Location
Jackson County, Illinois is centrally located in the heart of the Midwest and positioned in close proximity to several major metropolitan cities including, St. Louis (100 miles), Nashville (200 miles), and Indianapolis (250 miles). Chicago, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Louisville, and Cincinnati are also within a 6-hour driving distance. The county has easy access to destinations across the region and country through major interstate highways, local airports, railway, and rivers. Residents and businesses of Jackson County all enjoy the low cost of living here while still having amenities of larger cities within a short drive.
Transportation
Major interstate highways can be easily accessed with drive times to I-57 (15 minutes), I-24 (20 minutes), and I-64 (30 minutes). Illinois Route 13 also runs through Jackson County as the main east/west highway through Southern Illinois.
Southern Illinois Airport, located between Carbondale and Murphysboro, provides general aviation services that can accommodate aircraft up to and including a Boeing 757. In neighboring Williamson County, Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois offers direct passenger flights to Chicago O’Hare Airport.
Two Class I railways, Union Pacific and Canadian National, run through Jackson County. Amtrak passenger service offers trips to Chicago, Memphis, and New Orleans via the City of New Orleans route. Construction is underway on a $23 million project for the Southern Illinois Multimodal Station in Carbondale which will house Amtrak and multiple mass transit agencies which will provide increased transportation efficiency across the county and region.
Jackson County is positioned along the Mississippi River and includes the Jackson-Union Counties Regional Port District. The port district is attractive to businesses due to its proximity to a network of state and U.S. highways. Additionally, there are no locks and dams located south of the district which results in reduced costs for shippers.
Photo credit: IDOT