Important: Driving Through Chicago on a Friday
 

Help!!!! A coworker is driving from the Detroit area to Milwaukee tomorrow to attend a concert there. How long realistically does it take to get through the area and which way should they go? He's leaving here at lunchtime which by my calculations puts him in the Chicagoland area right at rush hour. The concert is at 7:30 pm. We're an hour later than Chicago/Milwaukee, so that gives them some extra time...

It should work. He'll have 8-1/2 hours.

Mapquest says it's 6-1/2 hours from Detroit to Milwaukee.

Give yourself an extra 30 minutes to get through Chicago on a Friday on I-90. Sometimes it's really slow, sometimes it's not bad. It's the most interesting part of the drive.

I94 is under construction but the website says 2 lanes during daylight will be open as they are now resurfacing.It may be slow. It was very slow earlier this summer but that was during active construction and re-routing.

An I-Pass will make things alot easier if your co-worker has one, or can borrow one.

Hope it's a great concert!

What's an I-Pass?

Thanks for the info! I'll pass it along.

If you know someone who regularly travels on I-90, or goes to Chicago, they have one.

Indiana has, I think, EZ-Pass, which is the same thing. Both passes work for IL and IN tolls. I know the I_Pass also works on the Skyway Bridge.

It's a prepaid transponder that sits on your windshield. You can sail through toll stops and the cost of the toll is deducted from your account.

Without an I-Pass, you have to pull off to the side & wait in line to give them money.

Sorry. Presumptious of me to assume that everyone who travels on those roads has one.
Most everyone who regularly goes there from Wisconsin has an I-Pass or can borrow one. As an added incentive, road tolls in IL are half price with an I_Pass.

I did check out the I-pass thing...Since he never goes over there, buying it for $50 won't really work for him. It sounds like a great deal if you live over there. So taking the
I-90 is still their best bet? I think they found a hotel room within walking distance to the concert venue, so once they get there they can just drop the car, hopefully check in, and go to the concert.

you are going to need more than an extra 30 minutes to get through chicago!! try an extra 60-90 minutes, especially on a Friday.

I know they're going to have lots of traffic to deal with. Is 90 the way to go or should they take the outer loop? Someone told them to take the toll road as there might be less traffic that way. He's leaving work at 11:30 today so they can hit the road.

I strongly suggest getting an i-pass regardless of using it again or not. It will make a difference in the time you take to make this drive on a Friday- absolutely.

He's already left, but I know there's no way I could have convinced him to get an I-pass when not going back there in the forseeable future, shorter lines or not. Thank you for all of your suggestions...I'll post back on Monday with how it went.

Please do that dsgmi, because I'm going the opposite way- out to MI- and when I see what I see- I am very curious to know how it will be getting to Milwaukee a couple times in the near future. It's with a son and he wants to leave on a Friday night and I want to leave at another time.

Thanks.

My coworker made it to Milwaukee and back. They left at 1:00 pm Detroit time and got to Milwaukee at 7:30 pm Milwaukee time - 7.5 hours. Mapquest said 6 hours 8 minutes. They did not stop for a meal; only to get gas. The extra time was getting through Chicago. He said the traffic was better when they got downtown and was worse coming into Chicago than going out. They also hit traffic on their way home on Saturday evening.

They really liked downtown Milwaukee. They went to a concert, a local brewery and the art museum. They said Milwaukee would be a city they would return to. I think they stayed at the InterContinental, but I'm not 100% on that.

Thanks for your input!

And thanks for YOUR input- because it gives me some current information about that particular corridor.

It's just about what I thought and I knew coming in to Chicago would be worse than when they left. I see that on Fridays all the time.

We had a hell of a time getting out into MI from IL/through INDIANA on Friday night Sept. 26.

It isn't only the narrowing a lane for construction either. We couldn't get around that I-80 /Ind 65 intersection and for at least a mile in either direction it smelled like the entire "sea" had died. The water is gone, but the dead vegetation and animal smell from the floods is beyond horrible.

Skyway probably skirted that area and your friends were lucky to miss that, if they did. PEEEE UUUUU!