Illinois State Route 37 Article Index for
Illinois State
Website Links For
Illinois
 

Information About

Illinois State Route 37




  Length Mi 153
  Length Km 246
  Direction B North
  direction A South
  Starting Terminus US Route 51 ,<br> Illinois Route 3 near Cairo
  Ending Terminus US Route 45 east of Watson
  Counties Alexander , Pulaski , Johnson , Williamson , Franklin , Jefferson , Marion , Fayette , Clay , Effingham
  Cities Mound City , Marion , West Frankfort , Benton , Mount Vernon , Salem
  Established 1918 Carlson, Rich Illinois Highways Page: Routes 21 thru 40 Last updated March 15, 2005 Retrieved April 7, 2006
  Prev Route 36
  Prev Type US
  Next Route 38


Illinois Route 37, or Illinois 37, is a north-south route in southern Illinois. It is 156 miles (246 km) in length.Rand McNally. "The Road Atlas '04: United States, Canada and Mexico". Skokie: Rand McNally and Company. 2004. Originally connecting Effingham to Cairo , it was a heavily-traveled highway before Interstate 57 was opened. That Interstate, which lies very close to most of Illinois 37 (indeed the entire route north of Pulleys Mills), supplanted it as a through route. Illinois 37 was long a part of the most direct route between Chicago and Memphis . Despite its obvious significance in pre-Interstate times, it was never part of the U.S. Highway System . Illinois 37 has become a route of local significance instead of the busy, long-distance, inter-city highway that it was until the 1970s. As a town-to-town route, it especially serves communities which have no access to Interstate 57.

Between Effingham and a point near Watson , a segment in which it shared a route with U.S. Route 45 , Illinois 37 has been decommissioned in favor of US 45. Between Watson and just north of Salem , it angles westward and toward the south before meeting US 50 at Salem, Illinois 15 and Illinois 142 at Mount Vernon , Interstate 64 south of Mount Vernon, Illinois 16 and Illinois 34 at Benton , Illinois 149 at West Frankfort , Illinois 13 at Marion , and US 51 and Illinois 3 at its current southern terminus at Urbandale . It has no direct connection to Interstate 24 , which is far better approached from Interstate 57.

All of Illinois 37 is an undivided surface route.


EXTERNAL LINKS



REFERENCES