Sitting, quite literally, at the heart of the nation, Illinois boasts an infrastructure network that is unparalleled in the nation. From highways, to ports, to rail, to airports to navigable waterways, Illinois is the national center of business infrastructure.
HIGHWAYS AND ROADS
For businesses looking to transport goods over the nation's highways, they will find no better location than Illinois:
- 2,164 miles of interstate highway serve Illinois (3rd in the nation).
- Over a dozen Illinois communities are home to major east-west/north-south Interstate interchanges.
- Interstate highways are augmented by another 35,505 miles of state highways.
- 3 “coast-to-coast” interstates serve Illinois (I-70, I-80, & I-90).
- 5,900 motor carriers operate in Illinois.
RAIL
For businesses looking for access to rail transportation, Illinois, which sits at the center of the national rail network, is a national leader.
- Chicago is the largest rail gateway in the nation.
- East St. Louis, Illinois provides another major metropolitan rail hub.
- Two, new massive inter-modal rail centers (in Joliet and Rochelle) are open and provide over 3,000 developed acres for transshipment.
- More than two-dozen railroads provide service from Illinois to every part of the United States.
AIRPORTS
The central location of Illinois makes it a natural hub for air travel. From major air transportation centers like O'Hare International Airport, to the dozens of smaller airports that dot the downstate landscape, Illinois offers access to air transportation that is second to none.
- Illinois is home to the world's 2 nd busiest airport, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
- More than 1,100 heliports, landing areas, and smaller airports serve the state of Illinois.
- An airport with commercial airline service, or the capability to handle business jets, serves virtually every Illinois city with a population over 30,000
- With O'Hare averaging one arrival or departure every minute of the day, travelers have maximum scheduling flexibility in Illinois.
WATERWAYS & PORTS
From the mighty Mississippi to our access to the Great Lakes, Illinois provides water access to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. These resources, along with various port districts, give businesses access to markets and opportunities for low cost warehousing of imports and exports.
- Illinois has 1,118 miles of navigable waterways linking to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Port of Chicago offers terminals that handle ocean and lake vessels, as well as barges.
- The Lake Michigan port is served by four railroads and has access to Interstates 90 & 94.
- Over a dozen port districts serve Illinois.
- Two ports – the Illinois International Port District in Chicago and the Tri-City Port District in the Metro East region of St. Louis – are Foreign Trade Zones, providing low-cost production and warehousing facilities for imported and export-bound products.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The most important infrastructure network for the 21 st century is telecommunications. In this area, Illinois is a natural leader, and can provide your business with the links needed to achieve maximum productivity.
- Illinois is the birthplace of many telecommunication technologies, from the nation's first electronic switching system, to the first commercial installation of an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
- Virtually the entire state has digital switching, allowing high quality, high speed and secure voice, data, and image communications with lower operating costs.
- Hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber optic cable have been laid in the state.
- All of the nation's major inter-exchange carriers have points of presence in the state, a presence which ensures access to service from rural businesses as well as metropolitan areas.
- Even with these state of the art services, Illinois still offers some of the lowest phone rates in the nation, giving you high quality telecommunications at a low price.
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