I-255 Photo Gallery

This page is devoted to all the photos taken on I-255 over the years.  These include signage goofs, everything.

Although this photo is really crappy, this is southbound 255 into Frank Holten State Park taken in May 1993 while en route to a school field trip to Six Flags.  On the right are some wooden sound walls that not only deaden the sound from vehicles on the highway; it keeps vehicles out of the park in a case of a nasty crash on the highway.

This is southbound 255 control city of "Memphis" on the left panel on this gantry.  This photo was taken in July 1994 on a very cloudy evening, the reason for this poor-quality photo.  The exit number on the right panel is correct; because the one on this next photo is not:
Desipte that this photo is in poor quality due to the fact it was taken almost directly in sunlight, the March 1998 photo shows "26B" as the exit number for this guide sign for the southbound exit onto 55/70 heading into St. Louis.  This sign is still standing as of Dec 1998; and has existed since opening day in 1988.

This photo appears that the left panel is correct, but it is not.  As a matter of fact, the destination cities are for Exit 25A, Exit 25B is for St. Louis.  Take proof in this next photo:
This photo is just past the Collinsville Road exit and a easy reason why the first photo is wrong.  Though northbound 255 is really meant as a bypass for St. Louis; some people also take northbound 255 to get to westbound 55/70 should things go wrong on 64 inside of 255.

The next photo shows a correct choice of control cities from the southbound lanes:
Despite that this photo is taken almost directly in sunlight and the bug in my windshield of my car, this sign is correct other than the fact the letters of the exits need to be switched.  The exit for St. Louis is used quite a bit, especially when things on westbound 270 goes wrong.

All 3 of these photos were taken in October 1998 in a span of 5 days, from Oct. 9 - 13.

Until September 1998, this one mile advance sign for I-255 was posted on a gantry where the "IL 255 Wood River  AHEAD" sign is now posted.  Down on this second gantry on this photo that is barely visible, the sign that now contains "IL 255 Wood River" was where the "End I-255" sign was; now I found the 1 mile advance sign but not the actual end sign.

Note that neither IL 255 control signs on Northbound I-255 have cardnial directions; control signs in Illinois are supossed to have cardnial directions.  There are some similair follacies on westbound 270 approaching the IL 255 exit, too.

Speaking of which, here is the panel where the "IL 255 Wood River AHEAD" sign is at.  The reason why blue tarp covers that sign is because this photo was taken the day before the Alton Bypass opened.  Before September 1998, where is the IL 255 sign is at was location where the 1 mile advance sign for the end of I-255 was located.


From Columbia to Cahokia, there is some very spotty signage of US 50 along and near I-255.  On the other hand, IL 3 is signed from the mainline.  These two photos, though somewhat in poor quality shows a good example.  The photo to your left shows the US 50 shield on a stand-alone; the photo below shows what is on the control signs:
You will also find similar signs on northbound 255 just west of the Route 3 Columbia exit.  The southbound contorl city is an oddity because that is the only sign on anywhere on I-255 that does not read "Memphis".  (There are a few that read "Memphis" and "Tulsa", though.)

This sign is a bit of an oddity due to the alignment of the exit tab.  The word "EXIT" is on the left side of the tab; the number is on the right side.  This is unusual due to the fact IDOT always align exits on the side of the road where the exit happens on.
Like in this instance, this sign.  The southbound exit for Route 3 SOUTH is a left exit on I-255, and a left merge.  The word "Tulsa" also appears as a control city as I-255 acts more as a bypass to I-44 traffic; on the other direction here, I-255 acts as a bypass to I-70 traffic as "Indianapolis" may be used as a control city.

There are many more photos on I-255 that I haven't taken yet, such as the guide signs for the IL 3 NORTH exit that are entirely in capital letters, and the northbound control city signs that read "Indianapolis".