Need advice on driving through vs around Chicago...

Nate C. wrote:
we should be hitting
Chicago in the mid-late afternoon hours and it'll be on a weekday

Rush-hour traffic could add a half-hour to the trip through Chicago. If
that's a big problem for you, why not just time it to arrive before 3 pm
or after 6 pm? It hardly seems worth driving through Iowa to avoid.

"Nate C." wrote in message ...
"Bill Pittman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Henry) wrote:

No Chicago at all. Take 80 only to the Quad Cities, then 74 to
Indianapple and 70 from there to Wheeling, with some fine-tuning once
you get to PA.

THAT might be a great way to go!

It would be nice to totally avoid Chicago using that route, but according to
mapquest that combined trip is about 21 hrs, while going through Chicago
would be 18 hrs. So the only way for the longer route to be worthwhile is
if I would lose at least 3 hrs by going through Chi. I could see losing an
hour or two, but three?

Nate

What about heading south through Rockford and then hooking up with 74
in Bloomington? Just a thought.

Regarding the amount of time lost in traffic in/around Chicago - it
depends on what time of day you hit the city. Between about 10am and
3pm on a weekday, you shouldn't have too many problems on any of the
roads and can expect the total delay to be about 45 minutes at the
most (much of this on I-80 crossing into Indiana or at toll plazas).
This is of course assuming that there is no snow/ice coming down and
no accidents or road-work to contend with.

"Nate C." wrote in message ...
"Bill Pittman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Henry) wrote:

No Chicago at all. Take 80 only to the Quad Cities, then 74 to
Indianapple and 70 from there to Wheeling, with some fine-tuning once
you get to PA.

THAT might be a great way to go!

It would be nice to totally avoid Chicago using that route, but according to
mapquest that combined trip is about 21 hrs, while going through Chicago
would be 18 hrs. So the only way for the longer route to be worthwhile is
if I would lose at least 3 hrs by going through Chi. I could see losing an
hour or two, but three?

Nate

What about heading south through Rockford and then hooking up with 74
in Bloomington? Just a thought.

Regarding the amount of time lost in traffic in/around Chicago - it
depends on what time of day you hit the city. Between about 10am and
3pm on a weekday, you shouldn't have too many problems on any of the
roads and can expect the total delay to be about 45 minutes at the
most (much of this on I-80 crossing into Indiana or at toll plazas).
This is of course assuming that there is no snow/ice coming down and
no accidents or road-work to contend with.

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 07:02:50 GMT, "Nate C."
wrote:

I'm going to be driving from Minneapolis to Philly in a packed moving truck
towing a car in a few days and am wondering if it's more advisable to travel
through Chicago or around it. Every time I've driven through the city I get
stuck in traffic but I'm not sure if the extra time driving around the city
would be worthwhile. If our timing goes as planned we should be hitting
Chicago in the mid-late afternoon hours and it'll be on a weekday (Tuesday).
Anybody have any experience with this?

Thanks,
Nate


Another option I haven't seen is to take I94/90 as far as Rockford, IL, then
drop south on I39 to I74 at Bloomington-Normal. It's a diagonal route through
Wisconsin and should be shorted than dropping straight south on I35 & then
west on I80. There is a little road construction around Janesville, WI, but
it doesn't slow traffic much.

Lisa M.

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. - Grandma Moses

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 07:02:50 GMT, "Nate C."
wrote:

I'm going to be driving from Minneapolis to Philly in a packed moving truck
towing a car in a few days and am wondering if it's more advisable to travel
through Chicago or around it. Every time I've driven through the city I get
stuck in traffic but I'm not sure if the extra time driving around the city
would be worthwhile. If our timing goes as planned we should be hitting
Chicago in the mid-late afternoon hours and it'll be on a weekday (Tuesday).
Anybody have any experience with this?

Thanks,
Nate


Another option I haven't seen is to take I94/90 as far as Rockford, IL, then
drop south on I39 to I74 at Bloomington-Normal. It's a diagonal route through
Wisconsin and should be shorted than dropping straight south on I35 & then
west on I80. There is a little road construction around Janesville, WI, but
it doesn't slow traffic much.

Lisa M.

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. - Grandma Moses

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 07:02:50 GMT, "Nate C."
wrote:

I'm going to be driving from Minneapolis to Philly in a packed moving truck
towing a car in a few days and am wondering if it's more advisable to travel
through Chicago or around it. Every time I've driven through the city I get
stuck in traffic but I'm not sure if the extra time driving around the city
would be worthwhile. If our timing goes as planned we should be hitting
Chicago in the mid-late afternoon hours and it'll be on a weekday (Tuesday).
Anybody have any experience with this?

Thanks,
Nate


Another option I haven't seen is to take I94/90 as far as Rockford, IL, then
drop south on I39 to I74 at Bloomington-Normal. It's a diagonal route through
Wisconsin and should be shorted than dropping straight south on I35 & then
west on I80. There is a little road construction around Janesville, WI, but
it doesn't slow traffic much.

Lisa M.

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. - Grandma Moses