Avoid tolls in northern illinois'

I didn't take that as an insult. I know little to nothing of ChiTown outside of the toll roads. I didn't transit that area enough to warrant doing any exploration off the beaten paths. I'm more of a NYC Metro kind of driver - and there you practically need to be pushing the car in front of you to keep someone from squeezing between you and them.

 

yea the tolls here in northern illinois stink to go to school round trip i had to go through between 4 and 6 tolls depending on the way i took

 

Tolls are just part of the game. I did an OTR stint for a friend of mine once who didn't want to pay the tolls in Indiana and wanted me to run Hy.6 (?). In some small town, I was stopped at a stoplight, the light turns green, I let out the clutch, and at that second, out of the corner of my eye, I see a young girl on a bicycle ride into the intersection, I mashed the brakes, almost hit her. After that, I paid the tolls out of my pocket.

 

53/45/41 are about the only NS routes you can rely on--there are some others but they are sketchy--none are great but doable--really gotta kinda look at map where you are going---places like Libertyville--Mundelien--etc(far far north side)arent to awful bad--start getting down west of O hare--you can run 53 to 290--but ya gotta get over to 53 to start with--and traversing W-E....course in area can be a real pain--all depends on what you are doing....
When i run up into the Badger or points north and west--I run 41--BUT I can pick my times so its a little easier--and as most folks on here know---I very very rarely pay tolls...