Interstate 180 (I-180) is a north–south spur highway in Illinois that runs from

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

to the small town of Hennepin at its southern terminus. It is long.

Route description

I-180 begins as a continuation of

Illinois Route 71 Illinois Route 71 is a southwest-to-northeast state highway in north central Illinois. It runs from the end of Interstate 180 in Hennepin to U.S. Route 34 in Oswego. This is a distance of . Route description Outside of Hennepin, the roa ...

(IL 71) at a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...

with IL 26 northeast of Hennepin. The interchange is located adjacent to a former steel mill that was most recently operated by

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation, headquartered in Luxembourg City. It is ranked second on the list of steel producers behind Baowu, and had an annual crude steel production of 58 millio ...

but closed in 2009 and demolished in 2017. The freeway travels northwest, carrying I-180 and IL 26 in a concurrency, and crosses the

Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...

on the north side of Hennepin to enter Bureau County. On the west side of the river, IL 26 separates from I-180 and the freeway crosses over IL 29 before splitting at a Y interchange. I-180 turns north, intersecting an expressway that connects to IL 29, and travels northeast across Big Bureau Creek to intersect IL 26. The freeway intersects US Route 6 (US 6) east of

and continues due north to its terminus, a

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usi ...

with

I-80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

. I-180 has four lanes for most of its length, though an additional southbound lane exists prior to the IL 29 exit.

History

Construction of I-180 was completed in 1969. The freeway was built primarily to connect

to a new

Jones and Laughlin Steel Company The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, also known as J&L Steel or simply as J&L, was an American steel and iron manufacturer that operated from 1852 until 1968. The enterprise began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard La ...

steel plant built in 1965 in Hennepin. In August 1970, the U.S. General Accounting Office published a report criticizing the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

for prioritizing I-180 over spurs in larger metropolitan areas, including

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

and

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. The report also stated that steel plant officials had demanded construction of the spur to allow trucks from the plant to easily access I-80. The steel plant closed in 2009 and has since been demolished. I-180 is one of the least traveled Interstates in the nation, serving 1,950–3,600 vehicles per day . In the 2010s, work started to reconstruct portions of the bridge carrying I-180 over the Illinois River. A three-year project to rebuild the deck began in 2020.

Exit list

References

External links

Interstate 180
at Kurumi's Roads Page
I-180
at Illinois Highway Ends

at Roads of the Mid-South and West {{authority control 80-1 80-1 Illinois 1 Illinois Transportation in Putnam County, Illinois Transportation in Bureau County, Illinois