Interstate 72

Infobox road
route= 72

---

type= I
route_type= reg
length_mi= 184
length_km= 298
direction_a= West
direction_b= East
year_established=
terminus_a=
terminus_b= West Church Street & West University Avenue at Country Fair Drive in Champaign, IL
junction=
commons=category

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.

Route description

-
MO
2
3
-
IL
182
295
-
Total
184
298

Missouri

I-72 runs for just over 2 miles (3 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.

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.

History

Prior to September 2000, Mark Twain Avenue (old US 36) was composed of the current Mark Twain Avenue (now Route 79) and the portion of I-72 and US 36 west of Exit 157 to the Hannibal city limits. Route 79 terminated at the foot of the old Mark Twain Memorial Bridge at the corner of Third Street and Mark Twain Avenue. Signs along the four-lane expressway portion of Mark Twain Avenue marked the route as "Future I-72", while signs along what is now Route 79 had I-72 trailblazers to direct drivers to the temporary terminus at Fall Creek, Illinois.

When the new Mark Twain Memorial Bridge was completed in September 2000, I-72 was routed over the new bridge, along with US 36. Route 79 was extended along Mark Twain Avenue to terminate at Exit 157. The portion of I-72 and US 36 west of Exit 157 is now referred to as the V.F.W. Memorial Highway.

Originally, I-72 opened with a posted speed limit of 65 mph. However, when it first opened, some drivers were confused and were driving it at 35 mph, the old posted speed limit on Mark Twain Avenue. Later, Hannibal convinced MoDOT to lower the speed limit along I-72 and US 36 within the Hannibal city limits to 55 mph.

Future

Based on the convert|157|mi|km|sing=on 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 North American Free Trade Agreement (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.

Auxiliary routes

*Spur into Quincy, Illinois, I-172

References

External links

* [http://illi-indi.com/il_EndsPage.php?id=3072&section=1 Illinois Highway Ends: Interstate 72]