Interstate 39

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Interstate 39 (abbreviated I-39) is an interstate highway in the midwestern United States. It runs from Normal, Illinois at Interstate 55 to Wisconsin State Highway 29 in Rothschild, Wisconsin, approximately six miles south of Wausau, Wisconsin.

Interstate 39 is primarily used as a long-distance bypass for commercial vehicles around Chicago, Illinois. Industries in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Eau Claire, Wisconsin and other northern-tier cities may exchange goods with more southerly cities such as Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky and Indianapolis, Indiana (via Interstate 74) without routing traffic through congestion-plagued Chicago.

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Length

NOTE: During the section of Interstate 39 that run together with I-90 and I-90/I-94, the mile markers (and therefore, exit numbers as well) used are those for I-90.

All roadside mileposts along the independent section of I-39 in Wisconsin (north of Portage) do not show I-39's correct mileage in Wisconsin. The mileposts are correct for US 51, which is roughly five miles longer between the Illinois line and Portage than I-39. Therefore, all of the exit numbers and mileposts are roughly five miles too high with respect to the actual mileage of I-39 in Wisconsin.

Future plans call for Interstate 39 to be extended north from Wausau to Merrill, Wisconsin along the U.S. Route 51 freeway, which is Interstate standard, but it was not signed as Interstate as of May 2005. This is most likely due to a long-term [improvement project] on US-51 which will not be completed until 2010.

Despite its Interstate status many residents of central Wisconsin still refer to I-39 as U.S. Route 51 and in Stevens Point and Wausau one can find numerous "TO 51" road signs but very few "TO 39" signs.

The southern terminus of I-39 in Normal, Illinois is less than a mile from Interstate 74.

I-39 utilizes the Illinois version of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge, which spans the Illinois River in north central Illinois.

For all but one of the 141 miles (227 km) that Interstate 39 is in Illinois, it is multiplexed with U.S. Route 51.

Interstate 39 is multiplexed with at least one other highway for its entire length, except for a 8 mile stretch from I-90/94 to US 51 near Portage, Wisconsin. This 8-mile stretch already existed as Wisconsin State Trunk Highway 78 and met Interstate standards before I-39 was created; the old STH-78 shields were simply removed in the mid-1980s, but I-39 shields did not appear here until at least 2003. In the interim, signage read only "TO US 51" in the northbound direction and "TO I-90/94" southbound. This means that there was no new road construction involved in the creation of I-39 -- only the installation of signs.

The 29-mile stretch in Wisconsin from Portage to Madison, where I-39 runs concurrently with I-90 and I-94, is the longer of only two such "triple multiplexes" of Interstates in the country. The other one, I-55/64/70 in St. Louis, MO and East St. Louis, IL, is only three miles long.

At one point, Interstate 39 was a studied alternative for the unbuilt Peoria-to-Chicago Highway.

As of right now, there are no plans to extend Interstate 39 south of the Bloomington-Normal area. IDOT also has no plans to upgrade U.S. Route 51 to a freeway south of Bloomington-Normal. If Interstate 39 ever does get extended south, it will probably go to Interstate 72 in Decatur, IL; after that it will go to Interstate 70, and then all they way down to Interstate 57. It has been rumored that there are ghost ramps at the U.S. Route 51 interchange on Interstate 57, south of Anna, because originally I-39 was supposed to go all the way down the middle of the state; however, nothing has yet been done.

Main Interstate Highways
4	5	8	10	12	15	16	17	19	20	22	24	25	26	27	29
30	35	37	39	40	43	44	45	49	55	57	59	64	65	66	68
69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76 (W)		76 (E)		77	78	79	80	81
82	83	84 (W)		84 (E)		85	86 (W)		86 (E)		87	88 (W)		88 (E)
89	90	91	93	94	95	96	97	99	(238)		H-1	H-2	H-3
Unsigned			A-1	A-2	A-3	A-4	PRI-1		PRI-2		PRI-3
Lists		Main - Auxiliary - Suffixed - Business - Proposed - Unsigned Gaps - Intrastate - Interstate standards - Replaced

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