Taste of Chicago-July 2nd (Addison, Grant Park: hotel, house, living in)

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by NYrules

And I said that the traffic was surprisingly not that bad. It really usually in the late evening isnt on pretty much any day. Since the Ryan is all fixed thats fine now, and I-55 is smooth sailing. Heck even 290 is usually fine after 8pm. Its heavy, but its moving right along. So, I'm not understanding everyone scaring this person into believing that the traffic here is like NY, when indeed it is NOT.

I used to have to travel for work an awful lot. Atlanta, DC, LA, Houston, Seattle, Indianapolis, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, KC, Phoenix, SF/Silicon Valley, NY,Philly, Boston, STL. Lots of really different traffic. Some surprisingly awful. Is there any logic at all to how the St. Louis roads are laid out?!?

Most folks in Chicago that did not grow up here probably came from someplace else in the Midwest. Lots of Big Ten schools, universities in Missouri, Iowa too. Compared to those places traffic here is about a billion times worse.

Reality is that the average commute times in Chicago are better than a lot of cities that are MUCH smaller. Sure, folks that can zip out of downtown to an Old Town or Lincoln Park in 20 minutes, or even folks going downtown via BNSF really skew the results. But in factoring the drivers only there are LOTS of fast routes into/out of Chicago. As NYRules states, hauling down the Stevenson after peak hours is a breeze, and even though the Eisenhower has lots of exits/entrances many are very underutilized.

The region's traffic moves out radially, along spokes. This follows with the overall grid of the region, we have no massive rivers with bridges to constrain traffic, no ports like the eastern seaboard towns to content with, none of the crazy criss-cross of freeways and hillsides/mountains that constrain traffic out west...

Chicago is pretty car friendly. The lack of investment in subways, and the preference of retailers to have big parking lots has allowed the City to neglect rapid transit. Chicago could really benefit from having light rail that runs underground, out of the weather, or even some kind of "22nd Century Elevated" that would take advantage of the concrete construction of the Orange line, but incorporate quieter faster trains that are also more efficient. If they get those it might be in conjunction with the 2016 Games, or maybe just because the City realizes it makes sense...

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Reality is that the average commute times in Chicago are better than a lot of cities that are MUCH smaller.

cbs2chicago.com - Study: Chicago Traffic Delays Among Nation's Worst (http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/traffic.delays.traffic.2.340090.html - broken link)

Not true.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

cbs2chicago.com - Study: Chicago Traffic Delays Among Nation's Worst (http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/traffic.delays.traffic.2.340090.html - broken link)

Not true.

Really?

U.S. Cities With the Worst Traffic Are ... - Gadling

Forbes: Atlanta traffic the worst in America - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

New report: Seattle's traffic second worst in nation

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Is there any logic at all to how the St. Louis roads are laid out?!?

No.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Really?

U.S. Cities With the Worst Traffic Are ... - Gadling

Forbes: Atlanta traffic the worst in America - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

New report: Seattle's traffic second worst in nation

Alright, seeing as the media can report the same studies differently depending on how they want to frame it, let's go to the source.

US Census Press Releases (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/004489.html - broken link)

Traffic in Chicago is no picnic. The Stevenson outbound and the rebuilt Dan Ryan move...that's about it.

I don't know when you guys drive the Eisenhower, I'd say 95% of the time I'm on it, no matter what time of day/night, its backed up at least from Harlem to Laramie.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

I don't know when you guys drive the Eisenhower, I'd say 95% of the time I'm on it, no matter what time of day/night, its backed up at least from Harlem to Laramie.

I know! There is stop and go (and a few more stops) traffic nearly every time I am on the Ike, day or night. At rush hour... it's positively awful.

[uncgirl98]

Giving that our flight gets in on time on the 2nd (I cracked myself up typing that-----clt to ord.....we don't stand a chance in h*ll on being on time)......we're going to chance driving into the city for at least part of the day and try to head out before rush hour. I would just hate to bring family to Chicago for the first time and not take them downtown. I live in Charlotte and love it (weather-i grew up here, so i don't mind the 100 degree days).......but Chicago has a special place in my heart too....and my stomach, I really miss Portillo's.

