Illinois Route 390 (IL 390), previously known as the Elgin–O'Hare Expressway, now known as the Elgin–O'Hare Tollway, is a

controlled-access A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

in northeastern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. IL 390 currently connects U.S. Route 20 (US 20, Lake Street) in Hanover Park to the interchange with

Illinois Route 83 Illinois Route 83 (IL 83) is a major north–south state highway in northeast Illinois. It stretches from U.S. Route 30 (US 30, Lincoln Highway) by Lynwood and Dyer, Indiana, north to the Wisconsin border by Antioch at Wisconsin ...

(IL 83) and Thorndale Avenue in

Wood Dale Wood Dale is a city in Addison Township, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 14,012. History Wood Dale was originally known as ''Lester's Station'', after John Lester, an early settler. Geography Acc ...

. The only other towns it borders are

Schaumburg Schaumburg is a district (''Landkreis'') of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg, Hanover and Hameln-Pyrmont, and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts of Lippe and Minden-Lübb ...

and Roselle. Construction is underway to extend the road from IL 83 to the western edge of

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

Route description

IL 390 begins at an interchange with US 20 in Hanover Park and branches off northeastward as a six-lane

, traveling over a half-mile-long (0.8 km) bridge over the

Metra Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...

Milwaukee District West Line The Milwaukee District West Line (MD-W) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. Metra does not refer to any of its lines by a particular color, but the timetable accents for the Milwaukee District West line a ...

tracks, and some

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s. The highway then enters

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40 percent of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. ...

from

DuPage County DuPage County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it Illinois' second-most populous county. Its county seat ...

and has an interchange with IL 19 (Irving Park Road). At Meacham Road, the highway crosses back south into DuPage County. Continuing east for , IL 390 traverses portions of the suburbs of

, Roselle, Medinah,

Elk Grove Village Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 32,812. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorpor ...

, and then has an interchange with IL 53 before a major interchange with I-290 in Itasca. IL 390 continues east for through

, Elk Grove Village (again), and

Bensenville Bensenville is a village located near O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County, Illinois, with a portion of the town in Cook County. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 18,813. First known as Tioga, it was formally establishe ...

, and finally ends at an interchange with IL 83 in Bensenville just short of the west side of

. IL 390 was the first route in the state to have all-electronic toll collection, predating the 2021 conversion to all-electronic tolling on all

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Illinois charged with building, operating, and maintaining toll roads in the state. The roads, as well as the authority itself, are sometimes refer ...

roads; cash is not accepted, and an I-Pass/

E-ZPass E-ZPass Interagency Group (E-ZPass Group trade name and E-ZPass product brand) is an electronic toll collection system used on toll roads, toll bridges, and toll tunnels in the eastern half of the United States. The group itself is composed of ...

is required. The mileposts are measured from the planned western terminus in Elgin.

History

Although the concept of an Elgin–O'Hare Expressway dates back to the 1960s, the highway was not seriously considered until the late 1980s. Around that time, congestion was rapidly increasing on local roads, especially US 20 (Lake Street). Although Lake Street was extensively widened prior to the completion of the highway, initially to Glen Ellyn Road and then to the Roselle-Bloomingdale border nearly ten years later, its capacity was still considered insufficient for the rapidly growing western suburbs. Construction on the highway began around 1991 and was completed two years later. Governor

Jim Edgar James Robert Edgar (born July 22, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 38th governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999. A Moderate Republican (modern United States), moderate Republican Party (United States), Republican, he previously s ...

opened the highway at an afternoon ceremony on November 2, 1993. When the highway first opened, both of its termini had traffic signals with major arterial roads in the area. This arrangement caused large backups during weekday rush hours. According to the

Illinois Department of Transportation The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is a state agency in charge of state-maintained public roadways of the U.S. state of Illinois. In addition, IDOT provides funding for rail, public transit and airport projects and administers f ...

(IDOT), average daily traffic counts (in 2003) for IL 390 are 39,600 vehicles for the western and around 82,000 to 87,000 cars per day for the remainder. On October 29, 2013, IDOT announced that the highway was re-designated IL 390 at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Elgin–O’Hare Western Access Project. Shortly after, maintenance of the road was transferred to the

(ISTHA), and toll collection on the existing segment from US 20 in Hanover Park to I-290 in Itasca began in 2016. ISTHA began constructing an eastward extension of IL 390 to a new interchange on the western border of

with the planned I-490 connecting

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

to the north and

I-294 Interstate 294 (I-294) is a tolled auxiliary Interstate Highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Forming the southern portion of the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois, I-294 runs from South Holland at I-80/ I-94 and Illinoi ...

to the south. This interchange may also incorporate ramps into a planned western terminal at O'Hare. The official groundbreaking for the expansion took place on October 29, 2013. The first segment of this extension, opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 1, 2017, stretching from the interchange with I-290 in Itasca to IL 83 in

. East of I-290, IL 390 was formerly a four-lane arterial at-grade road known as Thorndale Avenue until its conversion into an extension of IL 390, along with the interchange with I-290. Thorndale Avenue ran from I-290 to York Road near the western border of O'Hare International Airport. After its conversion, the Thorndale Avenue designation was assigned to the new frontage roads along both sides of the eastern extension of IL 390.

Future

The remaining section of IL 390 from IL 83 in

to the western edge of

is currently under construction and is expected to open in 2027. , a feasibility study is underway on the western extension of IL 390 from US 20 to North Avenue in Bartlett, as well as changes to US 20 between North Avenue in Bartlett and Shales Parkway in Elgin. However, unlike the original plans, the entire extension is proposed to be an

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights o ...

rather than a limited–access freeway or tollway.

Exit list

References

External links

*
Illinois Highway Ends: Elgin-O'Hare ExpresswayAirport Planning & O'Hare Airport (DuPage County)O'Hare International Airport Master Plan
{{Authority control

390 __NOTOC__ Year 390 (Roman numerals, CCCXC) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valentinian II, Augustus and Neoterius (or, less frequently, year 1143 ''Ab ur ...

Expressways in the Chicago area O'Hare International Airport Toll roads in Illinois Interstate 90 Transportation in DuPage County, Illinois Transportation in Cook County, Illinois