8 Illinois Roads That Become Dangerous During Heavy Rain

There is no time that you should not consider driving in Illinois a life-threatening task, but there are situations when the highways and byways of the Land of Lincoln are more perilous than normal. Specifically, there are 8 Illinois roads that become much more dangerous during heavy rain events.

Let's start with the interstates in Illinois. If you've read accident reports, you understand that there are 5 major interstates in Illinois that are notorious for having poor drainage which makes them serious hydroplaning dangers when storms dump heavy rain:

• Interstate 55
• Interstate 57
• Interstate 70
• Interstate 80
• Interstate 90

I've also noticed that there are numerous roads in Illinois that have frequent flash flooding events and/or areas of roadway that are often overtaken by water. Those include the following:

• Illinois Route 162 near Glen Carbon in Madison County
• Roads near the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers around Grafton and Alton
• Rural roads in western Illinois counties such as McDonough County, where flash flood warnings often mention flooded highways, streets, and low-lying roads

There are also 5 regions where flooded roads can be problematic. Those include:

• Western Illinois along the Mississippi River
• Southern Illinois river valleys
• Central Illinois creek crossings and farm roads
• Chicago-area underpasses and viaducts
• Any low-lying roadway near streams, drainage channels, or flood-control structures

I think some of the rural roads are the easiest ones to get an unpleasant surprise where large areas will be fine, but then you'll crest a hill only to see a road near a creek flooded over. There's the old saying that you should "not drown, but turn around" when you see water over a road and that's still good advice on all of these sometimes iffy Illinois places.