Thanks for the information....I think we're going to try to head in and then battle the traffic up to Kenosha for the rest of the weekend where our family lives. I'll just give everyone blindfolds as I relearn how to drive in IL. Good thing I have a lead foot.

And just IMHO, traffic in Charlotte is way worse because we only have 2 interstates going through town. Same mile commute as in Chicago and it takes twice as long.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by uncgirl98

Giving that our flight gets in on time on the 2nd (I cracked myself up typing that-----clt to ord.....we don't stand a chance in h*ll on being on time)......we're going to chance driving into the city for at least part of the day and try to head out before rush hour. I would just hate to bring family to Chicago for the first time and not take them downtown. I live in Charlotte and love it (weather-i grew up here, so i don't mind the 100 degree days).......but Chicago has a special place in my heart too....and my stomach, I really miss Portillo's.

Thanks for the information....I think we're going to try to head in and then battle the traffic up to Kenosha for the rest of the weekend where our family lives. I'll just give everyone blindfolds as I relearn how to drive in IL. Good thing I have a lead foot.

And just IMHO, traffic in Charlotte is way worse because we only have 2 interstates going through town. Same mile commute as in Chicago and it takes twice as long.

If you're going to Kenosha from the Loop, WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT USE THE EDENS!!!! MAY I REPEAT THIS? DO NOT USE THE EDENS!!! The Edens is all torn up and even goes down to one lane in spots, meaning? Anyone... Anyone (sounds like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day off) No not Voodoo economics.... The traffic is STOPPED as in never moving. You're best bet is to either take the 290 out or 90 out to 294 and shoot north on that. Yes 294 is all torn up too, but at least it moves.

[scarletneon]

Originally Posted by NYrules

Ok appparently everyone on this board is anti car or something. Ok, so I took the "wonderful" mass transit here in Chicago of which was the Orange Line since my Dip _ _ _ T friends convinced me how wonderful it was going to be from Midway to the Loop last July 3rd. So we get on there after the taste is over at night, to be jammed in the cars like cattle going off to the slaughter house, the car's A/C didnt work so I got to smell pee, booze, and incredible B.O., not to mention that I had no where to sit and the best part was... The train stopped on the tracks for no reason and we got to stand there for about 15 minutes of which there was never any announcement as to what was going on. And I got to pay to experience this! Ohhh GOODY!

Then after waiting for a while, jammed inside the cars, a couple of teens who were either drunk or high decided to get a bit roudy and started pushing eachother and making threats to others. Finally the train started moving.... VERY VERY VERY Slowly and all in all a trip that I could have made in my car in an hour DOOR to DOOR, took us about an hour, and I still had to drive from Midway back out to Orland Park! Yep mass transit in Chicago... Its the way to go. Give it a try, you will BMC about it for the rest of your life! Pfft

Remember there was a power outage in the Loop last year that night? Unfortunate timing, yes, but that's no reason to bash the system as a whole. Generally it gets lots of us there and back every day at a reasonable pace. What did you expect with a million people in the loop (I think that's what they said last year)? A posh seated cruise? Perhaps it's karma biting you in the butt for being so "anti-transit."

as far as the Taste goes, I went down there on the afternoon of the 3rd which is one of the dumber things I've ever done living here because I hate large crowds of people that are not moving and/or not knowing where the hell they're going. so, it depends on if you like large crowds, lots of heat and lots of people wandering aimlessly. I really just wanted to watch the fireworks, but that didn't happen. However, I could see little bits of the shows from the NW burbs.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by supernerdgirl

... I really just wanted to watch the fireworks, but that didn't happen. However, I could see little bits of the shows from the NW burbs.

If you want to see the fireworks with a lot less crowd go to the Addison "Rocks"(at least they used to be rocks), Montrose beach, Foster beach or somewhere not too far north.That is the best way. You can even go by the museum campus and have a great view with a lot less crowd.