The Amstutz Expressway (known as “the Amstutz” and “the road to nowhere”) is a portion of Illinois State Route 137 north of Chicago that runs along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Originally intended to be a relief route for I-94 and run from Chicago north into Wisconsin, the road was never completed and today only small two portions exist: a short stretch in North Chicago and another through Waukegan. The North Chicago portion was renamed in 2010 after mayor Bobby Thompson.
Amstutz northbound at Grand Ave in Waukegan, January 2011.
The Waukegan portion is about two miles long and gets fewer than 15,000 cars per day – mostly Abbott Labs employees commuting from points north. The factories and industrial areas on the lakefront that the freeway was intended to serve have since closed. Due to its short distance and ease of blocking off, the expressway has been the filming location for a number of productions including The Blues Brothers, Ordinary People, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Groundhog Day, and Batman Begins.
The road was named after Melvin Amstutz, a former Lake County highway department director. Melvin died before the groundbreaking, and never got to see his namesake road.
The Amstutz Expressway in Waukegan, looking north, January 2011.
The expressway portion in Waukegan has a single junction at Grand Avenue. The portion of the freeway to the south of that point opened in 1974, and separates the downtown area from an ageing industrial area on the lake. North of Grand, the road opened in 1990 for a total cost of about $60 million. It is an interesting remnant of freeway planning lagging behind industrial reality, and is worth a look.
The uncompleted north end of the expressway in Waukegan, featuring a half-completed SPUI.
Too bad then it won’t be possible to complete that freeway today. I wondered if it could had been a relief route to I-94 and Skokie Highway(US-41)?
This part of the lake free way up in WI
yepp sure wished that this highway .. was compleated too there. kind of unusual to see a configuration like this ..
It is typical for Illinois.Empty library named after mayor, empty highway named after director of highway department. I wish they start naming jails after governors.
reminds me of 4 NEW interstate bridges SOUTH of Manitowoc,WI built in the ’70s. UNFORTUNETLY wrong positions that had to be demolished
I think the construction workers should continue to complete this highway and let it go all the way to Wisconsin since I-94 also goes there. My dad and I always used to drive on it whenever we come from Wisconsin.
I’m working on a drawing of how they should let the Amtutz Expressway go all the way into Wisconsin.
I like the article but the road has been around before 1990. It was best used a a dragstrip before 1990 when it only connected greenwood to grand. Besides going north of greenwood would require going thru wetlands state parks and a dismantled nuclear plant. Waukegan used to have a large industrial area including JohnsManville .