The 2007/2008 Official Illinois Highway Map:

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The 2007-2008 Illinois Official Highway Map (IDOT) is again sponsered by Best Western Hotels of Illinois and carries the BW logo on the cover and an ad on the reverse cover.

The front cover contains pctures of Navy Peir (Chicago), a Galena streetscape, a paddleboat from Peoria and a scene from the Shawnee National Forest.

The rear cover contains information about DUI, seat belt laws and construction area traffic as well as a new ad for road info from the state.

A new twist is shown on the Cities and Villages list in that towns with E-85 or BioDiesel fuel stations are highlighted with colors. This does however make the text a bit harder to read.

The State Police Post listing, missing from the previous map, has returned to the lower right corner of the main map.

Print quality is vastly improved on this year's map over the 2005/6 map. Where the print and map colors were poor, the 2007/8 map has good contrast and color reproduction.

The rear of the map has some state ads for biofuels etc at the top and the same city maps as previous editions. Many minor updates to the city maps have been included.

The following major items were noted as updated or changed from previous years:

I-355 is shown as Under Construction from I-55 to I-80 (This is slated to open in November 2007)

IL-336 is shown as complete from Carthage south and the new US-136/IL-336 is shown as Under Construction into Macomb. IL-336 is now shown as a non-divided highway from IL-61 to IL-101, in the previous map it was shown as divided there.

The US-61 bypass around Blue Grass IA is shown as a limited access this year vs. a lesser road before.

US-67/IL-104 is complete west of Jacksonville.

US-51 is shown as U.C. from Moweaqua to Assumption in a continuation of this project.

IL-255 is complete from IL-143 to 3 miles north of IL-111/140, and U.C. north of there to Godfrey.

IL-13 is now U.C. near Harrisburg.

Several railroad lines have been updated to reflect abandonments or line sales.

The 2005/2006 Official Illinois Highway Map:

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This is the first Official IL DOT map that is sponsered by a private company, (Best Western motels). Some versions of the DCCA edition had ads, but DCCA no longer has thier own versions of the map as far as I know.This map has a photo of the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield on the cover. The rear has an ad for Best Western on the bottom third, with traffic safety campaigns highlighted on the top 2/3rds. The listing of State Police posts formerly placed on the rear cover is gone.

The 2005-2006 map is 24 x 38, prior maps were 24 x 36. The 2 additional inches allow for ads at the bottom (on the obverse) or top (on the reverse) sides without decreasing the size of the actual maps themselves. This does however move the center fold about 7 miles to the south, along a line from Murrayville to Auburn to a bit south of Paris.

The print quality seems to have degraded a bit on the new version. Compared to the prior version (2003-2004) the text and colors are less crisp. My guess is that they are using a less expensive printing process.

The rear City maps are in the same layout and positions as the prior maps. Maps include:

As time allows I will detail substantive changes to the maps, such as new 4 lane sections added, route numbers changed etc. A couple I found in a quick overview include:

IL-336/IL-94 four lanes up to near Carthage, with construction shown on the Carthage Bypass to US-136 east.

US-61 four lanes at Canton MO.

Business US-67 shown at Roseville.

US-51 four lanes to and around Mowequa.

US-45 four lanes from Eldorado to Muddy in Saline County.