I-290

About I-290

Also known as Eisenhower Expressway, Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway.

Interstate 290 is a three-digit auxiliary route of Interstate 90, with an even prefix digit that marks it as a loop or bypass. The number is reused in three states. The best known instance is in Illinois, where Interstate 290 is the principal east-west freeway entering the Chicago Loop from the west. Much of it is officially the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway and is universally called the Eisenhower or the Ike, running from the Jane Byrne Interchange near downtown Chicago westward through Cook County toward the suburbs.

In Massachusetts, Interstate 290 is a route through central Massachusetts that connects Auburn to Marlborough by way of Worcester, threading through the heart of that city and serving as its main expressway. In New York, Interstate 290 is a short bypass in the Buffalo area that links Interstate 90, the New York State Thruway, with Interstate 190, carrying traffic across the northern suburbs of Buffalo.

Each instance acts as a connector or bypass tying Interstate 90 to a metropolitan core or to another route, consistent with the even prefix digit.

History

The Chicago expressway was renamed for former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in January 1964 after a resolution offered to the Chicago City Council. Built as one of the city's earliest expressways, it became a model corridor and at one point carried rapid transit tracks in its median. The Worcester and Buffalo routes were built to bring expressway traffic through and around their respective metropolitan areas.

Major cities and places

Notable features

• Median rapid transit line on the Chicago route

Did you know

• The Illinois route is the Eisenhower Expressway into the Chicago Loop.
• It was renamed for President Eisenhower in 1964.
• The Massachusetts route runs through Worcester between Auburn and Marlborough.
• The New York route is a short bypass linking Interstate 90 and Interstate 190 in Buffalo.