Skip to main content

Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate 90 and 94 in Chicago)

By
Recently while visiting the City of Chicago I drove the entirety of the Dan Ryan Expressway.


The Dan Ryan Expressway refers to a freeway section of Interstate 90 and Interstate 94 in Chicago.  The Dan Ryan Expressway is 11.47 miles in length and begins at junction of I-290 with I-90/I-94 in downtown Chicago.  The Dan Ryan Expressway is fully traversed southward by I-94 to a junction with I-57.  I-90 is only partially aligned on the Dan Ryan Expressway as it splits away from I-94 on the the Chicago Skyway Tollway.  The Dan Ryan Expressway is one of the busiest freeways in the country with daily traffic counts exceeding 300,000.

According to chicagoroads.com construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway began in 1958 when the first contract bids were accepted.  The first 3 mile portion of the Dan Ryan Expressway opened in 1961 with the majority of remaining alignment opening in 1962.  Interestingly I-90 was originally aligned on the entirety of the Dan Ryan Expressway whereas I-94 split onto the Chicago Skyway.  I-90 and I-94 swapped alignments in 1963.

chicagoroads.com on the Dan Ryan Expressway

Although I did clinch the Dan Ryan Expressway on my trip I did not clinch a single direction of travel.  My initial journey on the Dan Ryan Expressway was on I-90/I-94 east from the junction of I-290/Eisenhower Expressway at the end of the Kennedy Expressway (also I-90/I-94) in downtown Chicago.



The first major highway junction on I-90/I-94 east on the Dan Ryan Expressway is at I-55 at Exit 53.





Past the junction with I-55 the route of I-90/I-94 east on the Dan Ryan Expressway splits into Express Lanes and local lanes.  The Express Lane continues to Garfield Boulevard at Exit 57.  I stuck to the local lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway which passed by Comiskey Park which is home to the Chicago White Sox.










A new set of Express Lanes to 79th Street begin past Garfield Boulevard.  I stuck to the local lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway as the junction for I-90 east onto the Chicago Skyway isn't accessible from the Express Lanes.













On my departing trip from Chicago I took I-90 on the Chicago Skyway east towards the Indiana Toll Road.  Back in 2017 I visited both the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road.

Great Lakes Road Trip Day 10 Part 1; downtown Chicago, the end of US Route 66 and Chicago Skyway

Great Lakes Road Trip Day 10 Part 2; Indiana Toll Road, dunes and Ohio Turnpike

Upon my return to the Chicago Area I took I-94 west after I found out the Pullman neighborhood was recently declared a National Monument.  After leaving the Pullman neighborhood I rejoined the Dan Ryan Expressway on I-94 west at the terminus of I-57.


The view of downtown Chicago from the Dan Ryan Expressway in the cover photo of this blog was obtained from I-90/I-94 west approaching I-55.







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
3 comments
Read more

Hawaii Route 50

By
Hawaii Route 50 is the longest Sign Route on the island of Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The entirety of Hawaii Route 50 is overlaid atop Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Hawaii Route 50 is one of the original 1955-era State Highway designations on Kauai.  Much of the Kaumualii Highway corridor was constructed during the sugar plantation boom of the late Hawaiian Kingdom.  The first tee beam bridge in Hawaii would be constructed along the Kaumualii Highway in 1911 at the Hanapepe.  Much of this highway would be modernized to two-lane standards through the 1930s and 1940s. This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series.  A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking  here .  Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 50 and Kaumualii Highway Hawaii Route 50 is the longest highway on Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The highway begins at Rice Str...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more