over the Chicago River, looking east station near Savanna was the western terminus of IL 64 until 2017, when it was replaced by the
Dale Gardner Veterans Memorial Bridge.|alt=A steel cantilever-truss bridge arches gracefully over a tree-lined river. IL 64
overlaps
US 52 between the Iowa state line and
Brookville—a distance of over —so that the IL 64 designation can continue to the Iowa border. East of the
Mississippi River, IL 64 is largely a rural, undivided surface road from Savanna to the
Fox River in Saint Charles. At St. Charles, IL 64 enters the Chicago metro area and becomes a four-lane road, taking on the name of Main Street. Just east of St. Charles, IL 64 becomes North Avenue and retains this designation until just before its terminus in Chicago at US 41 (Lake Shore Drive). At
IL 59, the road widens further from four to six lanes and becomes a divided highway until its intersection with
IL 83 in
Elmhurst. From Elmhurst to
Interstate 294 (I-294) it remains a four-lane surface street, but it widens to a six-lane divided highway once again through the towns of
Stone Park and
Northlake. At the
Des Plaines River and
IL 43, North Avenue becomes four lanes until it reaches North Western Avenue. At this point, it becomes at times a two-lane road, for the rest of its route through Chicago. One-half mile (0.8 km) west of US 41, IL 64 turns north onto LaSalle Boulevard, and then east, before terminating at Lake Shore Drive.
North Avenue is a main east–west artery in Chicago itself, and one of only seven state routes to enter the city. It is located at the 1600 North parallel of Chicago. Just east of the
Kennedy Expressway (
I-90/
I-94), the
North Avenue Bridge carries IL 64 over the North Branch of the Chicago River. The hybrid
suspension/
cable-stayed bridge was built in 2006, replacing a
bascule bridge dating back to 1907. Between Halsted Street and Sheffield Avenue, North Avenue has become a shopping destination, known as the
Clybourn Corridor. == History ==