IL HJR0086

US Highway 50 runs 165.79 miles east to west across southern Illinois between Interstate 70 and Interstate 64, mostly as a 2-lane highway except for interchanges and a small section near the Indiana border.

Phase I engineering studies were completed between 1969 and 1973, and a 2007 feasibility study identified requirements and costs for upgrading to a 4-lane highway, approved by the Illinois Department of Transportation in 2008.

Illinois Department of Transportation signed a Phase I Environmental Energy Study Contract for $3.6 million in July 2011, with $1.4 million designated for design engineering of the corridor.

The Illinois Route 50 Coalition, created in 2006, supports expansion of Route 50 to provide economic development to rural communities in southern Illinois that have experienced population loss.

The resolution encourages state and federal officials to provide funding for the Route 50 Four-Lane Expansion Project between the Indiana state line and Interstate 64 as soon as funds become available.