Well, alot of you have probably heard be bitch about my commute or Chicago traffic before, here or in chat.
Today might be the worst so far. It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to work this morning. I’ve had days this bad before but there were special circumstances, unlike today. My drive is 45 miles one-way. Its all on the expressway so I don’t really mind it when its not rush hour and traffic is moving. When I work late I can typically get home in 45-50 minutes. The mornings are different, and even though I have a pretty flexible schedule and the boss isn’t too hard on me I still can’t seem to find a relaible way to get to work at one consistent time.
Anyways, over the last 2 years (8 months of which I’ve been doing the commute) they had 15-20 miles of the expressway tore up and reduced to 50% of the lanes. This sucks, but hey I’m willing to bend in the name of progress, it did need the work. So my morning and afternoon commutes generally sucked dick and hit the 2 hr mark each way. The prospect of them finishing this work gave me optomism.
Happily in late-October they finished the work and opened all lanes which made for a nice quick 1 hr commute in the mornings. I started to get used to having an extra couple of hours each day.
But now Fall is here in full swing and we’ve been getting lots of cold rainy ugly days. This seems to have created a psychosis that causes drivers to become complete and total morons. The last week each day of my commute has been getting worse and worse.
I decided to be a good employee and get to bed early last night and get on the road earlier than usual. The fact that I was going on 1.5 hrs sleep because i watched the election coverage all night gave me a little extra motivation. I get on the raod a full 30 minutes earlier than usual once I heard the weather was wet. Chicago drivers typically don’t fret over rain and snow since we’re used to it, so I didn’t expect a catastrophe. I was wrong. Todays commute was worse than any of the ones I had when the fucking road was tore up, I swear I didn’t break 25 mph for the entire god damn 45 miles. I was so late I had to call my HR guy and tell him I was indeed going to come in to work today. And I left EARLY today!!!
Shit, I wish I could afford to move out of the suburbs…being late isn’t helping my case to ask for a raise at the end of the year either. Life fucking eats asshole.
Where do you live?!?
Give me a starting point and I’ll get you to your work faster. Ravenswood and Irving has a number of access routes I can think of that are not so obvious. I drive too much and I might be able to help.
example: I live in Rogers Park,work in Deerfield. The “standard” routes take 40-45 min.A.M./1hr+ P.M. My route gets me there in the morning ca. 25 min./35min. P.M.
Even if you can’t afford to move into the city yet, how about moving to a closer suburb? Maybe you could get something in one of the older collar suburbs; I’m thinking exciting Berwyn or something like that as opposed to renting a Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park :). I don’t know how far your office is from C&NW or Union, maybe you could move to a burb near a train station and take the train in.
Or how about getting a small apartment in the city and taking the el? It might not be your ideal place/neighborhood, but sometimes you’ve got to settle.
Bet you can’t wait til the first snow, huh? Seems like drivers always spaz out during the first snow. Based on people’s reaction, you’d think they’d never seen it before. Maroons.
Nah, trust me, there is no faster way. My way isn’t bad on good days, but its terrible on bad days. Coming in from the SW side offers basically 1 option, I-55 (The Stevie). Unlike the NW and North Sides there aren’t any well developed 4 lane hiways that go into the city. The only Road that works is Ogden, and thats slow as shit. Believe me I’ve tried them all, and while I could make my commute a consistent 1.75 hrs taking Ogden, I’d rather get to work in an hour occasionally, and longer occasionally than the alternative. Just one of those things I have to accept it seems.
The train doesn’t work either, considering I’m 30+ min from the closest station, a 1.5 hr ride to the loop and a 30 min L trip to the North Side away I’d be wasting too much time.
The one thing I won’t do is settle, there’s no good reason to live in a shitty neighborhood or another suburb for $150 less a month in order to shave 40% off my commute. When I move its going to be an investment that lets me walk to work. But that means Wrigleyville, and a high rent. Fucking college loans…
Ummm…YMMV, but I’d advise against Wrigleyville as an “investment” area. Maybe 5-6 years ago, but everything is way overvalued now. You’d want to look further out i.e. Andersonville etc. but even that is getting up there.
