Illinois Route 116 (IL 116) is a cross-state rural state highway that runs from U.S. Route 34 (US 34) by Gladstone east to the intersection of US 45 (North Front Street) and Old US 45, on the north side of Ashkum.
|decommissioned=1938
U.S. Route 124 (US 124) was a U.S. Highway that was commissioned from 1926 SBI Route 116 originally traveled separately from east of Ashkum to East Peoria.
US 124 was an original 1928 US route in Illinois, since before then US routes didn't appear on Illinois maps. Its original route was from Peoria to Galesburg, along by the then IL 8, via Farmington and Maquon now on the route of IL 116, west from Peoria to IL 97, north to IL 8, west to IL 97, then northwest on IL 97 to Galesburg, then continues its last few miles on the current US 150.
In 1934, US 124 was rerouted west on the current IL 116 to near Biggsville, where it connected to US 34, for access to the Mississippi River crossing into Iowa. Westbound traffic from Peoria had a choice. Proceed along US 24 to cross the Mississippi River at Quincy (south-west route) – the old Peoria to Quincy stagecoach route, or take US 124 to cross the Mississippi River (US 34) at Burlington, Iowa (north-west route).
Illinois Route 116
After the entirety of US 124 changed to Illinois 116 as an extension of that route in east-central Illinois. Illinois 116 was a popular agricultural and commercial truck route from Burlington, Iowa (on the Mississippi River) to Peoria, Illinois (on the Illinois River) during World War II and through the late 1960s. This was due to the: Iowa Army Ammunition Plant near Burlington; active strip mining of coal in Fulton County (largely south of the route); farm livestock traffic to the Peoria stockyards; and grain transport (corn and soybeans) to the Illinois and Mississippi barge terminals.
With the completion of Interstate 474 as a western bypass of Peoria in 1978, an Interstate connector (exit 3 on Interstate 474) was constructed as the eastern terminus for the proposed western Illinois expressway (Peoria to Kansas City via Macomb and Quincy). The connector provides access to IL 116.
Related routes
Illinois Route 97A
See also
- Illinois Route 336