[1] The eastern portion of IL 137 carries part of the Amstutz Expressway, a short freeway between downtown Waukegan and Lake Michigan.

However, street signs name it Buckley Road, which continues west as IL 137 turns northwest.

The exception is the Amstutz Expressway (a short, limited-access road in downtown Waukegan), which runs from Sheridan Road near the southern border of Waukegan to Greenwood Avenue roughly two miles (3.2 km) north, where the expressway abruptly ends; IL 137 follows Greenwood Avenue west a short distance back to Sheridan Road and continues north through Beach Park, Zion, and Winthrop Harbor before terminating at the state line.

[11] The Amstutz Expressway was built in the 1970s in an attempt to ease traffic in Waukegan’s downtown area, but is now also known as the "road to nowhere".

[12] The 2.9-mile (4.7 km), four-lane highway was intended to be a connecting route for the downtown area, but a critical link through the neighboring village of North Chicago was never built, and the factories that the expressway was designed to serve have since closed.

[13] Because it is used so little, this short stretch of highway has been the setting for filming such movies and television programs as Groundhog Day, The Blues Brothers,[14] The Ice Harvest, Batman Begins,[15] and Chicago Fire.

[16] At one point, the expressway was proposed to extend south from Grand Avenue to I-94 (Tri-State Tollway); the extension was designated as Federal-Aid Primary (FAP) 437.