How bad is rush hour? (Chicago, Washington: rental car, rental, vacation home)

[Snd485]

I'm booking a flight from Washington, DC to O'hare next month. I'll be arriving on a Thursday afternoon/evening and then picking up a rental car to drive to Northwest Indiana (Valparaiso). I'm trying to figure out what time to leave so that I'm not stuck in rush hour traffic. My question is -

Will rush hour traffic be an issue for my trip route? From a google maps search, looks like I'll be taking 294-S to 80/94E. And if so, would it be around the normal times, 4-6 or so?

Thanks in advance. I grew up in the area but I seldom drive...and I had an awful time trying to get to Dulles once (for those of you familiar with the DC area) at rush hour and would rather avoid a similar experience!

[hlcc]

There might be other options. You can take the South Shore Line from downtown Chicago and get off at Porter and than take the V-Line bus to get to Valparaiso.

[MSchemist80]

294 and 80/94 can get busy during Rush hour but it is usually not as bad as the main Chicago expressways coming from Downtown like the Kennedy, Eisenhower, Dan Ryan, and Stevenson.

[myrc60]

She said she was picking up a CAR. Seriously you are better off driving than taking all of the different public transportation options you would need to take to get to Valpo! And if you're carrying luggage, it makes less sense. If you really don't need the car check into airport transportation but I do not know if this would be an option to Valpo.

Rush hour is basically 4-6 but if its a Friday it will start a little earlier. If extreme winter weather hits it will be much longer. But I wonder, if you are not used to driving if stop and go traffic might be easier for you to deal with.

[chet everett]

The comment about 294 being relatively uneffected by southeasterly traffic in the PM rush hour during February is mostly accurate -- while traffic volumes will spike it is unlikely that speeds will fall signficantly so long as there are no weather incidents or collisions to cause gawking motorists to crawl past.

There are significant volumes of traffic on the portion of 80/94 nearest the 65 junction, as this remains one of the most truck heavy stretches of the national interstate system, and speeds do routinely fall below 25 mph for about about a 10 mile stretch, so one should plan for that with sufficient fuel and such...

There is also a seasonal effect, as signficantly numbers of vacation home owners do head into Indian and Michigan during more pleasant weather which does back up even onto 294 but for a February visit should not be a concern...

Honestly the rush hour often does start well before 4 PM -- I personally I have been in bumper-to-bumper traffic starting as early 2:30 PM and during really awful periods it can last well past 7PM.

Even in the worst tie up the alternatives offered via rail transit are NOT time efficient -- Valporasio is not directly reachable via the South Shore (which takes a couple of hours to get from Millenium Station to South Bend...) and Amtrak service stopped nearly two decades ago...

[prelude91]

Originally Posted by hlcc

There might be other options. You can take the South Shore Line from downtown Chicago and get off at Porter and than take the V-Line bus to get to Valparaiso.

Worst Advise Ever.

[myrc60]

Originally Posted by prelude91

Worst Advise Ever.

I have used public transportation to get to O'Hare. While I did make it and caught my flight, it was an experience I vowed to never ever repeat. Now that I don't live there anymore, I've guaranteed it will never happen again! It should not be a surprise that dragging luggage to a subway station is not easy.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by myrc60

I have used public transportation to get to O'Hare. While I did make it and caught my flight, it was an experience I vowed to never ever repeat. Now that I don't live there anymore, I've guaranteed it will never happen again! It should not be a surprise that dragging luggage to a subway station is not easy.

If you live in Chicago, taking the 'L' to the airports is not a bad choice. However, taking it from a town that's far southeast of Chicago to the airport which is northwest of Chicago via one of the least-frequent train services is not going to be very efficient.

[myrc60]

Originally Posted by emathias

If you live in Chicago, taking the 'L' to the airports is not a bad choice. However, taking it from a town that's far southeast of Chicago to the airport which is northwest of Chicago via one of the least-frequent train services is not going to be very efficient.

Yup, too bad the poster that suggested that doesn't realize this! Always double check the information you get.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by myrc60

I have used public transportation to get to O'Hare. While I did make it and caught my flight, it was an experience I vowed to never ever repeat. Now that I don't live there anymore, I've guaranteed it will never happen again! It should not be a surprise that dragging luggage to a subway station is not easy.

Seriously? If I'm in the city and need to make a flight at O'hare, I'll use the Blue Line above all else since I know exaclty how long it will take. Screw messing with driving.