I am going into Chicago from Indiana tomorrow, and I will be driving into the Chicago area around 8-9pm. Then I will be heading home on sunday, probably late in the morning (11am or so).
I would probably take the 80 and 94 to avoid tolls. Would driving at these times (at night or the weekends) allow me to avoid much of the traffic? Where I live I do not get much traffic. When I spent time in San Diego I was told to avoid the roads between 2-6pm on weekdays, they said the rest of the week was ok (I’m assuming there was also a morning rush hour from about 5-9 or so, but I didn’t drive then). And in my experience that was true, driving at night or on the weekends in San Diego on the interstate was no big deal. Is Chicago the same way?
On another note the place I’m looking for is near washington park. Should I avoid the 94 entirely and use a smaller road like Halsted st or Torrence ave after I get off the 80, or would that cause the same problems?
I think at the times you mention you should pretty much be fine and avoid the worst of it. Of course, if you are really not used to city traffic, even our “fine” traffic may be a bit unnerving. But your plans sounds as good as it is likely to get. And I’d stick to expressways as much as possible. Good luck!
I agree with Tim; that late in the evening tomorrow, traffic should be reasonably good (unless there’s bad weather or an accident, of course). On Sunday, be forewarned that there’s a Bear game at 3:15 at Soldier Field (on the lakefront, but several miles north of Washington Park), so you’ll probably want to avoid that area. If you’re heading south from Washington Park at that time, you’ll be heading in the opposite direction from traffic going to the game, so you should be OK.
Just a note on highway terminology (so you can sound like a local) – unlike in California, Chicagoans don’t put “the” in front of highway numbers. So, around here, it’d be “94”, not “the 94”…except that, in the city in particular, most people will refer to the expressways by their names, rather than their numbers. Coming into Chicago from the south, I-94 is known as the Bishop Ford Freeway from the point where it diverges from I-80, until it merges with I-57. From that point north (until it reaches downtown), it’s known as the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Merely echoing what everyone else has said. That time of night, and Sunday morning, there should be no traffic problem on the main highways (assuming there’s nothing stupid like an accident or construction blockage, of course.) The highways will almost always be faster than the local roads at the time you’re talking about, even if they are moving slowly, unless you really know which local roads to take.