Driving Into Chicago

[G&T]

So I am going to be driving from Albany, NY to Palos Park on Friday. This is a 13 hour drive.

 

We are trying to figure out when the best time to leave is. The latest we will leave is 4 am, but we will get to northwest Indiana heading into Chicago at around 4pm on the Friday of Memorial day weekend.

 

Anyone have any idea how bad the traffic will be? Will most people be heading the other way? Should we be leaving earlier?

 

Thanks!

Edited May 26, 2010 by G&T

[Balta1701]

So I am going to be driving from Albany, NY to Palos Park on Friday. This is a 13 hour drive.

 

We are trying to figure out when the best time to leave is. The latest we will leave is 4 am, but we will get to northwest Indiana heading into Chicago at around 4pm on the Friday of Memorial day weekend.

 

Anyone have any idea how bad the traffic will be? Will most people be heading the other way? Should we be leaving earlier?

 

Thanks!

Heading into Chicago in the afternoon is "usually" not bad, depending on construction and accident schedules.

 

If you're really worried about traffic, know your bypass routes. (i.e. going into the city you have the choice of 80/94, the road I hate more than any other road I've ever driven, and 90 - the tollway). If 94 jams, there are usually 2-3 roads you can take north up to hit 90 and still be able to reach the city

[SouthsideDon48]

If I were you, I would take I-80 from northwest indiana and get off on the Harlem Ave. North exit, and just drive Harlem ave until you get to palos park. As a person from the area, I always feel taking Harlem and other roads such as LaGrange is faster, but that's cause I've been up and down those roads all my life.

 

Chances are your mapquest directions from Palos Park to downtown Chicago will tell you to take the Eisenhower Expressway from LaGrange road. That sucks, because I actually hate the Eisenhower. I love taking I-57 (from I-80) to I-94 to get downtown, I just like I-57 better, it's just a ncie scenic drive and you get to see all various parts of the city on the way (such as some of the far south suburbs, the awesome run-down appearance of some South Side homes, then the "stretch run" of driving towards downtown with all the skyscrapers in the horizon.)

 

 

[daa84]

If I were you, I would take I-80 from northwest indiana and get off on the Harlem Ave. North exit, and just drive Harlem ave until you get to palos park. As a person from the area, I always feel taking Harlem and other roads such as LaGrange is faster, but that's cause I've been up and down those roads all my life.

 

Chances are your mapquest directions from Palos Park to downtown Chicago will tell you to take the Eisenhower Expressway from LaGrange road. That sucks, because I actually hate the Eisenhower. I love taking I-57 (from I-80) to I-94 to get downtown, I just like I-57 better, it's just a ncie scenic drive and you get to see all various parts of the city on the way (such as some of the far south suburbs, the awesome run-down appearance of some South Side homes, then the "stretch run" of driving towards downtown with all the skyscrapers in the horizon.)

i'm guessing you mean take the stevenson (55) downtown from palos park and not the Ike (290) which is much farther north

 

About 4 years ago 80/94 aka the borman was horrendous....always traffic, but they repaved it and in recent years its gotten alot better IMO....if you leave at 4 am Albany time, and have no setbacks along the way...youd be hitting the bad part around 3:30 which should be ok....if you hit a setback of about an hour....things may get interesting. The truth of the matter, however, is that no matter where you are, any major expressway is going to have traffic at 5pm....

 

The best way to go is gonna be 80/94 to 294 and then get off at 127th and take that over ...I believe that is how mapquest will tell you to do it as well....if you take 80 to Harlem like was suggested, you are a good 7 miles south of where you need to be, and thatll take you an extra 20-25 min on Harlem IMO

[southsider2k5]

Heading into Chicago in the afternoon is "usually" not bad, depending on construction and accident schedules.

 

If you're really worried about traffic, know your bypass routes. (i.e. going into the city you have the choice of 80/94, the road I hate more than any other road I've ever driven, and 90 - the tollway). If 94 jams, there are usually 2-3 roads you can take north up to hit 90 and still be able to reach the city

 

They are working on both of them right now. My advice would be to turn on something like AM 780 and listen to traffic reports as you get close, and adjust route based on that. I would imagine outbound would be the nightmare right at that time, but with construction, you never know.

[RockRaines]

So I am going to be driving from Albany, NY to Palos Park on Friday. This is a 13 hour drive.

 

We are trying to figure out when the best time to leave is. The latest we will leave is 4 am, but we will get to northwest Indiana heading into Chicago at around 4pm on the Friday of Memorial day weekend.

 

Anyone have any idea how bad the traffic will be? Will most people be heading the other way? Should we be leaving earlier?

 

Thanks!

Skyway to stoney island to lakeshore is a good bet.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

So I am going to be driving from Albany, NY to Palos Park on Friday. This is a 13 hour drive.

 

We are trying to figure out when the best time to leave is. The latest we will leave is 4 am, but we will get to northwest Indiana heading into Chicago at around 4pm on the Friday of Memorial day weekend.

 

Anyone have any idea how bad the traffic will be? Will most people be heading the other way? Should we be leaving earlier?

 

Thanks!

 

Did that trip last year Labor Day weekend. Stayed in Michigan City though cuz the first day we went to a ND game. It was a pretty boring 12 hour drive. Never encountered any traffic problems anywhere.

[G&T]

Thank y'all. Makes me feel better.