West end: I-74 / US 6 at Moline Length 354.6 km | East end: I-74 at Danville | |
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Interstate 74 (I-74) in the U.S. state of Illinois is a major northwest–southeast Interstate Highway that runs across the central portion of the state. It runs from the Iowa state line at the Mississippi River near the city of Rock Island and runs southeast to the Indiana state line east of Danville, a distance of 220.34 miles (354.60 km). The highway runs through the major cities of Champaign, Bloomington, Peoria, and Moline.
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The highway is officially named after Everett McKinley Dirksen, a Republican Senator and U.S. Congressman from Pekin from 1933 to his death in 1969.
History
In November 2006 major work was completed on the Upgrade 74 project for the portion of I-74 in the Midwest. This multi-year project, begun in April 2002, saw the complete renovation of I-74 through East Peoria and Peoria. Most notably the interstate was widened to three lanes through the cities, many blind or hairpin exits and entrances to the highway were removed or corrected, and many bridges crossing the highway were replaced. The biggest part of this project was work on the Murray Baker Bridge, over which I-74 crosses the Illinois River. The bridge was completely closed to traffic while being partially dismantled and reconstructed from April 2 to October 15, 2005. During this time I-74 was disconnected between Peoria and East Peoria. In late March 2013, the biggest road reconstruction project in the Peoria area since the 2002-2006 project- a complete $86.6 million revision of the Morton, Illinois I-74/I-155 interchange system- started its beginning phases (Morton, a hub for the two interstates and the site of facilities for Caterpillar, Pepsi, and Libby's Pumpkin, is a growing Peoria suburb, across the Illinois River, east of East Peoria and Pekin, in Tazewell County). This latest project was scheduled to be finished by Summer 2016 and the reconstruction is being scheduled in phases to minimize traffic disruption.
Future
The Iowa and Illinois departments of transportation are in the planning stages to build a new bridge to replace the aging I-74 Bridge. The Iowa-bound bridge opened in 1935; the Illinois bridge in 1958. In addition to replacing the bridges, the scope of the bi-state coalition's plan includes updating 7 miles (11 km) of I-74 mainline and interchanges from 53rd Street in Davenport to the Avenue of the Cities in Moline.