Moving to Chicago - Commute times to suburbs (Naperville, Oak Park: low income, apartment)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

My roommate had a commute like that when we lived in Wrigleyville. He left for work early, rolled in laaaaaaaate and was often wiped out after all that and he was still in his 20's at the time.

Comparing the commute from Wrigleyville to one from Wicker Park? Wicker Park one isn't amazing, but in no way is it close. You have to go down the Kennedy, which sucks, from Wrigleyville. At least from Wicker Park you can drive 2 miles south on Western, which isn't really that busy going south ever, directly to the Eisenhower.

Not saying it's perfect, but the commute from Wicker Park is a lot better than the commute from Wrigleyville because you can skip the Kennedy part.

[Drover]

Let's cut through the clutter and go straight to the bottom line: even with flex hours it won't be long before you start hating your life if you try commuting to Oak Brook from any city neighborhood that appeals primarily to white-collar professionals.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Get with the program, Chet. Paul Kahan runs Big Star in Wicker Park. Blackbird isn't his only restaurant and he didn't just win for Blackbird. He even has one in the Gold Coast now.

I forgot to mention that Big Star is going to be expanding and next door to that, One Off Hospitality, Kahan's company, is planning another restaurant in the former Cipollina Space. Rick Bayless is opening up another Xoco where Salud Tequila Lounge was on Milwaukee Ave as well.

[IamDebMorgan]

Hey Mathguy-
Thanks for the info. I have the long commute now. Anywhere from 35 minutes to an hour. I drive out to the suburbs and we live in the city. We will be switching roles with the move to Chicago. As mush as I hate the long drive I would never live in the suburbs, we both agree on that. Just not our style. We are to much into culture, density, walking, things being close (ha. other then work), the general vibe of the city to live anywhere but. Since I'm still looking for a job and most I've applied to seem to be in the Loop, it makes sense to be situated somewhere in between. Looks like there is a need to add some lanes to 290, 6 lane rd...really?!?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Drover

Let's cut through the clutter and go straight to the bottom line: even with flex hours it won't be long before you start hating your life if you try commuting to Oak Brook from any city neighborhood that appeals primarily to white-collar professionals.

Yes, unless you leave at 6 or 6:30am and don't hate doing so. It's still a long drive.

A suburb like Oak Park or Forest Park isn't the same type of suburb necessarily as something you'd find outside of Houston, but it's still not the same as the city. There are definite areas of walkability though with restaurants and bars.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by IamDebMorgan

Since I'm still looking for a job and most I've applied to seem to be in the Loop, it makes sense to be situated somewhere in between. Looks like there is a need to add some lanes to 290, 6 lane rd...really?!?

If you end up in Wicker Park and end up with a job in the Loop, then you can take the blue line there. It's like 10-12 minutes ride to get to the Loop. I guess it would depend on where in the Loop you need to go to, but no matter what, it is a fairly short ride.

As far as the comment about traffic lanes go - studies (i.e. real life examples) show that doesn't actually work in really populated areas. The problem is that when a freeway is clogged, there's a group of people who avoid it by taking alternative routes or just avoid it in general. When new lanes are added, these people think that everything will be fine now because there's more lanes, hence more room for them and they start taking that route. The problem is, the number of the new people in that camp are enough to basically clog up the freeway again. Boston spent millions of dollars awhile ago adding a few new lanes and it basically did nothing. The average commute time improved by a whopping 1 minute.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by IamDebMorgan

Hey Mathguy-
Thanks for the info. I have the long commute now. Anywhere from 35 minutes to an hour. I drive out to the suburbs and we live in the city. We will be switching roles with the move to Chicago. As mush as I hate the long drive I would never live in the suburbs, we both agree on that. Just not our style. We are to much into culture, density, walking, things being close (ha. other then work), the general vibe of the city to live anywhere but. Since I'm still looking for a job and most I've applied to seem to be in the Loop, it makes sense to be situated somewhere in between. Looks like there is a need to add some lanes to 290, 6 lane rd...really?!?

The near west burbs are pretty good for trips to the loop via CTA or Metra they are the best bet for in between. They do have walking, density(almost as much as a city) frankly they look like you just are in another neighborhood of Chicago and things close(might need some driving if you get too far from the retail but like 5 mins. worth of driving vs. 20-30 mins. to get somewhere out in the boonies).

[marothisu]

To add to that, Oak Park has a density of 11,000 per sq mile. Now, that is not as dense as the densest areas of town, but it's in the middle if it were in Chicago. The suburb south of Oak Park (Berwyn) is actually almost 15,000 per sq mile.

By comparison, the area bounded by Western, Division, Ashland, and North which is essentially Wicker Park has a density of almost 25,000 per sq mile.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by IamDebMorgan

Looks like there is a need to add some lanes to 290, 6 lane rd...really?!?

That would require destroying more of the type of community you seem to be looking for, just to shave a few minutes of commuting time.

[chet everett]

Arguably the creation of the various chokepoints on the expressways were a deliberate result of non-cooperation between political factions in Oak Park and Chicago that were unhappy about the resulting path of the road...

Even if the roadway were to be widened at these chokepoints unless there is a way to also increase the capacity of the feeder streets there will likely be backups at many exit / entrance ramps...