Interstate 355

Interstate 355
Interstate 355
Veterans Memorial Tollway
	I-355 highlighted in red
Route information
	Auxiliary route of I-55
	Maintained by ISTHA and IDOT
Length	32.5 mi (52.3 km)
Existed	December 24, 1989–present
History	Extended to I-80 on November 11, 2007
NHS	Entire route
Major junctions
South end	I-80 in New Lenox
	US 6 in New Lenox; I-55 / Historic US 66 in Bolingbrook; US 34 in Downers Grove; ; ; I-88 Toll / IL 110 (CKC) in Downers Grove; US 20 in Addison;
North end	I-290 in Itasca
Location
Country	United States
State	Illinois
Counties	Will, Cook, DuPage
Highway system
	Interstate Highway System; Main; Auxiliary; Suffixed; Business; Future; Illinois State Highway System; Interstate; US; State; Tollways; Scenic;

Interstate 355 (I-355), also known as the Veterans Memorial Tollway, is an Interstate Highway and tollway in the western and southwest suburbs of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Like most other toll roads in the northeastern portion of the state, I-355 is maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA). I-355 runs from I-80 in New Lenox north to I-290 in Itasca,^[1] a distance of 32.5 miles (52.3 km).^[a] With the exception of a four-mile (6.4 km) expansion in 2009, from U.S. Route 34 (US 34, Ogden Avenue) to 75th Street, the highway is six lanes wide for its entire length.^[2]

The tollway authority opened I-355 as the North–South Tollway in 1989 to ease congestion on Illinois Route 53 (IL 53), a parallel two-lane state highway in central DuPage County. Initially, I-355 ran from I-55 north to I-290. The new highway helped cut travel times for commuters traveling north and south in the county. According to commercial real estate developers at the time, the new tollway also opened the western suburbs of Chicago to commercial and industrial development.^[3]

On November 11, 2007, the tollway authority opened a southern extension of I-355, which runs 12.5 miles (20.1 km) between I-55 and I-80. The extension was routed through Will County and a small portion of Cook County, which together formed one of Illinois' fastest-growing regions at the time. The tollway authority expected the extension to cut travel times in the region by 20 percent.^[4] Upon the extension's opening, the tollway authority changed the name of the tollway to "Veterans Memorial Tollway".

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^ Cite error: The named reference t2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Google (December 17, 2007). "General satellite view of the three-laned I-355 (hybrid view to indicate where the highway is)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved December 17, 2007.
^ Cite error: The named reference hausner_1989 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference tollway_I355_south_extension was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[t2-2] Cite error: The named reference t2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] Google (December 17, 2007). "General satellite view of the three-laned I-355 (hybrid view to indicate where the highway is)" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved December 17, 2007.

[hausner_1989-4] Cite error: The named reference hausner_1989 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[tollway_I355_south_extension-5] Cite error: The named reference tollway_I355_south_extension was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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