Route number: I-55

Direction: Southwest from downtown to Bolingbrook and Joliet. Continue on 55 to Bloomington/Normal, Springfield, and St. Louis

Opened: 1964

Original name: Southwest Expressway

Renamed: 1965 for Governor and U.N. Ambassador Stevenson

Alternate routes: Archer Ave., Ogden Ave., and a combination of the Eisenhower Expressway and the Tri-State Tollway.

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Route number: I-90/94. I-90 splits from the Ryan at 67th Street. The Ryan is simply I-94 from 67th to 95th.

Direction: South from downtown to 95th Street, where it splits into I-57 and I-94.

Opened: 1962

Original name: Dan Ryan Expressway, named for the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners

Alternate routes: Lake Shore Drive, Halsted St.

At 14 lanes, the Ryan is one of the world's widest expressways. Its "dual-dual" design consists of seven lanes in each direction : four "express" lanes with limited exits, and three local-access lanes.

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Direction: South and southwest from Chicago/95th Street to far south suburbs, Kankakee, Champaign/Urbana and southern Illinois

Length: 358 miles

Alternate routes: Halsted St., Western Ave.

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Route number: I-94 to the Kingery Expressway (I-80)

Direction: Southeast from Chicago/95th street to I-80, where I-94 joins 80 and heads east to Indiana state line. The Ford continues south as IL-394 to Sauk Trail.

Original name: Calumet Expressway

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Route number: Formerly a part of I-90, the Skyway lost this interstate designation in August 1999. It is now marked as simply "TO I-90". It meets I-90 at both ends: Dan Ryan Expressway and the Indiana Toll Road. To my knowledge, the Indiana Toll Road is still I-90.

Opened: 1961

Direction: Southeast from Dan Ryan Expressway to the Indiana state line

Alternate routes: Bishop Ford Expressway to Kingery Expressway (I-80/94). South Chicago Ave. parallels this road from 67th to 95th streets.

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