Whats the deal with Chicago??

Chicago, just like any other big city, is easier if you run it very often. The more you run it, the more you are likely to know how to get around the traffic problems. And there are some times that are better than others, but as long as you avoid the inbound and outbound rush hour traffic, you can actually move pretty well around Chicago. Now tonight, I did hot traffic there, which was kind of unusual, down on the south end of 294 near the state line. Traffic slowed at Torrence due to a couple of accidents, and I ended up getting off at Cline, jumping over to US 12, and taking that the rest of my way over to Michigan and reentering 94 at the 4 mile mark in Michigan. But, 94 was clear by the 12 mile mark in Indiana, and I took the route I did because I was over on the drives, so I was going around the scales by cutting through Michigan City.

Bottom line, Chicago is a much better town to get through and around than many others I can name. I run it 2-5 times a week, and rarely have problems anc spend most of my time in high gear. Once in a while there are slowdowns, usually caused by accidents, but it's nowehre as bad as that loop around Atlanta, or anything having to do with Washington DC. And comparative to NYC, it's paradise.

 

Actually, all of the improvements on the south end have resulted in 4 lanes minimum through there, with wide shoulders. The current project, which just wrapped up for the year, was the prep work for widening the road from about 163rd up to 95th street, so that it can become 4 lane in the next upgrade. before that can be done, they had to go in and widen the shoulders, add the supports for underpasses that get wider, and all the work needed to widen the roadway.

Some of thise projects are huge, considering what it took to completely rebuild the huge bridge over Markham railyard on the south end, where they not only added lanes and shoulders, nut also completely rebuilt the bridge with new steel.

I'm not a fan of Illinois DOT, but in this case, they have done a well run job, much better than their usual work. At all times, they kept 3 lanes flowing through there, except for late at night. Gotta give credit where credit is due.

 

Viaduct Clearances by Street

http://egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_EDITORIAL/ViaductClearances_July.pdf

 

Wait, Did someone actually give ID(i)OT credit??!?!?!?!

 

It can be a pain in rush hour. If you can go through early AM. One load I had delivered close to Downtown. My Atlas did not show the streets very well. There was a phone number in the section pertaining low overpasses. I called. It was 2AM this guy gave me directions that took me right to the receivers door. I was shocked.

 

Chicago is a lot easier to get around than a lot of big cities. But traffic is allways bad during the day and they only have 2 seasons there. Winter and road construction. And lots of low bridges.But I'll take Chicago over NYC or Boston any day.

 

winter and road construction. isn't that the truth. seriously, chicago isn't as bad as some of the other places mentioned though. much rather be in chicago than NY.

 

Alot of drivers just dont like IL period. That stretch of I-55 is one of my least fav routes in the country. 55mph and bears hide very well along the median.