Route information | ||||
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Maintained by IDOT | ||||
Length | 214.0 mi (344.4 km) | |||
Existed | 1931[1]–present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end | US 67 in Alton | |||
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North end | US 67 in Rock Island | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | Illinois | |||
Counties | Madison, Jersey, Greene, Scott, Morgan, Cass, Schuyler, McDonough, Warren, Mercer, Rock Island | |||
Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 67 (US 67) is a component of the United States Numbered Highway System that connects Presidio, Texas, to Sabula, Iowa. In Illinois, it serves the western region of the state known as Forgottonia, named for the lack of regional transportation and infrastructure projects. The highway begins its path through the state by crossing the Clark Bridge over the Mississippi River from Missouri at Alton and heads northward through Jerseyville and Jacksonville before it crosses the Illinois River at Beardstown. The northern half of the route serves Macomb and Monmouth before it enters the Quad Cities. It leaves the state at Rock Island by crossing the Rock Island Centennial Bridge over the Mississippi River into Davenport, Iowa.
The roads that would become US 67 were once a part of the Burlington Way and Alton–Jacksonville Air Line auto trails from the 1910s through the end of the 1920s. In 1918, Illinois voters approved a 48-route state highway system. Among the new routes was Route 3, which connected Morrison and Chester by way of the Quad Cities, Monmouth, Beardstown, Jacksonville, Alton, and East St. Louis. US 67 was created in 1926, but it did not extend into Illinois until 1931. That year, US 67 signs were applied to Route 3 from Alton to Rock Island. In 1952, the highway was rerouted between Medora and Murrayville; an alternate route was applied to the former routing until 1964, when the alternate was renumbered Illinois Route 267 (IL 267). Since the 1980s, a group called Corridor 67 has taken up the cause of advocating the widening of US 67 to a four-lane highway for the majority of its length. Widening the highway has been a popular project among politicians stumping in western Illinois. Although some piecemeal projects have taken place, a large percentage of the highway has not seen any upgrades despite there being other projects.