Route Description
Illinois 53 is one of the state highways routed along expressways in the state. Before it becomes an expressway, Illinois 53 starts out in Long Grove going southwest towards Palatine. South of Lake-Cook Road, Illinois 53 follows Hicks Road, Rand Road (concurrent with U.S. 12) and Dundee Road (concurrent with Illinois 68) through Palatine's northeast side before it joins an expressway that starts un-numbered (technically a spur of 53), one mile (1.6 km) north at Lake-Cook Rd as a bypass of northeast Palatine. The northeast Palatine stretch goes through the Rand and Dundee intersection, one of the country's deadliest intersections in traffic accidents. It forms the other half of the Interstate 290/IL 53 combination in Schaumburg before being routed west onto Biesterfield Road and back south onto Rohlwing Road. Until its first junction with I-55 by Bolingbrook, it remains a mostly 2 to 4 lane road, largely replaced by the I-290 and I-355 combo. In the suburb of Lombard, Illinois 53 is called Columbine Avenue.
South of the first junction with I-55, Illinois 53 follows old U.S. 66 and parallels Interstate 55, entering downtown Joliet, which is about four miles (6 km) east of I-55. Illinois 53 also passes directly in front of Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois. From Joliet it follows the original U.S. 66 alignment to the south. It remains a four-lane divided highway for about 15 miles (24 km), passing through Elwood and the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant, part of which is now occupied by the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. Route 53 narrows to two lanes just outside Wilmington and crosses the Kankakee River in downtown Wilmington. It then continues southwest through Braidwood and Braceville on its way to Gardner, where it loops around the southern part of town before ending at I-55.
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