A Look at the Most Dangerous and Deadliest Roads in Illinois

This one hits close to home for me, literally. Growing up just outside of Chicago, it was easy to look past how some of the most common roads and interstates many of us traveled on every single day were also some of the most dangerous.

Every year, there are over 300,000 car accidents in the state of Illinois, per The Advocates Injury Attorneys website. These crashes result in nearly a thousand deaths and over 60,000 unique injuries every year. These stats are also easy to look past as just a fact of life when it comes to commuting on a daily basis.

Photo Credit: Nick Cooper

This prompted me to look into some of the most dangerous roads in Illinois. The Advocates Injury Attorneys' website lists four that are both the most dangerous and most deadly. I write to you, reader, as someone who has driven on all of them and I suppose was lucky enough to survive to write this piece. Here's a breakdown:

Illinois' Most Dangerous and Deadliest Road:

The Stevenson Expressway comes in at #1 on The Advocates Injury Attorneys' website, for good reason too. You almost can't watch a newscast in Chicago without hearing about traffic jams, an accident, or some other unfortunate circumstance involving the Stevenson. They break down the dangers of that route pretty effectively:

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When motorists aren’t dodging thrown rocks, shootings, and toxic spills, the Stevenson Expressway is a magnet for errant drivers and spectacular car accidents. Interstate 55 is renowned for being a paved avenue of mayhem. Over the years, the Stevenson Expressway has seen one deadly car crash after another, from wrecks involving Uber drivers, IDOT trucks, and even a particularly tragic car accident of a victim on her birthday. If you ever find yourself cruising on I-55, do your best to stay alert. - per The Advocates Injury Attorneys

The Dan Ryan Expressway is #2:

The Dan Ryan Expressway is another dangerous road where motorists often go 10-15 mph over the limit, weave in/and out of traffic, and practically dare you not to hit them:

Running through the heart of Chicago, the Dan Ryan Expressway is a freeway branching off of Interstate 90. On any given day the Dan Ryan sees up to 300,000 vehicles travel upon its paved surface. With so much traffic it’s no wonder the Dan Ryan is dangerous. In the last year alone, the Dan Ryan has seen several multi-vehicle crashes, hit-and-runs, motorcycle collisions, car accidents caused by drive-by shootings, and even crashes involving police cruisers. The Dan Ryan Expressway really is the wild, wild west of highways. - per The Advocates Injury Attorneys

Photo Credit: Nick Cooper

Honorable Mention: Route 66/55:

Route 66 is an iconic road for a reason. It was one of the first highways established in the United States. It ran from Chicago through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles. It was retired from the United States Highway System in 1985.

Still, Route 55, as it's known in the present day, is still very dangerous:

Mile for mile, no other highway in the Prairie State is as dangerous as the infamous Route 55. Once known as “Bloody 66,” the 301 miles of Route 66 have seen it all. Even after much of the old Route 66 was decommissioned and replaced by Route 55, heavy traffic and mayhem still happens on the stretch of road. From wrong-way car collisions to garbage truck crashes to semi-truck roll-overs to tragic accidents involving family vehicles veering into the Vermillion River, Route 55 is as dangerous as they come. - per The Advocates Injury Attorneys