I’m having dinner with my realtor uncle tonight and I’ll get the SD
Omni, no offense, but that’s STUPID. I drove 50 miles one way to work every day for a year. On a good day, it took me and hour and a half. On a BAD day, I’d get home after 3 and a half hours. I did it because I had to - I had wrecked my old car, and needed to live at home to pay off the new one. If that’s why yer staying, then fine. But it DOES hurt your image at work. I had flex time, and it still hurt me that I couldn’t get in any earlier than 9:30. And that was with leaving my house around…7:15.
I was lucky enough to move two years ago. No, it wasn’t the greatest neighborhood. But it was safe. And I was 10 miles away from my job. 30 minutes, on a BAD day. I now live 6 miles from my job. 10 minute commute. Your TIME is more important, hon. That and the stress you have from that commute from hell. My dad did the commute I used to have for 24 years. And he regrets every moment.
I say move. NO move is permanent. And the relief from stress is worth more than anything, IMO.
Omni
I don’t get it. If you’re not saving up to buy a condo, I really don’t understand why moving when your lease expires is not an option. You’d rather spend 4 to 5 hours a day commuting when you could move in closer and spend maybe 2 hours? Unless you absolutely love where you’re living now (which I seriously doubt), why is moving to a closer burb and cutting time of your commute not worth it?
Omni just loves having Mommie and Daddy kiss him and read him a story every night before they tuck him in. He would have moved out by now, but he is trying to find a two bedroom place, that way someone will always be in the second room in case he experiences Night Frights, and he needs his special pillow brought to him.
heh.
Think of it this way Omni, once you do finally save up enough to enable you to move, it will feel so much nicer. You will actually enjoy going to work and you won’t be able to believe you actually put up with the commute in the past. Until then, just keep adding to the CD and/or MP3 collection, so you atleast have good music to carry you into work.
The last time I moved, I cut my commute from 30 minutes to 15, plus I can go in any time I like. (Just thought I would rub it in a little)
But, I know the pain of student loans as well. Ick. I Bush or Gore would have taken my advice and decided to raise taxes so everyone else could pay off my student loans. But, like most politicians, they don’t listen to the mandate of the people! Where is William Jennings Bryant when you need him? He would rip up all the loans. I just know it.
pat
Yup, I just need my blankie everynight or else I’d move. Its not a matter of saving up money, its a matter of getting out from under the finger of the loan sharks…er, I mean US Dept of Education and Credit Card companies. Once I’m out of debt (except the car payments) I will be able to easily afford the place I want. I could move now but I’d never get my loans paid off making what I make now. I either need to wait until I get a raise in a couple months, or wait until I finish paying off the high interest debt in about 4 months. Yeah, I know its worth the move, but there is no place in the world cheap enough that I could pay loans and rent. Its the smart thing to do, even if it sucks.
Omni, I feel your pain. I quit a great job after just 2 days there, yesterday. Everyone tried to warn me about the bay area traffic, specifically 101 South, but I didn’t listen. I figured hey, I’m from New Jersey, we have traffic in NJ, I can handle it. Well I was wrong. I was driving to work, it’s 40 miles, one way, after 2 hours I realized, I still have at least another hour until I get to work. The highway is basically one big parking lot. I was getting up at 4:30 am, to be at work by 8:30. Granted the pay was $5 more an hour than I was making here, but damn, my time has a price too, and it just wasn’t worth it. The commute seemed like a second job to me. So, I turned around, went home, called and apologized and had an interview at an office in my hometown by 2 pm. The way I figure it, that 3-6 hour commute time could be family time, or overtime, either way the extra pay is hardly worth the headache, backache, gas, etc.