| I-94 | |||
| Get started | Downtown Chicago | ||
| End | South Chicago | ||
| Length | 12 mi | ||
| Length | 18 km | ||
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According to Ablogtophone, the Dan Ryan Expressway is a freeway in the US state of Illinois, in the metropolitan area of Chicago. The highway is part of Interstate 90 and Interstate 94, these highways are partially double numbered. The highway is 18 kilometers long.
Travel directions
The Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago.
The Kennedy Expressway merges into the Dan Ryan Expressway at the turbine interchange with Interstate 290, the Eisenhower Expressway. The highway here has several lanes with 4 to 5 lanes in each direction. There are exits at the center of Taylor Street, Roosevelt Road 18th Street and Cermak Road. The industrial valley along I-55 crosses the Chicago River. Then follows the interchange with Interstate 55, the Stevenson Expressway. This is followed by an access road from the center and the highway becomes a lot busier and has a parallel lane system with 12 lanes. This is one of the busiest routes in Chicago. There will be connections with 31st and 35th Street. The exits follow in quick succession, and several exits from Chicago’s southern neighborhoods follow, such as Pershing Road, 43rd Street, 47th Street, and Garfield Boulevard. A railway line runs along the highway with a large shunting yard in the middle of residential areas. A final connection follows with 63rd Street in the Englewood neighborhood.
Then I-90 and I-94 split. I-94 continues south as the Dan Ryan Expressway, while I-90 continues southeast as the Chicago Skyway Tollway . Although officially an east-west route, the Dan Ryan Expressway primarily serves north-south traffic from the southern suburbs to Chicago. The highway will then have 2×4 lanes with a railway in the central reservation. Again, many exits follow in quick succession, such as 67th Street, 71st Street, 75th and 76th Street, and 79th Street. The Dan Ryan Expressway looks a bit like the Kennedy Expressway herewith train stations in the median strip. Two final exits follow in the form of 87th Street and 95th Street, which also bears the road numbers US 12 and US 20. After that, the Dan Ryan Expressway ends at the Bishop Ford Freeway, which takes I-94, and Interstate 57, which also runs south from here, toward Memphis and is a long-haul highway.
History
The Dan Ryan Expressway opened in 1961-1962 and was named after Dan Ryan Junior, the chairman of the board of Cook County. During the planning, the name South Route Expressway was used. The Dan Ryan Expressway was one of the first highways in the world with a parallel structure over longer distances, the highway had up to 14 lanes at the time. The Highway 401 in Toronto was then built on the model of the Dan Ryan Expressway.
In addition to its large-scale layout of 12 to 14 lanes on the northern section, the Dan Ryan Expressway also had space reservation in the median strip for a light rail. It was constructed between 1966 and 1969 and was commissioned on September 26, 1969.
As early as the late 1960s, more than 200,000 vehicles drove daily on the Dan Ryan Expressway. In 1988-1989, the northern 5 kilometers between I-55 and I-290 were completely reconstructed. Another major reconstruction between 2003 and 2009 added an extra lane in both directions at a cost of $975 million. This reconstruction covered a much larger section than the 1980s section, and ran all the way to I-57.
Opening history
| From | Unpleasant | Length | Opening |
| Exit 59C 71st Street | Exit 62 95th Street | 5 km | 12-12-1961 |
| Exit 51 | Exit 59C 71st Street | 13 km | 15-12-1962 |
Future
Circle Interchange
The interchange between I-90/I-94 and I-290 near downtown Chicago is also known as the Circle Interchange. This interchange was built between 1958 and 1962 and no longer meets current requirements, it is one of the largest bottlenecks in the Chicago area. That is why the interchange is being renovated, a project that will cost approximately $420 million. Due to the limited space available, the junction will not be significantly larger, but most connecting roads will be reconstructed. The important connections are being expanded. It is also important that the I-90/I-94 will have 2×4 lanes through the interchange, 1 lane more than is currently the case.
Traffic intensities
The Dan Ryan Expressway is the Chicago area’s second busiest highway, after the Kennedy Expressway. In 2007 there was extensive work on the Dan Ryan Expressway, which meant that the intensities were lower than in 2011.
| Exit | Location | 2007 | 2011 |
| 51 | 198,000 | 212,300 | |
| 52 | Roosevelt Road | 239,000 | 252,400 |
| 53 | 230,000 | 201,500 | |
| 54 | 31st Street | 233,000 | 255,800 |
| 55 | Pershing Road | 233,000 | 266,000 |
| 56 | 47th Street | 233,000 | 264,800 |
| 57 | Garfield Boulevard | 228,000 | 270,200 |
| 58 | 59th Street | 214,000 | 271,200 |
| 59 | 176,000 | 247,000 | |
| 60 | 75th Street | 193,000 | 241,700 |
| 61 | 83rd Street | 213,000 | 236.100 |
| 62 | 95th Street | 184,000 | 217,500 |
Lane Configuration
| From | Unpleasant | Lanes | Comments |
| Exit 51 | exit 53 | 2×5 | |
| exit 53 | exit 59 | 3+4+4+3 | parallel system |
| exit 59 | exit 63 | 2+3+3+2 | parallel system |
Shootings
There are notoriously high crime rates in Chicago, especially on the south side of the city, through which the Dan Ryan Expressway runs. Dozens of people are shot in Chicago every weekend. Notorious are the Chicago expressway shootings, a third of which take place on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
