So Is It "The Loop" Or Is It "The Circle"? (Chicago: home, neighborhood)

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by linicx

As a freqient traveler I don't care about names or time. I care about really good route and directional signs and Chicago has it - or at least it did. OKC and Dallas both have terrible direction and route signs posted. On the other hand LA is very easy to drive through and I never had trouble driving in Chicago.

One would speculate LA would have a spectacular network of highways.
After all LA was built primarily during the automobile era.

[SmartGXL]

Originally Posted by KevK

I see but that is mightly confusing to out of town people.

Chicago is not a place that goes out of its way to appease out-of-towners.

[SmartGXL]

Originally Posted by edsg25

at least we evolved to the point where "The Circle" remains a great name for an interchange, but a pretty rotten on for a university next to it which no longer carries the monikor.

I think the Circle originally was a public commons type of area at the UIC campus (at some colleges these are known as the Commons of the Quad, etc), and the big interchange was built very close to it. So the moniker fits, because it is by the Circle commons and the interchange resembles a circle in some respects.

[SmartGXL]

Originally Posted by Manigault

Well, radio announcers use several terms or art. Do you know the identity of 'the junction' or 'Hubbard's cave'? Those are terms for commuters -- not tourists.

Actually, if they used the name of one it would be more confusing, since the Elgin-O'Hare expressway goes to neither of those destinations. I think that naming highways after politicians and others is what makes directions confusing. The 'Bishop Ford'? What does that have to do with anything? It's I-94, y'all.

I know this is an old thread, but there are several reasons why the naming system in Chicago makes sense compared to just referring to highways by their traditional naming system names.

For starters, look at Chicago's unique shape. It is a city that is 20 miles long (north to south) but only maybe 6 miles wide. It stretches 20 miles north to south along an invisible axis, along the coast of Lake Michigan.

So when they built the interstates, they built the local expressways to run along this invisible north south axis, at least thru the downtown area.

As both I-90 and I-94 travel east to west along the country, they bend north and travel along this invisible axis before (eventually) resuming their normal westbound direction. I-90 enters the city on the south, bends to the north, before bending to the northwest before finally bending back to the west. I-94 enters the city on the south and also continues north, running along the shore of Lake Michigan, all the way to Milwaukee, before it then bends west and heads towards Madison. This "disturbance" in the direction of these two interstates doesnt make sense in the local scheme. And throw in the fact that these two highways MERGE and become one, as they travel through the city, makes it even more complex. So instead, a system was devised to refer to them as "inbound" or "outbound", based on the direction of travel AND in reference to where you are located to the Loop. South of the Loop, and traveling south (east) it is the Outbound Dan Ryan; if you are "north" of the loop and headed north (west) it is referred to as the Outbound Kennedy. Similar distinctions are made for the other expressways, as they have similar merge/odd directional travel issues that complicate the system. Its not practical to refer to them in the more simple manner that is used in places like Indy, St Louis, Dayton, etc.

[linicx]

As far as routes go CA is pretty well marked and easy to follow but that does not mean it is terribly easy to get between A and B if you are not on major routes like #1 or I-5. In Illinois it is easy enough to use the backroads between Chicago and St. Louis. Try that sometime between LA and SD or LA and SF. Afaik it is impossible.

Originally Posted by sunnyandcloudydays

One would speculate LA would have a spectacular network of highways.
After all LA was built primarily during the automobile era.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by A2DAC1985

In summation: Don't lie to me electronic signs. If you aren't going to tell the truth, don't tell me anything.

I normally ignore those signs unless I see something like two left lanes blocked or instead or the usually 12 it say 56min. Even in little ol milwaukee I find it funny as well when the traffic guy says oh 94 is humming along nice and smooth and I am sitting still for the 15 mins and the electronic signs are always wrong here too and we don't even have traffic how can you screw that up!

[Chi-town Native]

...let me add another weird one to the mix - where exactly do you folks think the Edens Spur starts and stops?

[Drover]

The Edens spur is the chunk of highway that connects the Edens to the Tri-State, where 294 leaves off and 94 becomes the most northerly chunk of the Tri-State.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

...let me add another weird one to the mix - where exactly do you folks think the Edens Spur starts and stops?

How about the steel bridge
I am sure people from outside of the area can get confused on the language
but like the moderator stated
The highways, tollways are marked fairly well

Gapers I believe is used in the Chicago area more than other areas
not sure about the term cash box

Suppose if I were in some other metro , i would be confused for a while before i picked up on the language of the traffic reports
LA would be an experience

[Chi-town Native]

...to respond to both the above, my wife has for years insisted the Spur ended shy of the tollbooth, but much to her chagrin I finally remembered to point out the tollbooth in question is actually titled "Edens Spur"!

Tri-State Tollway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

interesting:

As of December 30, 2009, Clearview Font signage was installed on the Tollway system, and the mileposts of the I-94 portion of the Tri-State Tollway and Edens Spur no longer use the original milepost signage from IL-394 and I-80. Milepost signs north of Lake-Cook Road now use I-94's mileage from south of the Wisconsin state line. Example: I-294 going north has milepost numbers going up to mile 53. I-294 mile 53 becomes I-94 mile 25 going north with the milepost numbers going down. Milepost numbers are now visible every 1/4 mile, as opposed to the previous signage at 1/2 mile intervals.[7]

and...

Lingo

Portions of the Tri-State Tollway are referred to in somewhat archaic language during traffic reports and casual conversation. The following are the most common, from south to north:

• Thornton Quarry — on I-80/294 just east of Halsted Street, the bridge over the aforementioned Thornton Quarry.
• Mile-Long Bridge — on I-294 between I-55 and La Grange Road, the bridge over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Des Plaines River, a large portion of the UPS transmodal facility, a few rail lines, and some Commonwealth Edison power lines.
• Grand Avenue Curve — The curve immediately south of the Bensenville Bridge (see below). This portion of the tollway functions as a long S-curve, causing delays due to limited visibility beyond both curves.
• Bensenville Bridge — on I-294 just south of O'Hare, the bridge over the Metra Milwaukee District West line and Mannheim Road (U.S. 12/45).