Canal Corridor Driving Tour

Welcome
This 75-mile driving tour will take you on back roads to canal towns, parks, trails and historic sites. Take the tour at your own pace – in half-day, one-day or two-day segments.

The tour extends between Lemont on the east and LaSalle/Peru on the west. From Chicago, take I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) south to Lemont Road South (exit 271A). From the west, take I-80 to Route 251 in Peru to Route 6 where the tour begins in downtown Peru.

Follow the boy and the mule.
Blue and yellow signs labeled “I&M Canal Passage” mark the driving tour. They represent the boys who worked long hours tending mules who pulled 150-ton boats on the I&M Canal.

Follow in the footsteps.
You are about to discover the legacy of people who have traveled this passageway for centuries. Native Americans once canoed the rivers and walked trails that are roads today. Pioneers transformed tall grass prairies into farms and towns. In the 1830s, immigrant workers used picks and shovels to dig a canal that replaced the marshy rivers for travel and trade. The Illinois and Michigan Canal looks tiny by modern standards, but it forever changed the nation when it linked the Illinois River and Lake Michigan in 1848. Instantly, New York and New Orleans were connected, and Chicago’s future as a major city was secured.

Learn about history, enjoy nature.
Today, the I&M Canal knits the region together in a new way – linking parks and trails with history. In 1933, the canal was replaced by the Illinois Waterway – still used today for shipping from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi. In the 1950s, the canal in Chicago was buried under the Stevenson Expressway, but outside the city, the canal towpath enjoys new life as a trail.

The canal passage is a great place to enjoy the outdoors. Learn about history as you hike, bike, bird watch, and fish. Discover remnants of the native prairies that once covered Illinois, and of the canal that transformed the Midwest.

Navigating this tour website.

To get started on this driving tour, click on one of the areas listed on the left. Within each area you’ll find a community map, links to local sites of interest, and information on restaurants, shopping and accommodations. To continue the tour, click “continue tour” on the top right of each page, or click on the next area you wish to visit in the left-hand column.

Call 1-800-926-CANAL for a printed map of the Canal Corridor Driving Tour.