Before the expressway was built, east-west traffic across Evansville was handled by a pair of streets: Division Street to the east of Main Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue to the west. These roads were congested and dangerous. For a short stretch, Division Street ran in tandem with a busy railroad track. The unacceptable condition of this route necessitated an expressway. The road was built in stages. The west section of the expressway was completed in the 1950s, ending at Fulton Avenue with plans to continue it further east at a later date. It wasn't until the 1970s and 80s that local officials succeeded in securing federal funding to finish construction. Key to this effort was popular Evansville mayor Russell G. Lloyd, Sr., who was assassinated in 1980 after he had left office. The expressway is named in his honor. In the spring of 1983, buildings in the expressway's path were demolished, and construction began on July 29, 1983. Five years later, the road finally opened on July 19, 1988. Construction on the eastern phase cost $160 million. Since opening, the state has made gradual improvements to the road. In 2008, construction began on a $32 million diamond interchange at Fulton Avenue near downtown. This replaced the at-grade signaled intersection that was there previously. In 2014, a $19 million project was started to reconfigure the interchange with US 41 from a partial cloverleaf, with traffic lights on the Lloyd Expressway, into a full cloverleaf with no signals. There have been proposals for similar projects on other high-traffic intersections, such as Burkhardt Road.
Route description
As one travels along the expressway, upon reaching US 41, one state highway — SR 62 if traveling east or SR 66 if traveling west — leaves the expressway while the other joins the expressway. . The expressway contains a mix of intersections and interchanges. Because the route includes several at-grade intersections with stoplights, Evansville residents sometimes use the term "expressway" derisively, or drop it altogether and call it "the Lloyd" instead. Especially since many in and outside of Evansville consider the expressway to be more of a glorified boulevard due to the large amounts of stoplights still existing along the route, many of which handle heavy amounts of traffic such as St. Joseph Avenue, Vann Avenue, Stockwell Avenue, Fielding Road, Burkhardt Road, and Cross Point Boulevard, with St. Joseph Avenue and Burkhardt Road regularly being the most congested. Nevertheless, the road actually has many characteristics that fit the standard definition of "expressway." Opposing traffic is separated between intersections and interchanges, largely by medians. There are few driveways along the route, with most access made via side roads. Most driveways that do exist are restricted to right-in/right-out access only. Along much of its route, especially near the downtown area, the expressway is bordered by Division Street along the north side of the road and John Street along the south side of the road. These two streets act as frontage roads for the expressway; many of the on-ramps and off-ramps from the highway connect with Division Street or John Street instead of the road actually labeled on the exit sign. This allows drivers to continue on to other streets that do not have their own exits.
