Illinois 53

[bugo]

According to Google, IL 53 follows a freeway north to Dundee Road/IL 68, hops off the freeway and heads west on IL 68, northwest on US 12, then northeast on Hicks Road. The freeway north of Dundee is marked as IL 53S, which ends at a trumpet at Lake Cook Road. Is the Goog accurate, and if so why doesn't IL 53 follow the freeway all the way to Lake Cook Road and follow it to Hicks Road? Is the freeway supposed to be extended to the north or is the trumpet at Lake Cook Road permanent? Is this eventually going to be I-355?

[NE2]

Lake Cook is not state maintained.

[Brandon]

1. Lake-Cook Road is maintained by Cook County.
2. There are no actual signs saying IL-53S.  It's simply "TO IL-53" southbound and "Lake-Cook Road" northbound.
3. The plans are to extend the freeway (or as a tollway) north to Grayslake.  From there, it will follow IL-120 to I-94 and have a western spur toward McHenry.
4. Any route number beyond IL-53 is unknown at this point.  The only route number ever proposed for FAP-432 (the extension north) is IL-53.

[Stratuscaster]

When first opened, the freeway between IL-68 and Lake-Cook was indeed signed as IL-53.

Later, IL-53 was put back on it's IL-68/US-12/Hicks alignment, "TO" text was added to the BGS' on Lake-Cook Road, and the IL-53 signs were pulled from that section of the freeway.

My guess is that Google's minions have labeled it as "IL-53 SPUR", which becomes IL-53S on the maps.

[silverback1065]

When first opened, the freeway between IL-68 and Lake-Cook was indeed signed as IL-53.

Later, IL-53 was put back on it's IL-68/US-12/Hicks alignment, "TO" text was added to the BGS' on Lake-Cook Road, and the IL-53 signs were pulled from that section of the freeway.

My guess is that Google's minions have labeled it as "IL-53 SPUR", which becomes IL-53S on the maps.

Was there ever an official reason given for the route change?  I always thought it was weird that 53 leaves the expressway there.

[Revive 755]

When first opened, the freeway between IL-68 and Lake-Cook was indeed signed as IL-53.

Later, IL-53 was put back on it's IL-68/US-12/Hicks alignment, "TO" text was added to the BGS' on Lake-Cook Road, and the IL-53 signs were pulled from that section of the freeway.

It appears Cook County never got around to chaning all of the signs to reflect the change: Lake Cook Road westbound, Lake Cook Road eastbound

IMHO, IDOT should have kept the IL 68 to Lake Cook Road section as IL 53 and simply renumbered or made just another unmarked route out of the Lake Cook Road to IL 83 segment, the latter of which will probably happen anyway if the extension does get built.

[Stratuscaster]

When first opened, the freeway between IL-68 and Lake-Cook was indeed signed as IL-53.

Later, IL-53 was put back on it's IL-68/US-12/Hicks alignment, "TO" text was added to the BGS' on Lake-Cook Road, and the IL-53 signs were pulled from that section of the freeway.

It appears Cook County never got around to chaning all of the signs to reflect the change: Lake Cook Road westbound, Lake Cook Road eastbound

They did - those signs have since been replaced by what you see in your provided links.

IMHO, IDOT should have kept the IL 68 to Lake Cook Road section as IL 53 and simply renumbered or made just another unmarked route out of the Lake Cook Road to IL 83 segment, the latter of which will probably happen anyway if the extension does get built.

The routing for IL-53 was north to Lake-Cook, west to Hicks, and north/northeast ending at IL-83. I'd rather have IL-53 end at IL-83 than end at Lake-Cook.

[dfwmapper]

There, problem solved, now it's a pair of really long ramps.