Six miles in ten minutes to get on a interstate, but it’s not one going where I would want to go. Many highways, and interstate roadways, converge in Portage.
I’m pretty close - maybe 5 miles? But it can take 7 minutes or up to 45 minutes. I don’t have all that many options for routes, either, to avoid the jam ups.
DC would be a very, very close second.
I was on the roads shortly after the Pentagon was hit (I’m in northern VA) and it took me much of a half hour to go 5 blocks to I-395 near my office. This was caused by complete gridlock on the surface streets (as in, couldn’t even get through intersections because cars in the opposite direction had pulled through). Oddly, 395 itself was fine when I was on it though I gather 20 minutes later it was a parking lot.
Back to the OP: I’m 20-30 minutes away from the two nearest Beltway interchanges, 4-5 miles from either. About 15 minutes and 8 miles from the next nearest.
Wow. Yeah, that beats my 2 1/2 hours / 60 miles.
Although I can see the interstate from my house – and it still takes hours to get there…
Re: the question about Katrina traffic -
My sister evacuated New Orleans for Katrina. She did not leave until Sunday morning, about 9 am. Usually she is about 15 minutes from I-10; 30 blocks or so. That morning it took them, I think, about an hour … the traffic moved along, just very slowly. That was the case for the rest of the trip as well - both sides of I-55, for example, were used for northbound traffic, but it still took her about 9 hours to make what is usually a 3 hour trip.
Since you asked. 
It all depends on What Exit I need to take. I am 3 miles and 5 minutes from the one I use to go North and 4 miles and 10 minutes from the one I use to go south.
Jim
I gotcha ya all beat. I can see the on-ramp for I 894 (south bypass of 94 around Milwaukee) from my front door. Two blocks to the free-way. Maybe 20 seconds and no stop lights or stop signs in the way.
What do I win?
My house is between two major interstates, I-45 and I-10, both of which I use another freeway to access. So, between 8-15 minutes for either of them during normal traffic and up to 20 during rush hour.
When Im at college, Im a hop, skip and a step away from I-45 and a multitude of smaller freeways. Even with crowded streets, moving around parking lots and hitting all the street lights Im less than 5 minutes away.