The Illinois General Assembly is honoring former President Barack Obama by naming part of a major highway after him.
From now on, a 75-mile stretch of Interstate 55 will be known as the “Barack Obama Presidential Expressway.”
LaShawn Ford, the Democratic state representative who sponsored the designation, said Obama won’t have the highway to himself.
“Paul Simon also has some dedications on the road. And we also have Stevenson, which has some dedications on 55," Ford said.
The Stevenson is what 55 is called in the Chicago area. The Paul Simon Freeway covers the last part of the interstate before it crosses the Mississippi River heading for St. Louis.
The newly-designated Obama Expressway runs from Interstate 294 in the Chicago suburbs south to mile marker 202, near Pontiac.
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