Illinois highway named most feared in the state; survey

FILE – Cars and trucks travel on Interstate 5 near Olympia, Wash., March 25, 2019. The government’s traffic safety agency said Thursday, June 22, 2023, that it will require heavy trucks and buses to include potentially life-saving automatic emergency braking equipment within five years. Automatic braking systems in heavy vehicles would prevent nearly 20,000 crashes a year and save at least 155 lives, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

by: Jack Baudoin

Posted: Aug 7, 2023 / 02:34 PM CDT

Updated: Aug 9, 2023 / 02:25 PM CDT

(WTVO) — A recent survey has unveiled which route Illinois drivers are most scared to take.

The survey by Gunter Mitsubishi complied the results from 3,000 road trippers. They said that US Route 24 is the worst in Illinois, ranking number 19 out of 50 overall across the country.

The road runs 255 miles from the Mississippi River to the Indiana border. People are scared to take the route since improvements and maintenance has fallen behind, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.

The route eventually narrows from an undivided four-lane highway to a two-lane road, leaving cars being very close to each other while passing at high speeds.

This stretch of the road saw 23 left turn crashes between 2010-2015, according to the Peoria Journal Star, resulting in 30 injuries.

The 2024-2029 Rebuild Illinois Highway Improvement Program includes over $33 billion into different infrastructure improvements over the six years. This includes an 8.6-mile stretch of Route 24 just outside of Peoria that will use $135 million to expand the road to four lanes and replace bridges.