U.S. Route 50 in Illinois

This article is about the section of U.S. Route 50 in Illinois. For the entire route, see U.S. Route 50.

U.S. Route 50 marker

U.S. Route 50
Route information
Maintained by IDOT
Length: 165.79 mi[1] (266.81 km)
Existed: 1926 – present
Major junctions
West end: US 50 / I-255 in Columbia
  I-64 / I-255 in Washington Park
I-64 / IL 158 in O'Fallon
US 51 in Sandoval
I-57 in Salem
US 45 in Flora
East end: US 50 in Lawrenceville
Highway system
IL 49IL 50

In the U.S. state of Illinois, U.S. Route 50 is an eastwest highway across the southern portion of the state. It runs from the Jefferson Barracks Bridge over the Mississippi River to Missouri east to the Red Skelton Memorial Bridge over the Wabash River to Indiana. This is a distance of 165.79 miles (266.81 km).[1]

Route description

U.S. 50 runs eastwest across the southern portion of the state, between Interstate 70 to the north and Interstate 64 to the south. Along many portions of U.S. 50, the road has been moved onto either a bypass or an expressway.

History

Much of U.S. Route 50 in Illinois, especially the section between Carlyle, Illinois and Vincennes, lies atop or adjacent to the trail taken by George Rogers Clark and his 170 volunteers in the forlorn-hope march on Vincennes in February 1779.

As of 2011, much of U.S. 50 is a two-lane highway, but portions around Lawrenceville, IL and Vincennes, IN are configured as a four-lane, limited access bypass, built to interstate standards in the 1960s. Another modern bypass portion between O'Fallon, IL and IL-127 shows evidence of a four-lane right of way as each bridge is paralleled by a second that remains unused and the graded road bed for additional lanes is visible. This is because it was originally meant to be the route of Interstate 64 until political leaders lobbied for and secured a more southerly route.

Major intersections

CountyLocationmikmDestinationsNotes
Monroe 0.000.00 I-255 west / US 50 west MehlvilleMissouri state line
  IL 3 southSouthern end of IL 3 concurrency
St. Clair  IL 3 north CahokiaNorthern end of IL 3 concurrency
  IL 157
East St. Louis IL 15
I-64 west / I-255 north St. Louis, ChicagoNorthern end of I–255 concurrency; western end of I–64 concurrency
Fairview Heights IL 157
IL 159
O'Fallon I-64 east / IL 158Eastern end of I–64 concurrency
Lebanon IL 4 south MascoutahSouthern end of IL 4 concurrency
IL 4 northNorthern end of IL 4 concurrency
ClintonTrenton IL 160
Carlyle IL 127 northNorthern end of IL 127 concurrency
IL 127 southSouthern end of IL 127 concurrency
MarionSandoval US 51 Centralia, Vandalia
Salem I-57 Mt. Vernon, Effingham
IL 37 Mt. Vernon, Effingham
ClayFlora US 45 north EffinghamWestern end of US 45 concurrency
US 45 south FairfieldEastern end of US 45 concurrency
Richland  IL 250 eastWestern terminus of IL 250
Olney IL 130
IL 250 westWestern end of IL 250 concurrency
Lawrence  IL 250 eastEastern end of IL 250 concurrency
Lawrenceville
US 50 Bus. east
Western terminus of US 50 BUS
IL 1 Lawrenceville, Marshall

US 50 Bus. west
Eastern terminus of US 50 BUS
  IL 33 northSouthern terminus of IL 33
  US 50 eastIndiana state line
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

Route map: Bing / Google

  1. 1 2 Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2007). "T2 GIS Data". Retrieved 2007-11-08.
U.S. Route 50
Previous state:
Missouri
Illinois Next state:
Indiana
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