Illinois Route 98

State highway in Tazewell County, Illinois, US

After leaving Pekin, Route 98 passes through farmland in unincorporated Groveland Township. The highway meets Cole Hollow Road and California Road at successive intersections in a residential area. Past a creek, the road heads into a rural area with sections of farmland and forest. As it enters Groveland, the highway intersects County Route 1, which runs south through the community. Route 98 leaves Groveland to the east, running through another farmed area. The route curves into Morton and takes the name Birchwood Street, traversing a creek before entering an industrial district. In this area, Route 98 briefly becomes a divided highway before terminating at exit 31 on I 155. The road continues past the terminus as a local street, still carrying the name Birchwood Street. No part of Route 98 is included in the National Highway System, a network of roads considered significant to the nation's economy, defense, and mobility.

Route 98 was initially designated in 1924 on a route in western Illinois. The state planned the road to connect Route 3 east of Macomb to Route 95 near Havana by way of Adair, Table Grove, Ipava, and Duncan Mills. The route was first marked on the 1928 Illinois highway map; at this point, the road connected Table Grove in the west to U. S. Route 24 (US 24) and Route 31 at Duncans Mills in the east. By 1929, the highway's western terminus was extended to Route 9 east of Macomb. The original Route 98 in Western Illinois route became part of Route 10 in 1937. The original Route 98 is now part of US 136.

When the Route 98 designation was dropped in Western Illinois in 1937, it was reused for the present alignment, the former Route 9 between Pekin and Morton, and the Route 9 designation was itself shifted south onto the former Route 164 through Tremont.