Illinois Route 178 is a minor north–south state highway in north central Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. It runs north from the unincorporated area of Lowell

Lowell, Illinois

Lowell is an unincorporated community in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. Lowell is located on Illinois Route 178 southeast of Oglesby. It was once a village with a mill and a brick factory. Today the town is along the Big Vermilion River and offers river rafting....

 to Interstate 80

Interstate 80

Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following Interstate 90. It is a transcontinental artery running from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey in the New York City Metropolitan Area...

 about 3 miles (5 km) north of North Utica

North Utica, Illinois

North Utica is a village in Utica Township, LaSalle County, Illinois. The population was 977 at the 2000 United States Census. It is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area....

, which is better known as simply Utica. This is a distance of 8.49 miles (13.66 km).

Route description

Illinois 178 is a short state road that connects two of Illinois' more popular state parks to Interstate 80; Starved Rock State Park

Starved Rock State Park

Starved Rock State Park is a state park in Illinois, characterized by the many canyons within its 2360 acres. Located just southwest of the village of North Utica, in Deer Park Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, along the south bank of the Illinois River, the park hosts over two million visitors...

 and Matthiessen State Park

Matthiessen State Park

Matthiessen State Park is an Illinois state park located a few miles south of the more famous Starved Rock State Park. The main entrances to both parks are located on Illinois State Route 178....

. Starting at Interstate 80, Illinois 178 intersects U.S. Route 6

U.S. Route 6

U.S. Route 6 , also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, a name that honors an American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system, running east-northeast from Bishop, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Until 1964, it continued south from Bishop to...

 at a rural intersection, and then descends into the Illinois River

Illinois River

The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the State of Illinois. The river drains a large section of central Illinois, with a drainage basin of . This river was important among Native Americans and early French traders as the principal water route...

 valley to the town of Utica.

South of Utica, Illinois 178 crosses the Illinois River via a cantilever bridge

Cantilever bridge

A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from...

, where it meets a western entrance into Starved Rock State Park. About a mile (1.6 km) south of Illinois Route 71

Illinois Route 71

Illinois Route 71 is a long southwest-to-northeast state highway in north central Illinois. It runs from the end of Interstate 180 in Hennepin to U.S. Route 34 in Oswego...

 is the entrance to Matthiesen State Park. The route terminates at rural intersection in Lowell.

History

SBI Route 178 ran along the existing Illinois 178, and southwest from Lowell to what was then U.S. Route 51

U.S. Route 51

U.S. Route 51 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 1,286 miles from the western suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana to within of the Wisconsin-Michigan border. Much of the highway in Illinois and southern Wisconsin runs parallel to or overlaps Interstate 39...

 in Tonica

Tonica, Illinois

Tonica is a village in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 685 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ottawa–Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.Tonica is mainly farmland, with a few businesses...

. This was dropped in the 1950s.

Reconstruction through Utica

In accordance with the village of North Utica's United Recovery Plan, which was enacted following the 2004 tornado, a re-routing of Illinois 178 west of the current business district was planned. This project, under construction as of 2011, will eliminate two sharp bends in the current alignment and divert local truck traffic and through traffic away from the downtown area.