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Location, Location, Location! B&L set up shop near Joliet, Illinois. For a
that one of the main transcontinental routes
road builder, this was the perfect place to be.
should essentially shadow Route 30 for much
Joliet sits at the crossroads of two coast-to-coast
of its length. In Illinois, Interstate 80 runs from
highways. It is also the southwest gateway to
the Indiana Line in the east to the Quad Cities
one of the world’s great railroad hubs.
along the Mississippi River. For Brown and
U.S. Route 6 intersects U.S. Route 30
Lambrecht, much of this work was quite
(Lincoln Highway) in Joliet. More important
literally in its front yard. It comes as no sur-
still, Route 66 (the “Mother Road”) runs
prise, then, that B&L won numerous contracts
through Joliet’s downtown. This fabled road
to build I-80 in Illinois. The same can be said
connected Chicago to Los Angeles.
of Interstate 55, which succeeded Route 66.
When Congress enacted the Interstate Highway Act in 1956, the planners decided
Joliet sits roughly at the center of a huge industrial region running nearly uninterrupted
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