Getting through Chicago. Help

Take the ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee. $40/person economy, $62 in Business Class (recommended), $59 for the car. Avoids the horribleness of Chicago, and arrives in Milwaukee about 200 yards from I-94. Takes 2.5 hours.

www.lake-express.com

Departs Muskegon at 10:30am, arrives in Milwaukee at noon Milwaukee time.

Going through Chicago is a freaking horror in summer.

 

Well, that depends. If you're driving the GT4, I'll send you a route which will go past my house...

Seriously, the best route depends on that time you are coming through. At night or early in the morning, you should be able to just go through town without significant delays. But, in the middle of the day on a Saturday, you would be better off going around the city. Specifically, late at night or early in the morning, you could just take I-90 (Skyway) to I-94, and just follow I-94 on up (or I-90 out; see below). But, if you're coming through during the day or early evening, the best traffic-avoidance route would be to take I-94 to I-294, which goes around the city, and joins back up with I-94 further north.

Taking I-90 over to Rockford and up to Madison, as opposed to I-94 up to Milwaukee and then over to Madison, may be marginally shorter, but I-90 can get clogged up with local suburban traffic, moreso than I-294. My gut feeling is that, during the day or early evening, I-294 to I-94 north would be quicker. At night or early morning, though, I-90 would probably be fine.

If it matters to you, I-294 and I-90 (west of Chicago anyway) are tollways, and of course the Skyway is a toll bridge.

 

You have probably never tried to drive I94 North on a Friday during the summer holiday season . I live off of Half Day Rd (Rte 22) and it can get BRUTAL on a Friday to go north of there.

 

The last 10 miles of I-94 in NW Indiana up to the Illinois state line is a nightmare. There is much construction, lane closures, and occasionally at night complete closure of the road for 20 minute stints. I would suggest the Indiana Toll Road to the Chicago Skyway. Both of them also have construction but not nearly as severe. Most construction jobs however should be shut down early for the holiday weekend which may help the situation. I have not tried the ferry but that would be very appealing to me.

 

294/94 North and 90 via Rockford are nightmares on holiday Fridays.

A friend in Valparaiso, IN and his lady went to the Taste last weekend and took Cline avenue just to avoid the parking lot.

I grew up in St. Joseph, MI and we used to get to Chicago in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Now it takes 2 hours to get downtown. Read recently that since 1974 the number of cars registered in the Chicago metro area has DOUBLED. And they haven't built more roads (except 355) since then.

 

Oops, I may have been confused. I thought you were coming through on Saturday--the initial post says "Friday July 3", but Friday is July 2. I was looking at "July 3" and the "Friday" didn't register. Traffic heading north out of the City is indeed hellish on Fridays in general, moreso on a holiday.

The Skyway may well be a quicker more pleasant way in from Indiana than 94, but it puts you into the middle of town and then you have to get out again. Unclear whether the delays of heading through town on 90/94 are greater or more annoying than taking 94 to 294, which once you get to it tends to move fairly well.

If you mean 8:30 a.m., then hopefully you will benefit from light rush hour traffic, due to people having taken off a day early for the long weekend. Good luck!

 

Towing a trailer means that you cannot use the express lanes on 94 either, so the Skyway may not be a good way to go.

Here's a thought. Leave late Thursday night, drive through Chicago around 11pm get to the Wisconsin state line, stay at the Radisson by the outlet mall on 94. This might be your smartest move. Chicago on Friday and the roads north are going to be a nightmare.