Big X (interchange)

Big X
Map
Location
Colona, Illinois
Coordinates41°26′22″N 90°19′47″W / 41.43944°N 90.32972°W / 41.43944; -90.32972
Roads at
junction
Construction
TypeCloverleaf interchange
Maintained byIllinois Department of Transportation

The Big X is the junction of three Interstate Highways, I-74, I-80, and I-280, near Colona, Illinois. The cloverleaf interchange is particularly confusing for I-74 and I-80 traffic because someone wishing to stay on either route must exit their highway to connect to the other highway.

In the 1990s, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) petitioned the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the body which approves Interstate Highway route numbering, to switch the I-74 and I-80 designations around the Quad Cities to simplify the Big X. Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) officials did not submit an equal route renumbering proposal, so the route numbers were not switched.