History
Illinois State Bond Issue Route 4 was the first numbered through route between Chicago and St. Louis, as shown on the 1924 Illinois Road Map. As such it was the forerunner of more famous routes US 66 and Interstate 55.
In 1926, a new alignment for Route 4 was opened between Joliet and Lyons, on the north side of the Des Plaines River. The old alignment on the south side of the river through Lemont was renamed Illinois Route 4A and then renamed again in 1967 as Illinois Route 171.
When US 66 was first designated in 1926, it overlapped IL 4 for its entire length, however the section from just south of Staunton to Springfield was originally shown only as "Temporary US 66" while the permanent routing of US 66 is shown as proposed or under construction on a more eastern route away from IL 4 through Litchfield. The new route of US 66 was completed as SBI 16 and SBI 126 in 1930, and the US 66 designation was then removed from IL 4 between Staunton and Springfield. Illinois Route 4 and US Route 66 remained as cosigned routes between the Mississippi River and Staunton, and between Springfield and Chicago until 1935, when the IL 4 designation was dropped from portions where it overlapped US 66, leaving only the portion from Staunton to Springfield as IL 4. This left IL 4A as an orphan alternate route of IL 4 from Joliet to Lyons until it was renumbered as IL 171 in 1967.
The section of modern IL 4 from Staunton to its southern end near Murphysboro was originally IL 43. In 1964, IL 4 was extended on this highway and the number IL 43 was eventually reused in the Chicago area.
Read more about this topic: Illinois Route 4
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