rush hour/driving to O'Hare
 

I need to know how long it will take to drive into O'Hare on a Monday morning for a 10:45 flight. I will be coming from a Lake County near Waukegan. Do 94 and 294 get backed up? Should I take an alternate route that is longer (highway 53 and interstate 290)?

It shouldn't be real bad but there will be some slow pockets. I would plan on 1.25 hours just in case. Should be 45 minutes. Of course if there is poor weather or an accident, all bets are off.

Stick with the Tri State. 53/290 is too far out of the way and 53 southbound in the AM is bad.

Especially on a Monday morning, make sure you're there 2 hours early. The security lines at O'Hare can be incredible, and I've seen people miss their flights when they allow less time.

Hi Amy,

If you plan to arrive to ORD at 8:45am, I'd leave Waukegan at 7:15am... or a little earlier if you have a car to return. Plan to be in traffic that time in the am... there's no way around it unless you leave by 6:00am.

If you don't want to stress about it, leave earlier and have some breakfast at the airport.

I also agree w/ the others, def take 94E to 294 to the O'hare exit. It's really the only route to go.

The easiest thing to do would be to head the other way and fly out of Milwaukee. You might want to look into it next time.