Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 08-27-2009, 08:57 PM
 
1 posts, read 8,552 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

Hi,

Planning to drive to Chicago next week for sightseeing. I am in the process of booking a hotel, look like all the hotels in downtown charge ridiculous parking fee. Only find reasonable hotel (3+stars) around O'Hare airport area.

So, want to know the traffic in the morning (say 9 am) during the week (Wed-Fri) from airport to downtown. How's the traffic? How long will it take to get to downtown?

Another question about the sears tower... reading some reviews in tripadvisor, seems like people have to spend 3+ hrs to wait during the day.
Wondering if anyone know how long the wait is if going there around 6-7pm.

Thanks in advance
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-27-2009, 09:59 PM
 
3,697 posts, read 4,994,990 times
Reputation: 2075
I would advise ditching the car. Downtown is very car unfriendly. Leave the car at the hotel or find somewhere cheap to put it. How much is the hotel charging for parking? Use public transit in. Both O'Hare and midway have trains that will deposit you in the loop. Midway's train stops at 1am and the hotels are about 1 mile from the train stop.

If you do want to take the car downtown then traffic will be just over it's height at 9AM. It will start clearing, but still you could be in for an hour or more trip from O'Hare. The big problem is there is very little parking downtown and lots of traffic there. You will need to pay for parking at a lot. That could get kinda expensive.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-28-2009, 03:47 AM
 
Location: USA
5,738 posts, read 5,441,022 times
Reputation: 3669
Quote:
Originally Posted by t53864 View Post
How is the traffic in the morning from Airport to downtown chicago
Bad, and the traffic in downtown is even worse. Take a train in.

Another idea (I saw this in another post): Drop your car off on a side street in a safe neighborhood, and take public transit to stay in a hotel downtown. You will need a temporary sticker from the city to avoid getting a ticket, but I believe they are reasonably priced.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-28-2009, 07:58 AM
 
258 posts, read 760,187 times
Reputation: 135
Driving time is about 45 minutes during rush hour, the same as taking the train. By 9 am it's around 30 minutes to drive. Check it yourself some morning:

http://www.gcmtravel.com/gcm/ChicagoQuickTraffic.jsp

Last edited by Mr Downtown; 08-28-2009 at 08:12 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-28-2009, 08:01 AM
 
Location: Chicago
4,688 posts, read 10,103,650 times
Reputation: 3207
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown View Post
Driving time is about 45 minutes during rush hour, the same as taking the train.
Add about 15 minutes to that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-28-2009, 08:26 AM
 
Location: Oak Park, IL
5,525 posts, read 13,944,999 times
Reputation: 3908
Parking downtown will be at least $20 in a garage. Save yourself the expense.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-28-2009, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Nort Seid
5,288 posts, read 8,876,504 times
Reputation: 2459
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown View Post
Driving time is about 45 minutes during rush hour, the same as taking the train. By 9 am it's around 30 minutes to drive. Check it yourself some morning:

Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor
quite an interesting link, but I suspect that every minute you get closer to 9 am or earlier you see a massive increase. If one can wait until 9 to leave then, yeah, I'd think you'll miss the bulk of rush hour commuters.

otoh, the Blue line is a stress-free way to go, no parking hassles, cheap, etc.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-20-2010, 07:52 PM
 
1 posts, read 8,154 times
Reputation: 10
We are going to go to my brothers Graduation from Navy boot camp, he has to go to the airport between 2-3am I would like to know how bad the traffic is downtown during this time period. Is there a shuttle or a train that we could take if the traffic is already bad?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-20-2010, 08:51 PM
 
258 posts, read 760,187 times
Reputation: 135
^2-3 am?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-20-2010, 11:29 PM
 
Location: Chicago
15,586 posts, read 27,600,467 times
Reputation: 1761
Quote:
Originally Posted by cali.cura View Post
...he has to go to the airport between 2-3am I would like to know how bad the traffic is downtown during this time period...
Oh that should not be a problem to drive. The only things that can muck something up at that time are a really bad accident or extremely bad weather.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top