Business I-55 NB/old US 66 EB at Myrtle St. Staying on 6th St. to Peoria Rd. seems the more likely original routing (paired with 5th St. SB), but if old US 66 is signed on 9th St., then that's where I'll follow.


The Heritage Trail is fine, but there's no Parkway. This is just 9th St.


Shea's is at the corner of Peoria Rd. and Percy Ave. I'm not sure what it was or is, because it seems to have slapdash pieces of real and fake Americana strewn about a yard. With the abundance of non-memorabilia and even self-painted signs, I have made two determinations about Shea's: It's not worth the $3 admission, especially with what you can see from the road for free (it was closed when I was there, so I had no choice), and the owner just might be a little... interesting.


The good signs, among the bad. The oldest and best is the embossed 66 shield, which appears to be real.


Back on the road, IL 29 was rerouted completely out of downtown Springfield. As a result, it shares space with Business I-55 between Sangamon Ave. and Veterans Pkwy. There are any number of routings that would make more sense, such as Grand Ave.


North of Springfield, US 66 crossed the Sangamon River on an older bridge that brought it into a mostly (but not completely!) torn up road south of Sebring Rd., leading straight into what's now Old Tipton School Rd. The curve onto E. Andrew Rd. (now part of IL 124) has also been removed, but this one curve remains, where US 66 went from Andrew Rd. northeast toward Williamsville. It's on the northeast side of the Business I-55/Andrew Rd. intersection.


Heading back southwest on the old concrete, the picnic table is obviously set up on an old spur, which would have been the north leg of the Sherman Rd. intersection.


That old curve alignment ends at a tributary of Fancy Creek, the bridge or culvert gone, but there are still remnants on the north side of the brook.


Business I-55 meets I-55 proper at a 3-ramp interchange. I-55 snakes over to the north and comes back east to pick up the fourth ramp, which is straight ahead on old US 66. That keeps the old EB lanes in use, but there's nothing for the old WB lanes north of Wolf Creek Rd., so they sit in disrepair. Slabs from something sit on the old roadway, but they don't appear to be cannibalized concrete from elsewhere in the roadbed.


Looking back south at the slabs, as I went to edit this photo, a little white sign caught my eye. Nondescript at best, and seemingly new with its mixed case, it nevertheless is posted in an area with no traffic, facing the opposite direction from the open Business I-55 NB carriageway. So what is this sign's provenance?

Continue west on old US 66 to Old Carriage Way, Springfield
Continue east on old US 66 to Williamsville
Onto I-55 (US 66's successor)

Springfield Non-Roads
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