^Northbound trailblazer as Illinois 394 leaves Illinois 1, July 2020.
Illinois 394 runs north-south near the Indiana border in Chicago's southern suburbs, starting as a freeway and changing to a median-separated expressway with grade crossings as it continues south. It can be seen as a high-speed alternative to Illinois 1 from Interstate 80 south into Will County. Illinois 394 exists only in Cook and Will Counties, and it sort of serves as a southern extension of the Bishop Ford Freeway (carrying Interstate 94).
The northern end of Illinois 394 is the western convergence of Interstate 80 and Interstate 94, at the interchange serving as the southern end of the Bishop Ford Freeway, and as the end of Interstate 294.
The northern end of Illinois 394 is the western convergence of Interstate 80 and Interstate 94, at the interchange serving as the southern end of the Bishop Ford Freeway, and as the end of Interstate 294.
Illinois 394 heads due south through an interchange with US Route 30, after which the freeway ends and grade crossings appear.
Illinois 394 continues as an expressway-style road with a grassy median, with grade crossings, to pick up a short duplex with Illinois 1:
Strangely, Illinois 394 doesn't end at Illinois 1. After a short concurrency with Illinois 1, Illinois 394 ends at a signal with Goodenow Road, a county highway. The 4-lane expressway-like roadway also ends at this signal, so instead of ending Illinois 394 at the point where it first makes contact with Illinois 1, IDOT continued Illinois 394 until the point where the road starts to taper back down to a 2-lane rural highway...
