Bypassing Chicago (Rockford, Naperville, DeKalb: construction, living, suburban)

[j1n]

Hello! I'm hoping we might get some good info on routes to entirely avoid Chicago. We'll be coming through Gary, IN and our destination is the Minneapolis area. Thanks in advance! And happy Mother's Day!

[movin1]

There are two options, look at a map. Avoid high traffic times of the day and you will blow through the bit of Chicago area on your route.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Minn...3!2d41.6020403


https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Minn...41.6020403!5i1

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by j1n

Hello! I'm hoping we might get some good info on routes to entirely avoid Chicago. We'll be coming through Gary, IN and our destination is the Minneapolis area. Thanks in advance! And happy Mother's Day!

Assuming you have I-pass to pay all the tolls

1) Use I-294 Tristate Tollway to I-90 then on past Rockford. Watch for construction. Route avoids Chicago on suburban tollway.

2) Use I-80 to I-355. Pay some toll on I-80. Pay more toll on I-355. Route continues on I-90 to Rockford. Route goes past far west suburban area.

3) With the least toll take I-80 west then I-39 into Rockford. Pay some toll on I-80 then another toll on I-39/I-90 past Rockford. Once you get to Wisconsin is toll free.

Prefer I-90 over I-94 in Wisconsin because it avoids Milwaukee.

I-90 duals with I-94 from Madison north. I-94 takes you to Twin Cities.

I-94 in Wisconsin takes you to Twin Cities area.

[UniversalTraveler]

I used to travel for a living and was in the area you've mentioned many times. If it were me and I wanted to completely avoid the Metro Chicago area, a much less stressful and pleasant drive would be taking I-94 and after Gary will merge with I-80 Westbound. Take that till you get to LaSalle IL. and hop on I-39 North and it will eventually merge with I-90 near Madison, WI. This way you can avoid the rather solid and sometimes crazy traffic of the Metro Chicago as well as Milwaukee.

[Bitey]

Are you coming FROM Gary, as in, it's one of your stopovers? If so, there's really no way to avoid the 80/94 bottleneck around the southern tip of the lake. If you want to avoid most of the Chicago area altogether, you could just take I-80 all the way out to I-39, then take I-39 north to catch I-94 again in Madison. It may not be the quickest route but it will probably be the least stressful route if you don't like congestion. Otherwise, use your GPS to tell you whether 80 to 294 to 90, or 80 to 355 to 90, as traffic conditions on each respective route will determine which is quicker.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by GWoodle

Assuming you have I-pass to pay all the tolls

1) Use I-294 Tristate Tollway to I-90 then on past Rockford. Watch for construction. Route avoids Chicago on suburban tollway.

2) Use I-80 to I-355. Pay some toll on I-80. Pay more toll on I-355. Route continues on I-90 to Rockford. Route goes past far west suburban area.

3) With the least toll take I-80 west then I-39 into Rockford. Pay some toll on I-80 then another toll on I-39/I-90 past Rockford. Once you get to Wisconsin is toll free.

Prefer I-90 over I-94 in Wisconsin because it avoids Milwaukee.

I-90 duals with I-94 from Madison north. I-94 takes you to Twin Cities.

I-94 in Wisconsin takes you to Twin Cities area.

Yep, I'd go with 2 or 3.

[j1n]

Originally Posted by Bitey

Are you coming FROM Gary, as in, it's one of your stopovers?

Yeah...I know Gary's reputation and that it seems like maybe a weird place to stop. We're traveling from VA, spending the night in Remington, IN, and are stopping through Gary on our way.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by fusillirob1983

Yep, I'd go with 2 or 3.

The other route I would want to suggest is a middle ground of routes 2 or 3 suggested by Gwoodle.

I'll call it Route 2.5

2.5) Use I-80 to I-355. Pay some toll on I-80. Pay more toll on I-355. Pay more toll on I-88 and take I-88 to I-39 just past DeKalb.

It really depends on the time of day, but when heading west I-80 runs to the southwest, and I-88 heads to the northwest. The section of I-355 you would use between I-80 and I-88 typically doesn't see as much traffic as the part of I-355 closer to the interchange with I-90, or the traffic you may encounter on I-90.

I-88 running from I-355 is typically not congested, and really, once you're west of Naperville there's not much traffic at all.

Current time (12:37pm on a Monday)

Route 2 shows 6 hours 53 minutes
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Gary...d44.977753!3e0

Route 2.5 shows 6 hours 59 minutes

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Gary...d44.977753!3e0

Route 3 shows 7 hours and 15 minutes.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Gary...d44.977753!3e0

[ChiGuy2.5]

No matter what you decide, I strongly encourage that you avoid I-90/94 north of the city (the Kennedy). The construction has made it a complete mess. I heard it was 2 hours from Ohare to Downtown today.

I also recommend avoiding I-294 during rush hour because traffic is terrible there too, due to construction.

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by j1n

Hello! I'm hoping we might get some good info on routes to entirely avoid Chicago. We'll be coming through Gary, IN and our destination is the Minneapolis area. Thanks in advance! And happy Mother's Day!

Coming from Gary IN in the morning you will have to be tuned for traffic radio. I-80/I-94 a mess to the IL state line. Not sure how bad I-294 TriState could be.

Dan Ryan I-90/I-94 a mess to downtown. Maybe I-290 Eisenhower better than continuing Kennedy I-90.I-94.


May be confusing to some by using names for interstates instead of numbers.

If you need to avoid tolls you will need a good map to get around.