route thru Chicago area

I am in Elkhart now and leaving tomorrow morning heading westward. I will be taking US-31 south to US-24 to headed west. Yip it is a little out of the way, but no Chicago traffic and I am not in a hurry to get to western Montana.

US-30 is a slow stop and go crawl through the industrial cities of northern Indiana and the large suburbs south of Chicago. I-80 is a multi-lane superhighway through the same area, and it carries extremely heavy traffic, particularly where I-80, I-90 and I-94 are sharing the same road in NE Illinois.

If you hit I-80 at the wrong time, e.g. they are trying to clear away a wreck, it can be a dead stop and long wait. If you hit it at the right time, you might sail through at 50-60 mph, but it does get hectic with fast drivers cutting in and out of any open sections they find. You'll never make 50 mph going across US-30, you would be very lucky to average 30 mph from I-65 to Joliet.

Neither route goes through Chicago, both cross well south of the city, but there are lots of old industrial cities and bedroom communities that close.

First US-numbered highway to cross well south of Chicago is US-24, but even that has frequent small towns with very slow (as low as 20 mph) speed limits and some congested areas of its own. It is also one of the diagonal routes, running southwest from Detroit through Fort Wayne towards Kansas City before becoming a more east-west route in Kansas and Colorado.

I've used the state highways, 10 in Indiana, 114 and 17 in Illinois, to cross Indiana and Illinois south of the congestion.

But what is the better alternative depends on the longer route, from where to where, because if you are trying to get across the bottom of Lake Michigan and then directly west or northwest, a route well south of Chicago takes you a long way (and a long time) out of your way. But if you are going from Toledo toward the southwest, US-24 is a good start, until you connect with an Interstate to take you south more quickly (like I-57 + I-74, or I-55 to I-70).

Sorry guys about the post thru Atlanta - did not mean to try to hijack. Thought I was posting a new topic.

Be aware there is construction on 90/39 in Wisconsin between the Illinois state line and Madison, with night time lane closures. It's also very heavy Northbound on Friday afternoons and Southbound on Sunday afternoons.

robbiesgram wrote:
Stay far far away from 30, it goes through the burbs of Chicago, with awful stop & go city traffic, lights every block. The last time I drove it, the potholes were big enough to lose a VW Bug in them.

I80, even if there is traffic, is 4 lane, much better. As Bumpy said if going north, I39 is the way to go.

^^ This X 1,000. I live off 30 just west of Chicago and it is always under construction and never seems to get any better ... stay away from it. Bumpy is right, 80 to 39 if going north. Time your trip so you are in the chicago area mid to late morning, or after dinner ... 7:00pm or so it is not too bad.

Why are you tagging a Fl to TN question onto an oldish Chicago one?

I am leaving Tampa FL and headed to Gatlinburg TN to observe eclipse. I have reservations for Friday thru to Wed. My issue is getting to Gatlinburg, I have a 38ft with Honda CRV in tow and don't want to go over the Smokey Mountain parkway.
This means I have to probably "do" Atlanta.

Anyone got any ideas on my best course of action to get there?

paulj wrote:

hornet28 wrote:

sgip2000 wrote:
There are 3 digit interstates that go around the city. Most are toll-free.

Where are they? 294 and 355 are both toll roads

He must have I205 in mind - but that's around Portland, not Chicago.

I think Portland would be just a bit out of the way, but it sure would avoid Chicago traffic. LOL

hornet28 wrote:

sgip2000 wrote:
There are 3 digit interstates that go around the city. Most are toll-free.

Where are they? 294 and 355 are both toll roads

He must have I205 in mind - but that's around Portland, not Chicago.

sgip2000 wrote:
There are 3 digit interstates that go around the city. Most are toll-free.

Where are they? 294 and 355 are both toll roads