Work Lemont, school North Chicago, split the commute? (Park Ridge, Libertyville: home, neighborhood) - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

emzdanow · 04-30-2013, 01:08 PM

Hello everyone,

I have lived in NC my entire life and am planning to move to IL for job in Lemont. My GF is enrolling in school at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago (near Libertyville). We want to live together but Google maps says two locations are approx 50 min apart. Does anyone have a good suggestion for places to live in North Chicago area (I am willing to have longer commute to Lemont)? We are young-ish so any place with stuff to do would be nice. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Chicagoist123 · 04-30-2013, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emzdanow

Hello everyone,

I have lived in NC my entire life and am planning to move to IL for job in Lemont. My GF is enrolling in school at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago (near Libertyville). We want to live together but Google maps says two locations are approx 50 min apart. Does anyone have a good suggestion for places to live in North Chicago area (I am willing to have longer commute to Lemont)? We are young-ish so any place with stuff to do would be nice. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Oh geez that is quite the distance.

My suggestion, if you can live in the city and take the Metra. Is your job in Lemont near a Metra Line? It looks like your gf's school is relatively close to a metra line.

If not you can always try maybe Park Ridge? Nice downtown, close to the city.

marothisu · 04-30-2013, 01:24 PM

Well, I'd say that 50 minutes is rather optimistic IMO. The two are about 50 miles apart and the Google Maps portion only takes into account when the weather is normal and there's little traffic. If the weather is bad? Probably a few hours. If there is traffic, I'd say at least 90 minutes.

There is some good news in this IF you want to live in the city: The Metra train has a stop not too far from Rosalind Franklin. The stop it comes from is at the Ogilvie Train Station in the West Loop. The train ride up there would take about....70 minutes. There is ALSO a stop north of there near the Bucktown neighborhood. That means the train ride is probably closer to 60-65 minutes from there to RFU. Even more north of there, there is a stop in the Ravenswood neighborhood (55-60 minutes on the train).

You would probalby have to drive to Argonne but these two areas put you closer to where your commute wouldn't be as bad. The further north you go, the worse your commute would be by car, but it's something to think about and much better than driving from N. Chicago. I would NOT recommend driving from North Chicago to Argonne. You will hate your life. Of course some of this depends on monthly budget?

If you don't want to live in the city, I'd also consult the suburbs forum as this is the city forum.

Vlajos · 04-30-2013, 02:08 PM

Does your gf need to go to that school?

chet everett · 04-30-2013, 02:17 PM

While there is technically a rail station in historic downtown Lemont it is on the dreaded Heritage Corridor line which has about the worst schedule for any potentila reverse commuter, further the major employers around Lemont are generally not at all close to the historic downtown area but are clusterd closer to I-55.

One might do well to know these things before making suggestions to a couple whose needs are in the suburbs...

Chicagoist123 · 04-30-2013, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chet everett

While there is technically a rail station in historic downtown Lemont it is on the dreaded Heritage Corridor line which has about the worst schedule for any potentila reverse commuter, further the major employers around Lemont are generally not at all close to the historic downtown area but are clusterd closer to I-55.

One might do well to know these things before making suggestions to a couple whose needs are in the suburbs...

Right, which is why I think when it comes to advice I think the people in the burbs should stick to giving advice in the burbs forum and the people in the city should stick to giving advice in the city forums. I wish you would do that. In other words, it would be nice if you would butt out of Chicago forums, because it would be the equivlanet of us going into the suburban forums and giving advice about the burbs which we know little about.

This question should really be in the burbs portion.

ChiNaan · 04-30-2013, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicagoist123

Right, which is why I think when it comes to advice I think the people in the burbs should stick to giving advice in the burbs forum and the people in the city should stick to giving advice in the city forums.

That would be a novel concept.

chet everett · 04-30-2013, 03:14 PM

Technically there are worse spots to make a home base than inside Chicago -- to get to North Chicago from the NW side one could take 294, it would be about an hour. From that same spot it is also possible to get to Lemont in probably under 90 minutes. If you were in like Edison Park you might find a spot that had decent acces to the Blue Line or Metra for trips into hipper parts of Chicago and Edison Park itself is safe and mostly pleasant place to live...

It might come to shock to some people but there are actually a large number of people who live / work in the region and really don't freak out crossing over the borders of one town or another. When I worked as a Chicago Public Schools teacher at least a third of our staff lived outside the city. I often warn folks that though nightlife inside Chicago is far more diverse than what any suburb offers the hassles of an extended commute to / from work may outweigh any pluses. The OP is fairly unique in that the two endpoints are so far away there is no good compromise...

Chicagoist123 · 04-30-2013, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chet everett

Technically there are worse spots to make a home base than inside Chicago -- to get to North Chicago from the NW side one could take 294, it would be about an hour. From that same spot it is also possible to get to Lemont in probably under 90 minutes. If you were in like Edison Park you might find a spot that had decent acces to the Blue Line or Metra for trips into hipper parts of Chicago and Edison Park itself is safe and mostly pleasant place to live...

Wow useful and TRUE advice from Chet. Go figure!

ChiNaan · 04-30-2013, 03:19 PM

I know nothing about Lemont, but as far Rosalind Franklin goes, I have a friend who has commuted there from the city (first Bucktown, then Wicker Park) for a Ph.D. program for years and considers it to be well worth it to not live in the burbs. I'm assuming her classes don't always correspond to rush hour and aren't every day every semester, which would help with the commute.