Become a roads scholar, get your new Illinois highway map

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Transportation today announced the release of the new Illinois Official Highway Map. The map includes updates to listings and locations of colleges and universities, Amtrak service, tourist attractions, recreational areas – and more! It also commemorates next year’s 100^th anniversary of Route 66, with updates that better represent the alignment of the historic road.

“While your first choice for directions these days typically is a phone, paper maps continue to be popular with the public,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Gia Biagi. “They also are invaluable. You never know when cell service will drop in an unfamiliar area. It’s good practice to keep a paper copy on hand for these situations as well as for travel planning.”

The map’s cover features a picturesque sunset along U.S. 34 between Mendota and Princeton, near La Moille. The photograph was the winner of IDOT’s employee map cover contest, submitted by Trisha Thompson, IDOT’s Region 2 Engineer.

For easy access to information, the maps come with QR codes to connect to IDOT’s Getting Around Illinois for travel conditions, Amtrak, the Office of Tourism’s Enjoy Illinois campaign as well as Illinois Department of Natural Resources historic sites and parks.

The Illinois Official Highway Map is funded through the Federal Highway Administration and published by IDOT every two years on recycled paper. The map is printed with vegetable-oil-based inks.

To request a map, contact DOT.maps@illinois.gov. Free copies also will be available at interstate rest areas and other IDOT facilities.

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