Illinois Route 17

Illinois Route 17 (IL 17) is a rural, arterial east–west state road that runs east from a former ferry crossing in New Boston along the banks of the Mississippi River[3] to State Road 2 west of Lowell, Indiana. It is 209.40 miles (337.00 km) long.[1]

Illinois Route 17
IL 17 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by IDOT
Length	209.40 mi[1] (337.00 km)
Existed	November 5, 1918[2]–present
Major junctions
West end	1st Street in New Boston
	US 67 in Viola US 150 in Alpha I-74 / IL 110 (CKC) in Woodhull US 34 in Bishop Hill US 34 in Galva I-39 / US 51 in Wenona I-55 in Dwight US 45 / US 52 in Kankakee I-57 in Kankakee
East end	SR 2 in Grant Park
Location
Counties	Mercer, Henry, Knox, Stark, Marshall, LaSalle, Livingston, Kankakee
Highway system
Illinois State Highway System Interstate U.S. State Tollways ← IL 16 → IL 18

Route description

IL 1 and IL 17 at their concurrency in Grant Park

Illinois 17 is the main street for numerous small towns in west central and central Illinois. It crosses the Illinois River at Lacon, and passes through Dwight and Kankakee, before it joins with Illinois Route 1 and enters Indiana east of Grant Park.

Illinois 17 also overlaps with U.S. Route 34, old U.S. Route 51, and Illinois Route 40 south of Wyoming. It also crosses the Kankakee River at Kankakee, IL. The route is largely a 2 lane road except through towns, where it occasionally becomes a 2 lane road with a center turn lane. East of Kankakee, Illinois 17 becomes a 4-lane divided highway.

IL 17 at junction with IL 47 in Dwight

At its western terminus, Illinois 17 is one of the only routes in the state not to connect to a state highway or U.S. Route of another state. A ferry crossing to Iowa had been dropped in the 1950s,[2] but the terminus has not been moved east to reflect this. In 2003, the discovery that the Mississippi River had deepened at a nearby location raised the possibility of returning ferry service to New Boston.[4] Ferry service in New Boston would be expected to bring 15,000 cars across the river yearly, saving the vehicles from driving to either Burlington, Iowa or Muscatine, Iowa — distances of about 50 miles (80 km) — to cross over into Iowa.

History

SBI Route 17 originally ran from Lacon to Grant Park. The only changes to Route 17 have been extensions east and west, and a relocation to a new road south of Streator.[2]

Illinois Route 83A connected Illinois Route 83 (now Illinois Route 17) to Keithsburg.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[5]	km	Destinations	Notes
Mercer	New Boston	0.0	0.0	1st Street (Mississippi River)	Western terminus
	​	1.5	2.4	Great River Road north	West end of GRR overlap
	​	4.0	6.4	Great River Road south	East end of GRR overlap
	Aledo	14.5	23.3	IL 94 south (College Avenue)	West end of IL 94 overlap
		15.4	24.8	IL 94 north (Northeast 15th Avenue)	East end of IL 94 overlap
	Viola	23.1	37.2	US 67 (13th Street)
Henry	​	33.9	54.6	US 150 north	West end of US 150 overlap
	​	35.4	57.0	US 150 south	East end of US 150 overlap
	Woodhull	37.9	61.0	I-74 / IL 110 (CKC) – Moline, Galesburg	I-74 exit 32
	Nekoma	46.3	74.5	IL 82 north
	​	47.8	76.9	US 34 west	West end of US 34 overlap
	Galva	53.9	86.7	US 34 (2nd Street)	East end of US 34 overlap
Knox	​	57.9	93.2	IL 180 south
Stark	​	64.0	103.0	IL 78 north	West end of IL 78 overlap
	​	64.5	103.8	IL 78 south	East end of IL 78 overlap
	Toulon	68.0	109.4	IL 91 north (Union Street)	West end of IL 91 overlap
	Wyoming	74.0	119.1	IL 91 south (7th Street)	East end of IL 91 overlap
	​	80.6	129.7	IL 40 north	West end of IL 40 overlap
Marshall	​	85.1	137.0	IL 40 south	East end of IL 40 overlap
	Sparland	95.3	153.4	IL 29 north (Railroad Street)	West end of IL 29 overlap
		95.6	153.9	IL 29 south (Railroad Street)	East end of IL 29 overlap
	Illinois River	96.7	155.6	Lacon Bridge
	Lacon	97.2	156.4	IL 26 (Prairie Street)
	​	106.5	171.4	IL 89 (2160 East Road)
	​	111.5	179.4	IL 117 south (2650 East Road)
	​	115.6	186.0	I-39 / US 51 – Bloomington-Normal, Rockford	I-39 exit 35
La Salle	​	116.0	186.7	IL 251 south (East 6th Road)	West end of IL 251 overlap
	Wenona	118.1	190.1	IL 251 north (Chestnut Street)	East end of IL 251 overlap
Livingston	​	129.4	208.2	IL 23 (North 500 East Road)
	​	138.2	222.4	IL 18 west (North 1200 East Road)
	​	141.2	227.2	IL 170 (North 1500 East Road)
	​	151.2	243.3	I-55 – Bloomington, Springfield	I-55 exit 217
	Dwight	151.8	244.3	Historic US 66 – Joliet, Bloomington
		152.8	245.9	IL 47 (Union Street)
Kankakee	Kankakee	181.9	292.7	IL 113 west (Wall Street)
		182.1	293.1	Bridge over Kankakee River
		182.2	293.2	US 45 north / US 52 north (Kennedy Drive)	West end of US 45/US 52 overlap
		182.7	294.0	US 45 south / US 52 south (Washington Avenue)	East end of US 45/US 52 overlap
		183.0	294.5	IL 50 south (Indiana Avenue)
		183.1	294.7	IL 50 north (Harrison Avenue)
		184.3	296.6	I-57 (Eastern Kankakee Bypass) – Chicago, Champaign	I-57 exit 312
	Sun River Terrace	190.2	306.1	IL 1 south (South 7500 East Road)	West end of IL 1 overlap
	Momence	195.5	314.6	IL 114 east (Gladiolus Street)
	Grant Park	203.0	326.7	IL 1 north (County Road East 1241 North)	East end of IL 1 overlap
Lake	​	209.4	337.0	SR 2 east	Continuation into Indiana
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

See also

•  Illinois portal
•  U.S. Roads portal

References

1. Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2007). "T2 GIS Data". Retrieved 2007-11-08.
2. Carlson, Rick. Illinois State Highways Page: Routes 1 thru 20. Latest version as of March 15, 2006. Retrieved March 20, 2006.
3. Illinois Highway Ends. Illinois 17 Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 21, 2006.
4. Rodriguez, Jason. "Is New Boston Ferry Feasible Again?" Quad-Cities Online. http://qconline.com/progress2003/prog_dsplay.cgi?pr3!id!144550 February 14, 2004. URL retrieved April 21, 2006.
5. Google Maps,

External links

Media related to Illinois Route 17 at Wikimedia Commons