In the U.S. state of Illinois, U.S. Route 36 (US 36) is an east–west highway that runs across the central portion of the state. It runs east from Missouri over the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River with Interstate 72. The eastern terminus of U.S. 36 in Illinois is located near the unincorporated area of Raven near the Illinois-Indiana state line. This is a distance of 216.47 miles (348.37 km).

Interstate 72 (I-72) is an Interstate Highway in the midwestern United States. Its western terminus is in Hannibal, Missouri, at an intersection with U.S. Route 61 (US 61); its eastern terminus is at Country Fair Drive in Champaign, Illinois. The route runs through the major cities of Decatur, Illinois, and Springfield, Illinois. In 2006, the Illinois General Assembly dedicated all of I-72 as Purple Heart Memorial Highway. The stretch between Springfield and Decatur is also called Penny Severns Memorial Expressway, and the section between mile 35 and the Mississippi River is known as the Free Frank McWorter Historic Highway.