Chicago traffic
 

In general what is the traffic coming from O'Hare into the city like on Friday nights around 8pm? Is it likely to take an hour to get into the city at that hour?

I'd say, yes it probably could... but then again, it might not. Everytime I go to Chicago the traffic becomes more and more difficult. It used to be that if you avoided rush hour, you'd be fine. But not anymore! There is always traffic! On a Friday night, there are lots of cars that are trying to get into the city for the weekend or for evening theater/dinner events.

The city rush often clears up around 7:30 p.m. I would expect your trip to be about 45 minutes. That depends on too many factors to be reliable, though - allow for an hour and fifteen minutes from the airport to downtown if you need to be somewhere on time.

Last time I was in Chicago (around Dec) it took us over an hour to get into Chicago on a Friday night. Other times we never had a problem at all. I think, like most cities, it depends on many factors; if there are any sporting or major events in town, accidents or stalled cars on the interstates, etc. To be on the safe side, if you are on some kind of time limit I would plan for an hour.

If you have to be somewhere you could check metromix.com for most recommended events and see if there's a a Cubs or Sox game or big concert in town that night.

At 8PM you should breeze...relatively speaking. Any sporting events are underway or over. Commuters have done their thing. It is about as good as it gets, timing wise on a weekend.

Of course, one accident on the Kennedy and all bets are off.

The above advice on timing us good. Could even do better depending on exactly where you are going.

My advice to you is to have money ready for the .40 toll that you will hit very quickly. Exact change booths are to the left, change required is to the right. Booths with light blue signs above them are for electronic tolls (IPass), please stay out of them if you don't have IPass.

If you are coming from O'hare and need to get downtown in a definite time period you should probably take the Subway. Driving is always a crap shoot.

Where in the city are you going too? Is it downtown or west of there? The normal, i.e. non rush hour drive from O'Hare to downtown is 20 min.