Interstate 180 (Illinois)
|
|
Interstate 180 is a short (13.19 mile) spur highway that runs from Princeton, Illinois to the small town of Hennepin, Illinois on its southern terminus. The freeway was built primarily to connect Interstate 80 to a steel plant in Hennepin. However, the steel plant closed soon after I-180 was built, and did not re-open until August 2002. Despite the steel plant, I-180 is still one of the least traveled interstates in the nation, serving an average of 2,000 - 2,500 vehicles per day. (For comparable numbers, Interstate 190 connecting O'Hare to Chicago serves 109,000 vehicles per day, Interstate 80 serves 20,900 vehicles per day in that area, and remote Interstate 24 downstate serves 15,000 vehicles per day.)
I-180 intersects U.S. Highway 6; it also serves as the beginning of a northern path to Peoria, Illinois by connecting to Illinois State Route 26 and Illinois State Route 29, making it one of the proposed routes of the Peoria-to-Chicago Highway.