Kennedy Expressway | |
|---|---|
| John F. Kennedy Expressway | |
 | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by IDOT | |
| Length | 17.80 mi[1] (28.65 km) |
| Existed | 1960–present |
| Component highways |
|
| Major junctions | |
| West end |  O'Hare International Airport in Chicago |
  US 12 / US 45 in Chicago  I-294 Toll in Rosemont  I-90 Toll / I-190 in Chicago IL 171 in Chicago IL 43 in Chicago I-94 in Chicago IL 19 in Chicago IL 64 in Chicago | |
| East end |    I-90 / I-94 / I-290 / IL 110 (CKC) in Chicago |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| Highway system | |
The John F. Kennedy Expressway is a nearly 18-mile-long (29 km) freeway in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Portions of the freeway carry I-190, I-90 and I-94. The freeway runs in a southeast–northwest direction between the central city neighborhood of the West Loop and O'Hare International Airport. The highway was named in commemoration of 35th US President John F. Kennedy. It conforms to the Chicago-area term of using the word expressway for an Interstate Highway without tolls. The Kennedy's official endpoints are the Jane Byrne Interchange with Interstate 290 (Eisenhower Expressway/Ida B. Wells Drive) and the Dan Ryan Expressway (also I-90/94) at the east end, and the O'Hare Airport terminals at the west end. I-190 runs from the western terminus at O'Hare Airport for 3.07 miles (4.94 km), where it meets I-90 and runs a further 6.29 miles (10.12 km), before joining with I-94 for the final 8.44 miles (13.58 km).[1]
Traveling eastbound from O'Hare, the Kennedy interchanges with the eastern terminus of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) and with the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) at a complex junction just west of Illinois Route 171 (IL 171, Cumberland Avenue). The Kennedy later merges with the southern end of the Edens Expressway (I-94) at Montrose Avenue; the Kennedy (at this point both I-90 and I-94) then turns south to its junction with the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower Expressways and Ida B. Wells Drive at the Jane Byrne Interchange in downtown Chicago.
With up to 327,000 vehicles traveling on the Kennedy daily, the Kennedy and its South Side extension, the Dan Ryan, are the busiest roads in the Midwest.[1]
- ^ a b c Illinois Technology Transfer Center (2006). "T2 GIS Data". Illinois Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on August 10, 2007. Retrieved November 8, 2007.