help this novice traveler with highways??

Question

highway names & #'s confuse the bejeez out of me. like US 41 is called lake shore drive. can u help me name the major highways with there # and maybe the direction they go. Like what is the 290 or the 55. I suck at reading maps. I'm home based in the chicago area if that helps

Answer 1

Odd numbers go north and south ... even numbers go east and west. Just drive around and you'll get the hang of it. I've moved around a lot so I've had to get use to a lot of new cities. I just go out driving for a while and see if I can find my way back, if I can't than I make sure to take my cell with me to call someone if I need help. Good luck man!

Answer 2

Ok, lets see... US highways will often travel through towns. So in Chicago, at least at some point it is called Lake Shore Drive, instead of US 41. It is still highway 41, just with a prettier name.

The "290" you refer to is a limited-access highway, a tollway if I remember correctly. For limited-access highways, there are a few things to remember, with very few exceptions to this:

If it has 3 numbers and the first is even (as in 290), it is a loop. If the first number is odd (155) then it is a spur.

The "55" is an interstate highway that runs all the way to New Orleans. With interstate highways, there are only 2 numbers, and if the highway runs north/south, it is an odd number. If it runs east/west (90, 94, 40) then it is an even number.

US highways are simply routes that are given a number to make it easy to get places with the aid of a map.

Answer 3

Highways is Chicago are often referred to by name instead of number. Here is a list. Also, the IDOT website is surprisingly good for letting you know what the traffic is like, where construction is, etc.

Dan Ryan - this is I-90/94 south of downtown, so running from the Circle (downtown) down to 95th street or so.

Skyway - this is where I-90 breaks off the Ryan and heads southeast to Indiana.

Stevenson - I -55 running southwest from the circle to Midway and then on to St. Louis.

Eisenhower - I-290 running west from the circle out to the Tristate (I-294).

Kennedy - I-90 running northwest from the circle to O'Hare.

Edens - I-94 running north from the Kennedy up to Lake-Cook road.

Tri-State - this is a little confusing. It's I -294 from the far South Side until it gets to Lake-Cook Road, then it becomes I-94 to Wisconsin.

Northwest Tollway - I-90 running northwest from O'Hare toward Rockford.

North South Tollway - they usually just call it I-355 running from the Stevenson (I-55) up to Lake-Cook Road.

East West Tollway - usually just called I-88 it runs from the Tri-State (I294) west past Naperville toward Iowa.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

For US Highways it is easy.
The only problem is routes, and state roads are not as standard.
Often a routs, county road and state road will have a street name that really only applies within a city limit or in an area.
For Highways:

US routes are all in the contiguous 48 states and have 1, 2, or 3 digit numbers.

Even numbers run east to west; increasing to the south.
Odd numbers run north to south; increasing to the west.
Increments of low-order digits fill in the grid.

In addition, an increment of 3rd high order digits denote branch highways or spur routes. These were numbered along the length at first, later routes were added in order of creation.

US Divided-number Routes are of the form nd where d is {N|S|E|W}

http://www.us-highways.com/usbt.htm

Answer 5

I can tell you that odd number highways in the US run North and South and even ones run East and West.

As far as some highways having names, that is a local thing.

The best map that you can find online is google earth - it's downloadable.

Answer 6

55 is the Stevenson and that goes out to the Western Suburbs. 294 is the Tristate and that goes from Indiana thru the burbs up North. 88 is the Reagan Tollway and that starts at 290 (Eisenhower) and goes out West towards Aurora. 290 starts downtown and eventually goes up towards Schaumburg. 94 is the Dan Ryan which goes right down the city and ends up by Indiana.

Answer 7

It is typically true that odd highways go north/south and even goes east/west but it is more complicated than just that.
There are two designations for highways, the federal and interstate systems. (US and I before number)

For US highways, the routes are numbered sequentially from east to west and from North to south. N/S US routes will end in 1 and E/W will end in 0

For interstates, they go sequentially from West to East and South to North. Routes ending in 5 are the major routes and will cross most of the country (I-95 and I-55)

Spurs that go around cities (bypass) will be a 3-digit number.

With your problem in Chicago, it is quite tricky because the E/W routes end up N/S in the city but you have to look at the bigger picture to see them fall into the above categories.
Nevertheless, this cheat sheet may help:

- I-90/94 aka Kennedy Expressway runs North and South but is made up of I-90 going through downtown from the east through Gary to the West through Rockford and I-94 coming from the south side north through Milwaukee.
- I-94 (When not a part of I-90/94) is called the Dan Ryan, Edens, or Bishop Ford Expressways depending on the area of the city
- I-80, the tollway, comes from the east through Gary through the south side and west towards Iowa. It combines with I-94 for a bit on the south side. I-80/94 is called the Borman or Kingery Highway depending on the location.
- I-88 aka Reagan expressway, runs West from 294 around Oakbrook out towards Aurora
- I-55 aka Stevenson Expressway, runs from downtown Southwest-ish through Joliet then South towards St. Louis
- I-290 aka Eisenhower Expressway is a bypass (3 digits) for those wishing to bypass north side traffic on 90 and runs west from downtown out to the suburbs and rejoins 90 around Shaumburg
- I-294 aka Tri-state tollway, is another bypass and it goes from 80/94 on the south side all the way around past Ohare and joins up with 94 again up by Highland Park.
I-355 aka North South tollway runs North and south from 55 around Bowlingbrook north to 290 around Lombard.

The following are tollroads in the chicago area:
90, 94, 80, 294, 88, and 355

The following are freeways in the chicago area:
55, 290

It is pretty confusing and I apologize for not having this info organized but to make it real clear...carry a map at all times of chicago and get an I-pass.

Answer 8

basic rule for travelling on INTERSTATE highways in the states is that Odd numbered highways travel nOrth-sOuth, and Even numbers travel generally East-wEst. Hope this helps!

Answer 9

buy a map and LEARN how to read it, you will be much better off in the future. Just like many neighborhoods and areas in Chicago, roads can have multiple names. Take time to learn your area around you.

Answer 10

i'm not good with maps either,

i suggest you use mapquest.com, or google maps to get directions to and from a place.

print it out before you go, and take it with you in the car.