{"nrhp_refnum":"06000381","name":"Alternate Route 66, Wilmington to Joliet (Additional Documentation)","other_names":["Illinois Route 53"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"IL 53 bet. Wilmington and Joliet","address_restricted":false,"city":"Joliet","county":"Will County","state":"IL","lat":41.39835416200006,"lon":-88.10831118663582,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-05-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 15.9-mile section of roadbed, now Illinois Route 53, running between Wilmington and Joliet in Will County, Illinois. It was built between 1926 and 1945 as Alternate Route 66 and has both two-lane and four-lane sections.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the road was an important link in the Route 66 corridor from 1926 to about 1970, carrying freight, travelers and defense-plant commuters. It also reflects highway engineering, from 1920s two-lane construction to the 1945 limited-access, divided four-lane design with thick concrete pavement and a stabilized subbase.","narrative":"Running 15.9 miles between Wilmington and Joliet in Will County, Illinois, this stretch of roadway served as Alternate Route 66 and is now Illinois Route 53. The original two-lane road was built in 1926. It was rebuilt in 1945 as a divided four-lane highway with a grass median and 24-foot-wide, 10-inch-thick concrete pavement, in response to heavy traffic from wartime ordnance plants. The corridor includes seven contributing structures: the roadbed, a circa 1950 steel bridge, a Union Pacific overpass, and four concrete box culverts. Four later bridges do not contribute. The road matters for two reasons. It formed part of the Route 66 corridor that moved goods and travelers between Chicago and points south and west, and it shows mid-twentieth-century highway engineering, including a soil survey, gravel and stone subbase, and grade-separated railroad crossings. Its significance period ends in 1956, when Interstate 55 drew traffic away.","period_of_significance":"1926-1956","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"OTHER: Limited Access Four-Lane Highway; Limited Access Two-Lane Highway","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as roadbed (Illinois Route 53); the only alterations noted are a macadam overlay and some later bridges.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.697433-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/8914/28891486/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/06000381.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891486","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/will-county/alternate-route-66-wilmington-to-joliet-additional-documentation-06000381/"}