Best route to get around Chicago?

[golfgal]

So the 290 route is better than the 355 route? There is a 5 mile or so difference in the length of those 2 routes so either is fine with me.

[chet everett]

I think drover was warning that the way that 290 intersects with 294 makes it . "cluster ____" suggests that avoiding it sensible. I agree. Technically there are connections to south 294 from 80 and 55 too so you could ride 355 all the way down their too, but I have found the junction of 88 & 294 to be better marked / more recently rebuilt so that speeds remain higher and that is why I recommend 355 to 88 to 294. of course accidents / weather can happen and turn on otherwise normal midday traffic scene into . horrorshow and thus I also recommend getting radio updates or "love traffic info" from GPS

[Chicago60614]

1:30pm on a Friday will be fine in most areas. Traffic starts to turn to crap quick after 2-3pm.

Just take I-90 to I-290 and then continue on I-294/I-80 to I-65.

Most direct route is fine at that hour. Just try not to make it any later than 1pm or 1:30pm.

[golfgal]

Thanks for the help. We got through the area with basically no traffic. We took the 290 route. We hear horror stories about the traffic in Chicago but it wasn't any worse then what we would have here at the same time. We were in the area about 1:30 and no issues at all--except how fast everyone drives--I was getting passed by old people in blue Buicks and I was driving quite a bit above the 55 posted .

[Drover]

When you say you took the 290 route, does that mean you came all the way into downtown and caught 90/94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) through the south side? Or did you do the 290-to-294 deal and stay out of the city proper?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Drover

When you say you took the 290 route, does that mean you came all the way into downtown and caught 90/94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) through the south side? Or did you do the 290-to-294 deal and stay out of the city proper?

290-294 route. Some day when we have more time it would be nice to drive through town, especially along Lake Shore Drive but not this trip.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by dcisive

From someone that traveled that area for a very long time for a living here's my suggestion. When you get to Madison WI on I-90/I-94 hop onto I-39 South and don't bother going anywhere near the Metro Chicago area. Stay on I-39 and if you MUST take I-80 East to your I-65 South after you get into Indiana. Just in case you might be headed to Indianapolis or in that area, I'd skip I-80 also and stick to I-39 South till you get to Bloomington IL. than grab I-74 Eastbound and take THAT to I-65. When I was traveling if I were going to be on I-65 anywhere from Lafayette to the South I'd take I-74 and just forget about I-80. For SURE forget about heading towards the Chicago Metro area altogether. You'll thank me trust me on this one

I don't think traffic will suck that bad at 1PM but the route is good for avoiding the area.