Proposal Introduced to Name an Illinois Interstate After Barack Obama

If you take the interstate in Illinois, you soon might be traveling north and southbound on the 'Obama.'

An Illinois lawmaker has introduced legislation to rename I-55 after former President Barack Obama. NBC5Chicago is reporting that the measure was introduced in Springfield by Chicago Democratic State Representative La Shawn Ford.

The renaming would not encompass I-55 in it's entirety, but a 270 mile portion of the highway.

The stretch of I-55 from Lakeshore Drive in Chicago to the Tri-State Tollway is currently named after Adlai Stevenson, the late Illinois governor and two-time presidential candidate. Ford wants to rename the rest of the 270 mile stretch of I-55 from the Tri-State Tollway to East St. Louis after Obama.

This is not the first time an Interstate has been renamed in recently years. Rt 88, used to be called the East-West Tollway,  but was renamed the Ronald Reagan Tollway in 2004 after his death.