In Wisconsin, I-39 is 182 miles long, which is longer than the highway’s length in Illinois. The designation of I-39 in Wisconsin violated the state’s rule of not having any state trunk highway number duplicated (whether by an interstate, US Route or state highway), because WIS 39 already existed. But this part of the highway was not marked as I-39 for another four years, in large part because the Wisconsin Department of Transportation had to reconstruct the interchange connecting I-90 and I-94 with WIS 78 near Portage. The highway was officially designated in Wisconsin in 1992.That was followed by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approving the extension of I-39 from Rockford, Illinois north to WIS 29 in Wausau, Wisconsin, on October 22, 1993.ĪASHTO then designated I-39 along existing portions of I-90, I-94 and US 51. Originally an intrastate interstate in Illinois, a proposal to extend I-39 into Wisconsin was made. While concurrent, I-39/I-90 run north to South Beloit. I-39/US 20 travel east to the point where the interstate joins the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway and I-90 near Cherry Valley. Continuing northward, I-39 crosses the Kishwaukee River and then meets US 20 on Rockford’s southside. It intersects I-80 at exit 59 and intersects I-88 at exit 97 in Rochelle. Just north of the Illinois River, I-39 runs to the east of LaSalle and Peru. The bridge is 1.3 miles long and has the distinction of being the state’s longest bridge. The highway crosses the Illinois River about 55 miles north of Normal via the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge. I-74 South runs toward Indianapolis.įrom Normal, I-39 runs northward, largely through rural areas. From its intersection with I-39, Interstate 55 runs to either Chicago or St. The interstate’s southern end is less than one mile from I-74 as I-74 travels around the city of Normal. The highway begins north of the Bloomington-Normal metro area at I-55. With the exception of one mile of roadway in the state, I-39 is designated concurrently with US 51. In Illinois, I-39 has a total length of 140.82 miles. The Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge spans the Illinois River. Because of higher traffic counts, the section of proposed roadway between Rockford and Decatur was given priority. This was similar to the interstate route that had been requested in the 1950s. One of the proposed routes would have extended from US 20 in Rockford to I-57 just north of Salem. Its goal was to provide Illinois residents access to a highway or highways within 30 minutes or less from their homes. Ultimately there were so many crashes on the road that it earned the nickname “Killer 51.”Ī major supplemental highway system plan for Illinois was proposed in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Over time, as traffic levels increased, it became a heavily traveled two-lane road. US 51 ran primarily north-south through the middle of the state. However, the project was considered a low priority and was not acted upon. When the IHS was being planned in the early 1950s, Illinois made a request for a north-south highway from South Beloit to Salem. Route 51 (US 51) is cosigned with I-39.Ĭonstruction on I-39 in Illinois began in the early 1980s. This concurrency of three interstate highways is the longest in the nation (a total of 29 miles in length). In Wisconsin, I-94 joins I-39/I-90 in Madison and continues to Portage. From Rockford, Illinois, to Portage, I-39 runs concurrently with I-90.
With the exception of an eight-mile segment around Portage, Wisconsin, I-39 shares its route with at least one other route number along its entirety. system and it is in the middle between the longest and shortest interstates. It is the 35th-longest interstate in the U.S. The interstate begins on the north side of Normal, Illinois, at I-55 and runs to State Trunk Highway 29 (WIS 29) in the town of Rib Mountain, Wisconsin (approximately 6 miles south of Wausau). Primarily a route through rural areas, I-39 serves as a bypass around the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas.
At the time of the series of wrecks, there was “wintry weather.” A 30-mile stretch of the interstate was closed because of the accidents. According to the Illinois State Police, the crash scene was several hundred yards long and involved about 100 vehicles. On February 17, a multi-vehicle “mass collision” occurred on I-39 near El Paso, Illinois. Today’s article profiles I-39, which serves two states in the Midwest – Illinois and Wisconsin. The series began with a profile of Interstate 2 (I-2) and has covered each interstate in numerical order. This is the latest in a FreightWaves Classics series about the U.S.