U.S. Route 34 (US 34) is an east–west highway In the state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

that runs from the

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

state line at Gulfport, west of Galesburg, to

Illinois Route 43 Illinois Route 43 (IL 43) is a major north–south state highway in the U.S. state of Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 30 (US 30) in Frankfort north to the large intersection of IL 120 (Belvidere Road) and US 41 (Skokie Highway) ...

(IL 43) and Historic U.S. Route 66 at Harlem Avenue in Berwyn. The entire highway in Illinois is named the Walter Payton Memorial Highway after

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

Walter Payton Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1953Although most sources at the time of his death gave Payton's birth year as 1954, reliable sources subsequently state he was born in 1953. – November 1, 1999) was an American football running back who played ...

, who wore #34 for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

. The highway is long within the state. The bridge into Iowa over the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

is called the

Great River Bridge The Great River Bridge is an asymmetrical, single tower cable-stayed bridge over the Mississippi River. It carries U.S. Route 34 from Burlington, Iowa to the town of Gulf Port, Illinois. History Construction began in 1989, but work on the main ...

. Between

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. ...

and Galesburg, the highway is up to

Interstate Highway standards Standards for Interstate Highways in the United States are defined by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in the publication ''A Policy on Design Standards: Interstate System''. For a certain highway to ...

with exits at Main Street, Henderson Street, and Seminary Street in Galesburg.

Route description

Iowa state line to Monmouth

After leaving Iowa via the

, US 34 enters Gulfport. In Gulfport, US 34 meets a local road at a

parclo A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...

. It then travels further east, then turns into a 2-lane undivided highway, then turns northeast, and then back east again. It then meets IL 164 south of Gladstone. Just west of Biggsville, US 34 turns into a 4-lane divided bypass. After that, US 34 meets IL 94 and IL 116. East of Biggsville, it soon reverts to a 2-lane highway again. At Kirkwood, it turns north and then east again. At a 5-ramp parclo, US 34 turns north onto a 4-lane divided expressway (signed as US 67/IL 110 (CKC)). Just west of Monmouth, IL 164 runs concurrently with the other two routes. After they curve east, US 67 branches off north from the other three routes. Just northeast of Monmouth, IL 164 branches off northeast. The other two routes then become a freeway.

Monmouth to Kewanee

In the middle of Coldbrook and Cameron, the two routes meet a local road at a diamond interchange. Northeast of the Galesburg Municipal Airport, they then meet IL 164 (once again) and IL 41 at another diamond interchange where both IL 164 and IL 41 end. They then meet US 150 at a cloverleaf interchange and then another local road at a diamond interchange. At another cloverleaf interchange, IL 110 diverges north via I-74 while US 34 moves eastward (soon northeastward). At that point, the freeway ends and becomes a 2-lane road. North of Wataga, IL 167 intersects and ends at US 34. It continues northeasterly until it reaches Altona. At that point, it travels due north and then curves east. At that curve, it then runs concurrently with IL 17. IL 17 then diverges southward in Galva. US 34 then turns northeast, begins to run concurrently with IL 78, turn north, and intersect IL 91 before reaching Kewanee.

Kewanee to Berwyn

At 2nd Street in Kewanee, US 34 turns east from IL 78. Then, it turns north before reaching a railroad. At that point, it turns northeast which follows the railroad. Northeast of Neponset, it turns northward. Between Sheffield and Princeton, US 34 runs concurrently with US 6. In Princeton, it then follows IL 26 before it reaches Elm Place where US 34 branches off east (soon northeast). It then crosses under I-80, intersects IL 89, and then IL 92 in LaMoille. At the junction where US 34 intersect IL 92, it turns east. Further east, it intersects US 52/IL 251 in Mendota, then turns north, northeast, then turns back east, and then meets I-39/US 51 east of Mendota. The route continues east, swinging north and east twice before running along the southern border of Earlville and meeting IL 23 South of Leland. IL 23 runs concurrently with US 34 for about 4 miles. Then, between Leland and Somonauk, IL 23 branches off northward. Continuing east, it intersects IL 47 in Yorkville, IL 31, IL 25, and IL 71 in Oswego. Furthermore, it briefly runs concurrently with US 30 southeast of Aurora, intersects IL 59 at the city limit of Naperville, and meets IL 53 in Lisle at a 4-ramp parclo. Near the Illinois Tollway headquarters, it meets I-355, as well as I-88, at a mix of interchanges. Further east, it meets IL 83 at another 4-ramp parclo, I-294 at a cloverleaf interchange, intersects US 12/US 20/US 45 north of La Grange, and then IL 171 in Lyons before US 34 ends at IL 43 at Berwyn. At that point, the road continues on as Ogden Avenue and Historic US 66 all the way to Chicago.

History

Up until 1935, Illinois Route 28 roughly followed US 34 from Galesburg to Sheffield. Also, a part of IL 8 followed part of US 34 from Burlington to Galesburg. In 1935, US 34 absorbed what had been the last remaining section of US 32 as well as IL 18, IL 28, and a portion of IL 8. US 34 formerly overlapped US 66 all the way to its endpoint in

downtown Chicago ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

, but was truncated to its intersection with US 66 and IL 43 in Berwyn in 1970. When US 66 was subsequently eliminated, the endpoint of US 34 was left at that location—the intersection of Ogden and Harlem Avenues in Berwyn. Due to the elimination of US 66, it is one of the few U.S. Highways that ends at a state highway. With the re-signing of much of Historic US 66, the history of US 34's eastern endpoint is becoming much more clear.East end of US highway 34 in Berwyn IL
''usends.com.''

Major intersections

References