Touhy Avenue is a major inter-suburb and Chicago city street in northern Chicagoland. Many city streets in Chicago keep the name well into the suburbs.
The eastern terminus of Touhy Avenue is at Sheridan Road in Rogers Park near Loyola Park and Leone Beach Park in Chicago. The western terminus ends in Elk Grove Village — details below.
Traveling westbound, Touhy Avenue has an almost full interchange with Interstate 94 by utilizing a northbound exit ramp to Cicero Avenue that intersects with Touhy Avenue.
The eastern terminus of Touhy Avenue is just one block from the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Touhy Avenue has a partial interchange with Interstate 294 near the Des Plaines River — sharing a partial interchange with River Road. On northbound I-294 there is a ramp to eastbound Touhy Avenue and a ramp to westbound Touhy Avenue. On southbound I-294 there is a ramp from northbound River Road and a ramp from southbound River Road.
Touhy Avenue/Route 72 is the major thoroughfare that forms the majority of the north border of O’Hare International Airport between Lee Street and Elmhurst Road. Touhy Avenue and Interstate 90 intersect in this segment, but there is no interchange.
Touhy Avenue co-aligns with Route 72 at Lee Street/Higgins Road just south of Lake Opeka in Des Plaines. Co-alignment continues to a side street just west of Elmhurst Road, where the main thoroughfare becomes Higgins Road/Route 72. The Touhy Avenue sidestreet continues west through an industrial park in Elk Grove Village.
The western terminus of Touhy Avenue is at Tonne Road, which marks the end of the industrial park and the beginning of residential neighborhoods. The street continues west as Elk Grove Boulevard in Elk Grove Village, which ends at Busse Woods and the home of Elk Grove High School at the intersection of Elk Grove Village Boulevard and Arlington Heights Road.
Touhy Avenue is named after Patrick L. Touhy, a subdivider who was also the son-in-law of Phillip Rogers, an early settler who helped develop Rogers Park.
Points of Interest Along Touhy Avenue
(East to West)Loyola Park
The Winston Towers at the North Shore Channel in Chicago
Lincolnwood Town Center
Loeber Motors
Hebrew Theological College
AMC Showplace Village Crossing 18/Village Crossing Shopping Center
Edgebrook and North Edgebrook neighborhoods of Chicago
Leaning Tower YMCA of Niles
Caldwell Woods/North Branch Chicago River
Shure Headquarters Building (radio/sound equipment)
Meinke Garden Center
Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge
Allstate Arena (proximity at Mannheim Rd)
O’Hare Northeast Cargo (proximity at Patton Dr/Route 72)
Chicago Department of Aviation at Bessie Coleman Drive and Zemke Boulevard near Mannheim Road
Designed by Chicago/American architect Roscoe Harold Zook, William F. McCaughey, and Alfonso Iannelli, the Pickwick opened in 1928 as a vaudeville stage and movie theatre.
A large northeast cargo area at O’Hare International Airport was built in 2015 to supplement the south cargo area at O’Hare.
WESTERN TERMINUS TOUHY AVE
The western terminus of Touhy Avenue divides a large industrial park with residential neighorhoods at Tonne.