Edens Expressway History

[pianocello]

I was poking around at Google maps in Chicagoland, and I noticed that there are absolutely no full interchanges on the Edens Expy between Old Orchard Rd and the Edens Spur. In this region, having that many partial interchanges (5) in a row is extremely rare, unless they're on tollways. Was the northern half of the Edens originally meant to be a tollway, or is this just a coincidence?

[Brandon]

I was poking around at Google maps in Chicagoland, and I noticed that there are absolutely no full interchanges on the Edens Expy between Old Orchard Rd and the Edens Spur. In this region, having that many partial interchanges (5) in a row is extremely rare, unless they're on tollways. Was the northern half of the Edens originally meant to be a tollway, or is this just a coincidence?

Coincidence.  The Edens was opened in 1951, well before any of the tollways.  IIRC, the Edens was actually built by Cook County, not IDPW (currently IDOT).  Half interchanges like this appear to be more common on the older Cook County expressways, including the Calumet (aka Bishop Ford) Expressway (opened 1950).

The tollway (ISTHC, now ISTHA) used the partial interchanges into minimize the number of ramp plazas they had to build.