Illinois Route 38 is an west–east

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

that runs across northern

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 ...

. It runs from

U.S. Route 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major U.S. Highway in the Central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows a north ...

(US 52) in downtown Dixon to US 12/ US 20/ US 45 (Mannheim Road) in Westchester. It runs concurrently with the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

between Dixon and the junction of

Illinois Route 31 Illinois Route 31 (IL 31) is a north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois, United States. It travels from U.S. Route 34 in Illinois, U.S. Route 34 (US 34) in Oswego, Illinois, Oswego north to U.S. Route 12 in Illin ...

in Geneva where it transitions via State Street onto

Roosevelt Road Roosevelt Road (originally named 12th Street) is a major east-west street in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only south of Madison Street. It runs under t ...

at the junction of Kirk Road and continues through the western suburbs to its terminus at the junction of Mannheim Road.

continues on an additional 14 miles without a route designation until terminating at US 41 (

Lake Shore Drive Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive; also known as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, the Outer Drive, the Drive, LSD or DLSD) is a semi-limited access Limited-access highway, expressway that runs alongside the sh ...

). Illinois Route 38 travels along the former route of US 330, that existed from 1926 to 1942. It spanned from Galt to Lynwood.

Route description

Illinois 38 runs along the historic

for much of its length, and parallels Interstate 88 as well. Illinois 38 serves some cities that have no interchanges on Interstate 88. It enters the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

metropolitan area at Elburn, as this border is pushed west with the extension of 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 ...

rail system. Except in cities, Illinois 38 has two lanes west of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. Illinois 38 generally has two lanes west of the Fox River, except in cities, and four lanes east of the river. From

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

Interstate 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 Illino ...

, Illinois 38 expands to six lanes and becomes a limited-access

freeway 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 ...

with exits to

Illinois Route 56 Illinois Route 56 (IL 56) is a east–west state highway in northern and northeastern Illinois. It runs from the interchange of Illinois Route 47 at U.S. Route 30 (US 30) in Sugar Grove east to US 12/US 20/US 45 (Mannheim Road) by Bellw ...

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 ...

, York Road, Interstate 290 and Interstate 294. The ramp to Interstate 290 has an automated gate system that closes during high-volume periods, such as rush hours.

History

SBI Route 38 initially ran between

Kampsville Kampsville is a village in Crater and Carlin precincts, Calhoun County, Illinois, United States, located on the west bank of the Illinois River. The population was 310 at the 2020 census. Name Kampsville was originally known as ''Beeman's Landi ...

and Jerseyville. In 1937, IL 38's western terminus was truncated as IL 100 was extended south of Kampsville while its eastern terminus was extended to Mount Clare. By 1941, the original route of IL 38 was decommissioned and was replaced by IL 16, IL 112, and IL 138. It remained decommissioned until 1972 when a section of US 30 Alt. west of Westchester was replaced with IL 38; the rest of US 30 Alt. was removed without any replacement route designations. In 1914, one mile of a road near

Malta, Illinois Malta is a village in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,143 at the 2020 census. History Malta was founded in 1855, under the name of Milton. Shortly afterwards, the name was changed to Etna, then Malta after the Galena ...

, was paved with concrete. This was the first "Seedling Mile" of the concrete road on the Lincoln Highway. Seedling Miles were constructed on several portions of the Lincoln Highway to encourage the paving of the highway from coast to coast. The Lincoln Highway was routed along modern-day Route 38 between

and Dixon. When numbered US Highways began to replace named cross-country roads (like

US 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route of the United States Numbered Highway System, with the highway traveling across the Northern U.S. With a length of , it is the third-longest U.S. Highway, afte ...

for the Lincoln Highway), this stretch of highway was signed as Alternate US 30. In 1972, as traffic patterns shifted, these alternates to US highways became unnecessary and fell out of favor.

U.S. Route 330

U.S. Route 330 (US 330) was a

U.S. Highway The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

that traveled from Galt to Lynwood, and was in service from 1926 to 1942. It has since been replaced in its entirety by Illinois Route 38 west of Bellwood, and by other local roads east of Bellwood to Lynwood. US 330 branched off at

, where US 30 ran along present Illinois Route 38 and

, and ran east to

. After several extensions on the west end, it became part of U.S. Route 30 Alternate from 1942 to 1971 and then Illinois 38 west of Mannheim Road since 1971.

Major intersections

References

External links

Illinois Highway Ends: Illinois Route 38

{{US 30 U.S. Route 30

038 38 may refer to: *38 (number) *38 BC *AD 38 *1938 *2038 Science * Strontium, an alkaline earth metal in the periodic table * 38 Leda, an asteroid in the asteroid belt Other uses *.38, a caliber of firearms and cartridges ** .38 Special, a re ...

Lincoln Highway Transportation in Lee County, Illinois Transportation in Ogle County, Illinois Transportation in DeKalb County, Illinois Transportation in Kane County, Illinois Transportation in DuPage County, Illinois Transportation in Cook County, Illinois