway, the tolled portion of Interstate 88

When the East-West Tollway was extended to Dixon, Illinois in the 1970s, the Illinois 190 numbering was removed from the stretch between Aurora and Sugar Grove, making that section strictly Illinois 56. Once complete, the new routing of the combined tollway and freeway between Interstate 80 near the Quad Cities and Interstate 294 became designated as Illinois Route 5. In the late 1980s, it was renumbered as Interstate 88.

The road is now a tollway east of Rock Falls, IL, starting at the intersection with U.S. Route 30 at mile marker 44, to its terminus near Hillside. West of U.S. 30 to Interstate 80, Interstate 88 is a freeway. The tollway portion is 96 miles (154 km) long.

After the death of Illinois native and former President Ronald Reagan in 2004, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority voted to rename the toll roadway "Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway" in his memory, as it passes near his birthplace of Tampico and grazes the south outskirts of his boyhood hometown of Dixon. The tollway portion of I-88 was previously known as the "East West Tollway" and is still displayed as such on some signs near Chicago.

There is no direct off-ramp access to U.S. Route 52, Illinois Route 23, Illinois Route 25, and Illinois Route 83 (northbound). In addition, I-88 merges with Illinois Route 56 for a short distance. During the merge, Illinois 56 is the only tolled state route in Illinois.

Although a federal law, 23 U.S.C. § 111, prohibits the operation of commercial rest areas constructed after January 1, 1960, on interstate highways, the DeKalb oasis was constructed at milepost 93 in 1975, prior to the route's designation as I-88 and remains in operation.

From 2005 lasting through 2012, ISTHA rebuilt and widened much of the original portion of I-88, between York Road and IL 56. Approximately $991.6 million was budgeted for I-88 over that period. Between 2005 and 2009, I-88 was reconstructed and widened to four lanes in each direction between IL 59 and York Road, with work progressing gradually from west to east. The project included a reconstruction and reconfiguration of the Naperville Road interchange. Between IL 56 and the Aurora Toll Plaza, I-88 was reconstructed and widened to three lanes, including the reconstruction of the IL 31 interchange and new bridges over the Fox River.

A $36 million interchange at Eola Road in Aurora opened on November 20, 2009, after approximately ten years of planning and less than one year of actual construction. Toll booths at this ramp accept only I-PASS, and have no provisions for accepting cash payments.

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Rock Island	East Moline				IL 5 west / IL 92 west – Moline, Rock Island	Continuation past I-80; west end of IL 92 overlap and western terminus
				1	I-80 / IL 110 (CKC) west to I-74 – Peoria, Des Moines	Signed as exits 1A (east) and 1B (west); west end of IL 110 overlap; I-80 exits 4A-B
				2	Old IL 2
	Joslin			6	IL 92 east – Joslin	East end of IL 92 overlap
	Hillsdale			10	Hillsdale, Port Byron
Whiteside	Erie			18	Erie, Albany	To IL 84
	Lyndon			26	IL 78 – Morrison, Prophetstown	Former IL 2
	Rock Falls			36	US 30 – Clinton, Rock Falls, Sterling
				41	IL 40 – Rock Falls, Sterling
				44	US 30 – Joliet, Rock Falls
Lee	​			Western end of Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway
	Dixon			54	IL 26 – Dixon
				Dixon Toll Plaza
Ogle	Rochelle			76	IL 251 – Rochelle, Mendota
				78	I-39 / US 51 – Rockford, Bloomington, Normal	I-39 exits 97A-B; signed as exits 78A (south) & 78B (north).
DeKalb	DeKalb			DeKalb Toll Plaza
		91	146	91	To IL 38 / IL 23 / Annie Glidden Road – DeKalb	Toll on eastbound exit and westbound entrance ramps
				DeKalb Oasis
				94	To IL 38 / Peace Road	Toll on westbound exit and eastbound entrance ramps
Kane	Sugar Grove			109	IL 47	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	Aurora			113	IL 56 west to US 30 / IL 47 – Sugar Grove	West end of IL 56 overlap; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
	North Aurora			114	CR 83 (Orchard Road) – Aurora, Batavia, North Aurora	Toll on eastbound exit and westbound entrance ramps, was exit 115
				117	IL 31 (Lincolnway Street) / IL 56 east – Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, North Aurora	East end of IL 56 overlap; toll on eastbound exit and westbound entrance ramps
	Aurora			Aurora Toll Plaza
				119	CR 77 (Farnsworth Avenue) – Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles	Toll on westbound exit and eastbound entrance ramps; signed as exits 119A and 119B
DuPage				121	To CR 14 (Bilter Road (north) Diehl Road (south)) to Eola Road	I-PASS only on westbound exit and eastbound entrance ramps
	Naperville			123	IL 59 – Naperville, Warrenville, Plainfield, West Chicago
	Warrenville			125	CR 13 (Winfield Road) – Naperville, Warrenville	Toll on eastbound exit and westbound entrance ramps
	Naperville	127	204	127	CR 59 (Freedom Drive (To Naperville Road))	Toll on eastbound exit and westbound entrance ramps
	Lisle			130	IL 53 (Lincoln Avenue)	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
	Downers Grove			131/132	I-355 (Veterans Memorial Tollway) – Joliet, Northwest Suburbs	Signed as exits 131A (south) and 131B (north) westbound; signed as exit 131 (south) and exit 132 (north) eastbound
				134	CR 9 (Highland Avenue)	Toll on eastbound exit and westbound entrance ramps
	Oak Brook			Meyers Road Toll Plaza (eastbound)
				136	CR 15 (Midwest Road)	Eastbound exit and entrance only; toll on eastbound entrance ramp
				137	IL 83 south (Kingery Highway)	No westbound entrance; toll on eastbound entrance ramp
				138	To IL 83 north / 22nd Street (Cermak Road)	Westbound entrance and exit only; toll on westbound entrance ramp
				York Road Toll Plaza (westbound)
	Hillside			138	I-294 south (Tri-State Tollway) – To York Road, Indiana	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
				140	I-290 west (Eisenhower Expressway) / I-294 north (Tri-State Tollway) / IL 38 (Roosevelt Road) – Chicago, Milwaukee, Rockford	Eastern end of Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway
Cook				17	US 12 / US 20 / US 45 (Mannheim Road)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
					I-290 / IL 110 (CKC) east (Eisenhower Expressway) – Chicago	Continuation past I-294; east end of IL 110 overlap
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       ETC       Incomplete access       Tolled       Route transition

External links

• Illinois Highway Ends: Interstate 88
• Historic, Current & Average Travel Times For The Ronald Reagan Tollway