In October 2009, a special council approved a unified vision for a plan for most of the Lake County portion of Illinois 120, which includes a long discussed bypass around downtown Grayslake.

[3] In this area, the road curves due east, crosses the Metra Union Pacific/Northwest Line tracks[4] near the station, then briefly heads north before turning once more to the northwest.

Immediately after doing so, it passes a signalized intersection with IL 47 (Seminary Avenue/Eastwood Drive) before traveling north of the McHenry County Fairgrounds and then heading out of the Woodstock area and back into a prairie setting.

[3] For just a slight instance, it travels through Round Lake Park[7] before entering the town of Hainesville where it passes the Metra Milwaukee District/North Line tracks,[4] the eastern terminus of IL 134, and a few businesses before going into the more populated city of Grayslake.

After passing a shopping plaza on the south, the next stretch of roadway contains a mix of other businesses and residential developments, as well as a branch of the Lake Forest Hospital, while also widening to four lanes on its approach to a major junction with U.S. Route 45.

[3] Past the intersection, the road passes a commercial plaza and again narrows back to two lanes before going by more neighborhoods on the north, and some open areas that contain the Almond Marsh Forest Preserve on the south.

[3] It next enters part of the Waukegan area and shortly encounters an at-grade intersection with O'Plaine Road and then continues with more grade separation at the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) tracks[8] and Greenleaf Avenue.

[17] The currently stalled project has been planned to extend the limited-access expressway, which carries IL 53 and terminates at Lake-Cook Road, north to connect to the 120 bypass, and then branch off toward U.S. Route 12 to the west and Interstate 94 to the east.

[20] In 2006,[21] a feasibility study got underway by a special corridor planning council which was composed of groups from nearby communities and local government officials and took public input.

[24] On October 14, 2009, the Route 120 Corridor Planning Council Governance Board came to a consensus and approved a vision for the project which recommends that the bypass be built as a four lane arterial highway with limited-access.

The proposed roadway would include such features as a multi-use path, bioswale grassy median, landscaped raised berms, in-pavement lighting, all electronic tolling, and innovative interchange designs.

[27][28] In 2016, Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor withdrew his support for the project, issuing a statement indicating his belief that "financial and political realities have become insurmountable" and would prevent the extension from happening in the environmental way envisioned in the 2012 report.

Opponents continued to criticize the project as expensive and harmful to the environment, while supporters believe it will provide congestion relief and a boon to the economies of Lake and McHenry counties.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, included the Route 53 extension in a list of "nine wasteful highway boondoggles," pegging the cost at $2.3 billion and saying it "would jeopardize the environment and lacks a viable funding plan.