Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox road Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway that exists in two segments. It runs through Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. I-57 parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route north of I-55. The Interstate begins at I-40 in North Little Rock, Arkansas, traveling northward concurrently with U.S. Highway 67 (US 67) until it reaches Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, where the Interstate ends as of 2024. I-57 will run northward to meet up with the existing segment in southeastern Missouri. I-57 resumes its run 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 United States (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 Template:Convert, while the combination of I-57 and I-94 is only Template:Convert 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.<ref name="AASHTO-Control">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Likewise, at its southern end in Missouri, 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.<ref>Template:Cite sign</ref>
A southward extension of I-57 from Sikeston, Missouri to North Little Rock, Arkansas, is currently in various stages of development. On November 7, 2024, Template:Convert of US 67 from North Little Rock to Walnut Ridge in Arkansas was officially redesignated to I-57, finally extending the Interstate to the state of Arkansas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Signs started going up in March 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Route descriptionEdit
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ArkansasEdit
In Arkansas, I-57 begins in North Little Rock at I-40, running concurrently with US 67 and US 167. I-440 westbound begins at the junction of the two Interstates in Jacksonville. I-57 continues northbound through Jacksonville, and the Interstate temporarily narrows from six lanes to four lanes at the Main Street interchange. I-57 is four lanes until it widens back to six lanes just north of the Vandenberg Boulevard interchange (exit 11). I-57 widens back to six lanes for Template:Convert northbound until an interchange with Highway 5 (AR 5) and AR 89 in Cabot. At this point, the Interstate reverts to four lanes as it continues north through Cabot.<ref group=lower-alpha>Construction to widen I-57 to six lanes between Main Street and Vandenburg Boulevard in Jacksonville and the AR 5/AR 89 interchange is ongoing and is expected to be complete sometime in 2027.Template:Cn</ref> After the AR 5/AR 89 interchange in Cabot, I-57 reverts to four lanes until it ends in Walnut Ridge. In Beebe, US 64 runs concurrently with the Interstate and continues east for Template:Convert until exit 55 in Bald Knob where US 64 splits off to the east and US 167 splits off to the north to Batesville. I-57 continues northbound from Bald Knob, through Newport to Walnut Ridge, where it runs concurrently with US 412. The Interstate ends at unsigned exit 124 in Walnut Ridge, where US 67 continues north to Pocahontas and US 412 splits off to the east.
MissouriEdit
In Missouri, I-57 begins in Sikeston at a cloverleaf interchange with I-55 as a continuation of US 60 and heads east. Entering Charleston, the Interstate almost immediately interchanges with I-57 Bus./Route 105. Southeast of the city, it then turns to the northeast. To the east of Charleston, the US 60 concurrency ends after about Template:Convert 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.
IllinoisEdit
I-57 is the longest Interstate Highway in the state of Illinois, spanning Template:Convert 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 Template:Convert 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.
HistoryEdit
The oldest segment of I-57 is a Template:Convert strip running east of Bradley to Kankakee labeled on the 1959 Illinois state highway map.<ref>Template:Illinois road map</ref> Two years later, a Template:Convert stretch of I-57 from Dongola north to Marion opened on September 26, 1961.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.Template:Citation needed A Template:Convert 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The portion of I-43 from Milwaukee to Green Bay was originally numbered as I-57.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The number was changed due to the existence of I-57 in Illinois.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
I-57 was widened to six lanes in Effingham from 2011 until 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Phase 2, which four of the remaining movements (northbound-to-southbound access being served by I-80), was opened to traffic on September 11, 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FutureEdit
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.<ref name="Extension">Template:Cite news</ref> The extension is listed under High Priority Corridor 89, the I-57 Corridor Extension.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On November 7, 2024, the section of US 67 between North Little Rock and Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, was officially designated as I-57 by ArDOT.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Missouri has already converted Template:Convert of the US 60/US 67 corridor between Sikeston and US 160/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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This leaves about Template:Convert of new freeway between US 160/Route 158 to the Arkansas state line to be constructed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In Arkansas, Template:Convert of Interstate-grade US 67 runs from I-40 to US 412 in Walnut Ridge, leaving a segment of approximately Template:Convert of new Interstate-grade highway along US 67 that still would need to be built in northeastern Arkansas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 2025) will extend the first section northward to the Missouri state line.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Plans for the Corning Bypass show Arkansas Highway 657 (AR 657) as a temporary designation for this section until other sections are completed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> ARDOT broke ground on November 14, 2024 on the Corning Bypass.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>
Exit listEdit
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Related routesEdit
Arkansas Highway 657Edit
Template:Infobox road small Arkansas Highway 657 is a proposed state highway and a bypass around the city of Corning in Clay County, Arkansas. Construction on 657 is expected to begin in 2025, with completion set for late 2027. Ground was broken on November 14, 2024.<ref name=":0" />
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Charleston business loopEdit
Template:Infobox road small Interstate 57 Business (I-57 Bus.) in Charleston, begins at I-57 exit 10. From this diamond interchange, it runs north concurrently 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. US 62 and Route 77 continue to the east with US 60.Template:Citation needed
See alsoEdit
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External linksEdit
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