Interstate 72

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interstate 72
Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Length: 186 mi (301 km)
West end:
US 61 in Hannibal, MO
Major
junctions:		 I-55 in Springfield, IL
I-57 in Champaign, IL
East end: West Church Street & West University Avenue at Country Fair Drive in Champaign, IL
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Interstate 72 (abbreviated I-72) is an interstate highway in the midwestern United States. Its western terminus is in Hannibal, Missouri, at an intersection with U.S. Highway 61; its eastern terminus is at Interstate 57 in Champaign, Illinois.

Contents

[edit] Route description

Lengths
mi km
MO 4 6
IL 182 295
Total 186 301
Major cities
Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs

[edit] Missouri

Main article: Interstate 72 in Missouri

I-72 runs for just over 4 miles (6 km) in the state of Missouri. Its western terminus is an interchange with U.S. Route 61 to the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River. This bridge connects the city of Hannibal with Illinois.

[edit] Illinois

Main article: Interstate 72 in Illinois

In the state of Illinois, I-72 runs for 182 miles (295 km). The portion of I-72 and I-172 from Springfield to Quincy, Illinois is commonly referred to as the Central Illinois Expressway (CIE). As of 2007, I-72 has one business route — Business Loop 72 in Jacksonville.

[edit] Future

 This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (December 2007)
This article contains information about a planned or expected future road.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the road's construction or completion approaches and more information becomes available.

Based on the 157-mile (253 km) marker at Missouri 79, when US 36 is upgraded to Interstate standards across Missouri, the future western terminus of I-72 would be at Cameron, Missouri at the intersection with I-35.

The concept of I-72 across Missouri was to create the Kansas City - Chicago Expressway, a rural 4-lane highway across northern Missouri and west central Illinois from Cameron, Missouri at I-35 to Springfield, Illinois at I-55. This would provide a series of rural 4-lane highways (I-35, US 36, I-72, and I-55) connecting Chicago to the NAFTA Corridor (High Priority Corridor 23). This would reduce the amount of through traffic, primarily truck traffic, in the St. Louis, Des Moines, and Quad Cities metropolitan areas by serving as an alternate route for I-70 and I-80.

The Missouri portion of this route is designated as part of High Priority Corridor 61.

Due to funding priorities, it was initially determined that upgrading US 36 between Macon and Hannibal was a low-priority project and was officially tabled by MoDOT. MoDOT committed to building the four-lane highway as a non-interstate expressway only if the five counties served by US 36 east of Macon would contribute half of the $100 million cost.

[edit] Auxiliary routes

v • d • e
Auxiliary routes of Interstate 72

[edit] References

[edit] External links


edit
Main Interstate Highways (multiples of 5 in pink)		 Interstate Highway marker
4 5 8 10 12 15 16 17 19 20 22 24 25 26 27 29 30
35 37 39 40 43 44 45 49 55 57 59 64 65 66 68 69
70 71 72 73 74 75 76 (W) 76 (E) 77 78 79 80 81 82
83 84 (W) 84 (E) 85 86 (W) 86 (E) 87 88 (W) 88 (E) 89 90
91 93 94 95 96 97 99 (238) H-1 H-2 H-3
Unsigned  A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 PRI-1 PRI-2 PRI-3
Lists  Primary  Main - Intrastate - Suffixed - Future - Gaps
Auxiliary  Main - Future - Unsigned
Other  Standards - Business - Bypassed