Chicago Loop to Great Lakes Commute (Waukegan, Evanston: transferring to, buying, construction)

[marinemail05]

So I'm transferring to a job in North Chicago by Great Lakes Naval station soon. I was looking at buying a place near by but i've been thinking lately that it would be fun to live in the loop or somewhere downtown for a year since i'm a single 24 male. Looking on traffic.com it shows about a 45 min - 1 hour commute via US-41 Lake shore dr. Has anyone done this? It would only be for 1 year. Let me know what you think.

[chet everett]

Travel time like that is not realistic!

LSD to evanston is going to be over an join from the loop in rush hour with congestion!

North Chicago is much too far to consider a daily drive from the Loop.

Commuter trains might be an option, though reverse commute schedule has limited options.

I would recommend looking further north, but honestly traffic from even Evanston to Great Lakes is going to be very slow moving.

You are certainly having a manageable commute and savingmtrips to Chicago for weekend.

[SJaye]

LSD doesn't even go as far as Evanston. One of the main problems with LSD northbound from the Loop is that when the road ends at Hollywood, you are quite far from any highway. You can follow US 41, which meets up with the Edens in Skokie, but you will go through A LOT OF LIGHTS on that route. US 41 in Lake County, however, is acceptable. If you were to make that drive, I'd recommend taking 90/94 out of downtown and then the Edens (94), following 41 when 94 splits off the Edens as opposed to the Spur.

That being said, reverse commute traffic is pretty bad in Chicago, and I would definitely not count on getting to and from work in 45-60. I'd recommend taking a look at the METRA schedule too. The time it will take you to get there on METRA will not likely be beat driving with traffic. If you are okay with the length of that commute then great, but I know personally it would get to me after 3-4 weeks.

[marinemail05]

Thanks for the information. Sounds like it will be harder than i thought...... I might just look for something up north and then commute down to the city for the weekends. 1 hour is about the most i would want to commute each way. Reverse commute on the Metra is pretty limited too. Thanks again!

[marinemail05]

I did see that I could take the Metra from the Uptown area to Great lakes in a little over an hour with walking time so that might be an option as well.

[marinemail05]

Oh and to clarify the directions from Traffic.com were take 94 to US 41 and that was leaving around 630am.

[nikitakolata]

Originally Posted by marinemail05

I did see that I could take the Metra from the Uptown area to Great lakes in a little over an hour with walking time so that might be an option as well.

Doing this kind of commute isn't impossible, but in my opinion it sure wouldn't be fun. I have a friend who worked at the VA hospital in North Chicago and lived in Bucktown. Sometimes she drove to work, sometimes she took the metra from the Clybourn station. She survived doing this for about 2 years, so I know it is doable. But, had it been me, I would have just lived closer to North Chicago where rents are cheaper and commuted to the city for the weekends (staying with friends overnight when possible).

So, it's possible and if you plan to use metra for the commute it could be not that bad. I commuted from Geneva to Chicago (via metra) for work for about a year and that was about a 2 hour commute each way. It was exhausting, but I survived. I would personally never attempt to drive a commute that is quoted as being more than an hour, the traffic would just get me way too annoyed; at least on the train you can read, go online (if you get one of those clear internet things or the like), work, etc.

[marinemail05]

Thanks for the tip! yeah i'll be working at the north chicago VA hospital. Another employee there and i are thinking about getting a place together. Like i said, for 1 year i think it would be doable. I think taking the metra would be the best idea and maybe occasionally driving since we could car pool together.

[chicagojlo]

The Metra is reliable on that line, several of the employers in the area also run shuttles to/from the station so you might want to check that out. There aren't any express trains on that line so it will always be minimum an hour from Ogilvie to Great Lakes, but as others said the car won't get there any faster, even at 6.30am.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by marinemail05

Thanks for the tip! yeah i'll be working at the north chicago VA hospital. Another employee there and i are thinking about getting a place together. Like i said, for 1 year i think it would be doable. I think taking the metra would be the best idea and maybe occasionally driving since we could car pool together.

If you are commuting by car at off hours it is doable from a few areas close to Metra stations. I've driven from the Ravenswood stop to the outskirts of Waukegan at 6AM in about 1 hour. At rush hour it would be another story entirely.

The Metra UP-N line is undergoing construction right now (http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/utility_landing/newsroom/newsroom/Message_to_riders_of_the_Union_Pacific_North_Line. html - broken link), and their schedules have changed. They've updated the schedule in the last few days, so make sure to recheck the schedule if you were looking at schedules before then.

I think Ravenswood and Evanston Davis stops on Metra would be good areas to investigate. Both have a lot going on around them, and you can also use other public transit options to get around the city from those locations. Rogers Park is decent too, but there's not quite as much to do around there. Metra runs infrequently on weekends and you'll want some other way to into the city on the weekends (especially if you're going to be staying out late).