The Golden Corridor is the area around the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (Interstate 90), formerly known as the Northwest Tollway, in the Chicago metropolitan area.[1] Its name refers to the "gold" mine of economic profit for communities in the area. Several Fortune 500 company headquarters, office parks, industrial parks, exhibition and entertainment centers, medical facilities, hotels, shopping centers, and restaurants are in the Golden Corridor. With the exception of the O'Hare area of Chicago, all the communities in this region are part of a larger region known as the "Northwest Suburbs".
Cities and villages
Cities and villages in the Golden Corridor include:
Flexera Software, A software company providing software licensing, compliance and installation solutions for application producers and mid to large enterprises,[2] with headquarters in Itasca[3]
Ranging from regional indoor malls to chic lifestyle centers, "the Golden Corridor" is a bustling center of retail activity. Major shopping centers include:
Woodfield Mall, among the Top 10 largest malls in North America, and the largest in Illinois. Located at Golf Road and Interstate 290, just south of Interstate 90
Poplar Prairie Stone Crossing, a regional retail center located On IL Rt. 59 in Hoffman Estates
Entertainment and exhibition centers
From major arenas to convention centers to theaters to gambling centers, the Golden Corridor is a thriving entertainment center. Major facilities include:
Schaumburg Convention Center and Renaissance Hotel, a 175,000-square-foot (16,300 m2) convention center and 500-room hotel located at Meacham Road and I-90 in Schaumburg.
Rivers Casino, a casino located at River Road and Devon Avenue in Des Plaines, on the east side of Interstate 294, just north of Interstate 90. It is Illinois' most-profitable casino.
Wintrust Field, a 7,000+ seat minor league ballpark located on Springinsguth Road in Schaumburg, a few miles south of Interstate 90. It is home of the Schaumburg Boomers professional minor league baseball team.
Healthcare facilities
Within five miles (8 km) of the Northwest Tollway are a variety of major hospitals, including:
AMITA Resurrection Medical Center: a comprehensive stroke center and one of Chicago’s Emergency Medicine residency programs, just a mile north of Interstate 90 in Chicago (O’Hare area)
Hotels and restaurants
Nearly every national hotel and restaurant chain can be found along the corridor, as well as numerous independently owned and local chains.
Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, the busiest airport in the world (by total number of takeoffs and landings), is located within the Golden Corridor
CTA's Blue Line is a rapid transit train line which terminates at O'Hare and has stops at Rosemont and Cumberland, with additional stops further east, providing access to downtown Chicago and the entire CTA system.
Pace and CTA both offer scheduled fixed-route bus service to the area, with numerous routes. Pace operates an on-highway BRT service along Interstate 90 from Rosemont to Elgin. Pace's headquarters are located within the scope of the corridor, in Arlington Heights.
Limited access highways
Interstate 90 ("Jane Addams Memorial Tollway") is the primary interstate highway in the area, providing high-speed limited-access transportation for the corridor. In addition to providing direct highway access to many of the local roads, communities, and amenities of the Golden Corridor, it also provides access to Rockford to the west and downtown Chicago to the east, and extends coast-to-coast, from Seattle to Boston.
Interstate 190 provides direct access from Interstates 90 and 294 to Chicago-O'Hare International Airport.
Interstate 290/Illinois Route 53 is a limited access highway that intersects Interstate 90 in Schaumburg near Woodfield Mall. It provides access to the northwest suburbs to the north and to the western suburbs to the south and east, as well as access to downtown Chicago.
Interstate 294 ("Tri-State Tollway") is a limited access north-south highway that intersects Interstate 90 near Rosemont. It provides access to the northern suburbs and Wisconsin to the north, and provides access to the western and southern suburbs as well as Northwest Indiana to the southeast.
Illinois Route 390 ("Elgin-O'Hare Tollway") is a limited access highway that runs from U.S. Route 20 in Hanover Park to Thorndale Road in Itasca, providing local access for communities in that area. An eastward extension of the expressway to the west side of Chicago-O'Hare International Airport at York Road is currently under construction, as is a northward leg to Interstate 90 and a southward leg to Interstate 294.
Highways and roads
Local east-west highways that serve the region include Stearns Road, U.S. Route 20 (Lake Street), Illinois Route 19 (Irving Park Road), Thorndale Avenue, Biesterfield Road, Devon Avenue, Illinois Route 72 (Higgins Road and Touhy Avenue), Schaumburg Road, Illinois Route 58 (Golf Road), Illinois Route 62 (Algonquin Road), Kirchoff Road, Dempster Street, Oakton Street, Euclid Avenue, Central Avenue, U.S. Route 14 (Northwest Highway/Ronald Reagan Highway), U.S. Route 12 (Rand Road), Palatine Road, Illinois Route 68 (Dundee Road), Huntley Road, and Big Timber Road.
Local north-south highways that serve the region include Illinois Route 47, Randall Road, Illinois Route 31, Illinois Route 25 (Dundee Avenue), Beverly Road, Illinois Route 59 (Sutton Road), Bartlett Road, Barrington Road, Springinsguth Road, Ela Road, Roselle Road, Plum Grove Road, Quentin Road, Meacham Road, Arlington Heights Road, Illinois Route 83 (Elmhurst Road and Busse Road), York Road, Mount Prospect Road, Wolf Road, U.S. Route 45 (River Road and Lee Street/Mannheim Road), and Illinois Route 171 (Cumberland Avenue).
