Interstate 57

Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route. It runs from Sikeston, Missouri, at I-55 to Chicago, Illinois, at I-94. I-57 essentially serves as a shortcut route for travelers headed between the Southern U.S. (Memphis, New Orleans, etc.) and Chicago, bypassing St. Louis, Missouri, and Springfield, Illinois. Between the junction of I-55 and I-57 in Sikeston and the junction of I-55 and I-90/I-94 in Chicago, I-55 travels for 436 mi, while the combination of I-57 and I-94 is only 396 mi long between the same two points. In fact, both the control cities on the overhead signs and the destination mileage signs reference Memphis along southbound I-57, even as far north as its northern origin at I-94 in Chicago. Likewise, at its southern end, Chicago is the control city listed for I-57 on signs on northbound I-55 south of Sikeston, even though I-55 also goes to Chicago. A southward extension of I-57 from its current southern terminus to Little Rock, Arkansas, is currently in various stages of development.

Route description

 * MO
 * 21.96 mi
 * IL
 * 364.16 mi
 * Total
 * 386.12 mi
 * }
 * Total
 * 386.12 mi
 * }

Missouri
In the state of Missouri, I-57 begins in Sikeston at a cloverleaf interchange with I-55 as a continuation of U.S. Route 60 (US 60) and heads east. Entering Charleston, the Interstate almost immediately interchanges with Route 105, with I-57 Business (I-57 Bus.) heading north with Route 105. Southeast of the city, it then turns to the northeast. To the east of Charleston, the US 60 concurrency ends after about 12 mi when I-57 meets US 62/Route 77, with US 60 heading eastward and I-57 Bus. ending. I-57 eventually meets the Missouri–Illinois state line at the Mississippi River, crossing the Cairo I-57 Bridge into Cairo, Illinois.

Illinois
I-57 is the longest Interstate Highway in the state of Illinois, spanning 364.16 mi long with Chicago being the main city along its northern route and Memphis being the southern main city along its southern route. I-57 then enters Illinois across the Mississippi River into Cairo. It passes through Mounds and Ullin, and then it makes an interchange with US 51, making US 51 depart from its temporary concurrency with the Interstate. I-57 then continues north and has an interchange with I-24 toward Nashville, Tennessee. It then continues to head toward Marion, West Frankfort, Benton, Whittington, and Ina and then heads into Mount Vernon. In Mount Vernon, I-57 has a short concurrency with I-64 while making two diamond interchanges with the city's streets. I-64 then leaves I-57 and continues its western route toward St. Louis, Missouri, while I-57 continues toward Effingham. In Effingham, I-70 joins I-57 and makes interchanges with the city's streets once again. I-70 then departs from I-57 and continues east toward Terre Haute and Indianapolis, Indiana. As for I-57, it continues and heads toward Mattoon where it has a cloverleaf interchange with US 45 and then heads toward Champaign where it meets the terminus of I-72 in a cloverleaf interchange. It then travels for another 2 mi and then meets up with a soon to be changed from a cloverleaf interchange to a semi-directional interchange with I-74 going east toward Indianapolis (again) and west toward Bloomington. The Interstate then heads toward Kankakee and then into Cook County where it meets its own terminus with I-94 ending in Chicago.

History
The oldest segment of I-57 is a 6.2 mi strip running east of Bradley to Kankakee labeled on the 1959 Illinois state highway map. Two years later, a 30 mi stretch of I-57 from Dongola north to Marion opened on September 26, 1961. Another portion between the Illinois Route 121 (IL 121)/US 45 exit and the Watson–Mason exit was completed and opened prior to July 1965, linking I-57 to I-70 and running in tandem with I-70 for several miles, with access to Indianapolis, Indiana, to the east and St. Louis, Missouri, to the west. A 21.5 mi section of I-57 in Jefferson County from Bonnie (using a temporary road that is still partially visible from the northbound lanes) to IL 161 later opened on December 9, 1969. The portion of I-57 in Chicago (known as the Dan Ryan West Leg Extension) was constructed and opened in segments between 1963 and 1970. It remains the most recent Interstate Highway to be established within the city. The final section of I-57 in Illinois opened in December 1971 at Paxton.

The portion of I-43 from Milwaukee to Green Bay was originally numbered as I-57. The number was changed due to the existence of I-57 in Illinois.

I-57 was widened to six lanes in Effingham from 2011 until 2016.

For many years, an interchange at the junction of I-57 with I-294 did not exist. It was one of the few places in the U.S. where Interstates cross but have no interchange. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) opened Phase 1 of a new interchange in 2014, providing access from I-57 north to I-294 north and from I-294 south to I-57 south. Phase 2, which completed the remaining movements except for northbound I-57 to southbound I-294 and northbound I-294 to southbound I-57, was opened to traffic on September 11, 2022.

Future
I-57 is slated to eventually be extended west along US 60 to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and then south along the US 67 corridor to North Little Rock, Arkansas, ending at I-40. The extension is listed under High Priority Corridor 89, the I-57 Corridor Extension. In April 2016, a provision designating US 67 from North Little Rock to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, as "Future I-57" was added into the federal fiscal year 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill and officially became law in 2017.

Missouri has already converted 62 mi of the US 60/US 67 corridor between Sikeston and Route 158 near Harviell to a mixture of freeway and expressway segments. All at-grade crossings along the corridor would have to be eliminated before the Interstate designation could be applied. A new freeway segment from Route 158 to just south of Neelyville near County Route 274 (about 2 mi north of the Arkansas border) has been announced as part of a cost share program and is in the planning stages. In August 2022, redesign of the US 67 and US 160/Route 158 interchange began. The interchange will be transformed to contain roundabouts. The work is slated to be completed by November 2023.

In Arkansas, 118 mi of Interstate-grade US 67 runs from I-40 to US 412 in Walnut Ridge, leaving a segment of approximately 40 mi of new Interstate-grade highway along US 67 that still would need to be built in northeastern Arkansas. On February 23, 2018, Arkansas state officials unveiled a "Future I-57" sign to be posted along the corridor of US 67. A route for I-57 from Walnut Ridge to the Missouri state line was chosen in 2022. The route shows it passing near levees but was adjusted to not have any impact on the levees. The Arkansas Department of Transportation announced in September 2023 that work to extend Future I-57 in Clay County would begin in late 2024 or early 2025 depending on when contracts are let along with completion of the final design process. The first section will be between the US 67 interchanges at Walnut Ridge and Corning while the second section (which will begin construction starting in 2026) will extend the first section northward to the Missouri state line. On July 4, 2024, the Arkansas Department of Transportation announced that the stretch of U.S. 67 from North Little Rock to Walnut Ridge could be re-designated as I-57 this calendar year, per an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The department announced that they would hold virtual public hearings from July 5 to August 5, 2024, with the subject being the highway being re-designated.

Charleston business loop
Interstate 57 Business (I-57 Bus.) in Charleston, Missouri, begins at I-57 exit 10. From this diamond interchange, it runs north in a concurrency with Route 105 along South Main Street into the city center. It then turns east onto Marshall Street, which also carries US 62 and Route 77. The business route ends at I-57 exit 12, with US 62 and Route 77 continuing to the east with US 60.