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What about US-12 and US-14

Posted By: Chuck Bower
Date: Tuesday, 28 August 2007, at 4:21 p.m.

In Response To: Best Directions O'Hare to Madison Friday Afternoon (neilkaz)

Didn't we talk about alternate routes here a couple months ago?

Both can be accessed just north of O'Hare and both go directly to Madison. The problem with most US highways is that they slow down through cities and towns and it will take you a while to get out of greater Chicago. The advantage is, once you're away from the city you should have a smooth ride. And if you need to detour it's a lot easier to do that than wait on an Interstate for an exit that may never come.

The problem with I-90 this Friday afternoon (and Monday afternoon) is that it's the start of a holiday weekend and LOTS of Chicagoans go north to cabins, etc. in Wisconsin.

Keene and Neil are "locals" so their opinions should count more than mine. In particular I loathe traffic jams and the inability to create my own detour. I'm famous for taking the long way, being assured of making it, knowing that in most cases it takes me 20% longer than best case but avoiding the outliers. This weekend could be full of outliers....

FWIW, here's an example. I often drive to Fermilab which is on the West edge of greater Chicago (Batavia, near Aurora). I used to take the short (and 'fast') route which is I-65 through Indiana, get on I-80 into IL, then take I-294 (Tri-state tollway) to I-88 (East-West = Reagan tollway) to Fermilab. When it works smoothly I could make it from southern Indiana to Fermilab in about 4 1/2 hours. But this route is famous for construction, accidents, and general slowdowns. One time I wasn't driving and the driver refused to create a detour. It took us over 8 hours. Now I go I-65 to US-24 west well into IL, to IL-47 straight north. I avoid ALL of the greater Chicago traffic and get to the lab from the West. It takes about 5 1/2 hours but the stdev is about 10 minutes. I know when I'm going to arrive. Way less stress. The extra hour on the trip adds days or weeks to my life expectation.

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