Stay Out of Chicago Weekends in June!

[Dennis_M_M]

The Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94) through Chicago will have lanes closed three weekends in June:

6/13-15 - for 55 hours all Eastbound lanes closed at Ohio/Ontario feeder. Eastbound traffic will use two temporary, 15 MPH lanes.

6/20-22 - for 55 hours all Westbound lanes closed at Ohio/Ontario feeder, detour will be on surface streets including a turn around!

6/27-29 - for 55 hours Eastbound Ohio exit (that handles all downtown traffic will be closed.

IDOT is predicting massive traffic jams on ALL area expressways. Detour routes are i-294 (toll road and heavy traffic any day); farther west on I-80 to I-355, also a toll road and pricy - $29.60 for a PU with a 2 axle fiver or a 2 axle MH with toad, higher for a three axle.

Personally I would recommend I-80 West to I-39 going from Indiana to Wisconsin or the reverse.

[dodge_guy]

rockhillmanor wrote:
When I went full time and headed south 'everyone' said beware, watch out, avoid or go around......Atlanta. The traffic is terrible.

HA! Once you lived and traveled the roads in Chicago EVERYTHING else is a piece of cake. I laughed all the way thru Atlanta MH towing DURING 'their so-called' rush hour! :B

Thank you! I`m not the only one that asked where the traffic was on Friday afternoon! piece of cake! I think they are the same ones that cry at an inch of snow?

[rockhillmanor]

When I went full time and headed south 'everyone' said beware, watch out, avoid or go around......Atlanta. The traffic is terrible.

HA! Once you lived and traveled the roads in Chicago EVERYTHING else is a piece of cake. I laughed all the way thru Atlanta MH towing DURING 'their so-called' rush hour! :B

[FlatBroke]

Drove through there last year to pick up and bring home our present fifth wheel. Toll on an interstate, what BS. Not sure I would do it again. Defiantly won't if me wife goes with me.

[rk911]

JEBar wrote:
info appreciated .... we are scheduled to be going through there on 6/21 .... your tip gives us time to figure out an alternate route

Jim

where are you coming from and where are you going to? we can likely suggest an alternative.

[dodge_guy]

When I leave for anywhere east or south, I leave early in the a.m. this puts me in front of rush hour and I never have an issue. other than that I stay as far away from Chicago as possible. I won`t even pay a toll in the state anymore.

[rockhillmanor]

When I go to Florida for the winter it is a straight shot to go thru 'past' Chicago on 294. But that is now just as insane as the Kennedy thru Chicago.

Now I head out of Lake Geneva, WI and take 39, 65 down south now. Ahh what a pleasant trip to the sunshine state.

I NEVER travel thru or anywhere near Chicago. I will drive hours and miles to go around it. I did hard time commuting to Chicago for work for way too many years.

[rockhillmanor]

RV daytrader wrote:
I drove thru Chicago ONCE, on a Sunday night around 9:00 PM and it was horrible then!...cant imagine how bad it must during rush hour!!

I'm from Chicago and 'back in the day' there actually was a rush hour.

One in the morning and one in the afternoon. You COULD time your trip thru Chicago before, between and after rush hour........NOT anymore.:(
Rush hour runs around the clock. I think the 2:00 am slot window of opportunity still might exist to slip thru Chicago unscathed.

[JEBar]

info appreciated .... we are scheduled to be going through there on 6/21 .... your tip gives us time to figure out an alternate route

Jim

[bhh]

Thanks for the heads-up. I was planning to pass through Chicago this week and I've re-routed myself.

I used to live in Chicago and hated the traffic. One of the major reasons I moved away. When you hear a traffic report here, it's something like, "Accident on certain expressway, right lane closed, traffic backed up to {previous exit}" In Chicago it's "Point A to Point B, 35 minutes, Point A to Point C 55 minutes, etc." It's always heavy traffic, whether it's rush hour or 9pm on Saturday night.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

SCVJeff wrote:
Llive and direct from Los Angeles and heading to Chicago.

It's CARMAGEDDON

The first "Carmageddon" event for closing ALL lanes of the busiest freeway in the US, (the 405 in L.A., CA) in 2011 - made for *GREAT* traffic flow!

Heading North from Orange County (Sat. at 2PM) traffic seemed pretty normal, but began thinning after passing Long Beach.

After passing LAX, I had several alternate plans to get to West L.A. - expecting big ("mega") traffic back-ups.
By the time I got to the 10 (and the detour), traffic was down to nothing!
Took the last available off-ramp (National Blvd) before the detour, expected a big back up of cars on the off ramp....zero!

Even the surface streets were a breeze!

It's a pretty frequent commute for me - and CM Saturday, was the absolute best - for *lack* of traffic -
I have ever encountered!..:C

Can't speak for the alternate routes from North to South -or- for the other lane/freeway closing events since Carmageddon ("JAMZILLA", etc) on the 405.

Sooooo - *If* the Chicago folks heed the warning, just might be great for traffic flow..:@

BTW - experienced something similar when the summer Olympics were in L.A.
Had neighbors who planned to be out-of-town due to the anticipated traffic nightmare/s.
Attended several events at various locations on weekends in the So. CA area & the predicted traffic jams never happened.


~

[RV_daytrader]

I drove thru Chicago ONCE, on a Sunday night around 9:00 PM and it was horrible then!...cant imagine how bad it must during rush hour!!

[SCVJeff]

Dennis M M wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
Llive and direct from Los Angeles and heading to Chicago.

It's CARMAGEDDON

Yes, IDOT actually used that term in their press release.

Just FYI, they are replacing a bridge at the Ohio/Ontario feeder, so the pavement beneath it will not be improved at all!

And the second was known as JAMZILLA

[rk911]

Dennis M M wrote:
The Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94) through Chicago will have lanes closed three weekends in June:

6/13-15 - for 55 hours all Eastbound lanes closed at Ohio/Ontario feeder. Eastbound traffic will use two temporary, 15 MPH lanes.

6/20-22 - for 55 hours all Westbound lanes closed at Ohio/Ontario feeder, detour will be on surface streets including a turn around!

6/27-29 - for 55 hours Eastbound Ohio exit (that handles all downtown traffic will be closed.

IDOT is predicting massive traffic jams on ALL area expressways. Detour routes are i-294 (toll road and heavy traffic any day); farther west on I-80 to I-355, also a toll road and pricy - $29.60 for a PU with a 2 axle fiver or a 2 axle MH with toad, higher for a three axle.

Personally I would recommend I-80 West to I-39 going from Indiana to Wisconsin or the reverse.

i'd simply remove the words 'in june' from the thread title and then follow that advice. and I've lived in/around Chicago for the past 63+ years. one day I will take my own advice.

[Dennis_M_M]

SCVJeff wrote:
Llive and direct from Los Angeles and heading to Chicago.

It's CARMAGEDDON

Yes, IDOT actually used that term in their press release.

Just FYI, they are replacing a bridge at the Ohio/Ontario feeder, so the pavement beneath it will not be improved at all!

Also I should correct the tolls on I-355 - it would be $9. I counted all the exit tolls the first time, oops.