Damn Chicago Road Mafia!!!!!

[BurnItDwn]

Johnny, I feel your pain. My commute from Wauconda to Deerfield has been taking over an hour, and it's only 20 miles ...
I take 4 different detours along my route

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: Steve

Originally posted by: K1052
Illinois has two seasons: Winter and road construction.

Some of my Naperville/Aurora living coworkers are heavily lamenting the fact that just as the seemingly decade long reconstruction of the I-88 tollway draws to a close they have now decided to resurface the Eisenhower Expwy thereby preventing any improvement in commute time for at least another year.

And they're not even going to widen it.


Our tax dollars at work :roll:

They threaten that once every couple years and it gets shut down by Oak Park pretty much every time. We'll all have flying cars before IDOT gets that one done.

Goddamn I am glad I moved out of Oak Park. What a weird suburb. Of course it has to be the one where the exit and entrance ramps (Austin and Harlem) are over the median, so traffic always bottlenecks there in either direction.

 

[vi edit]

Downstate isn't any better. In Peoria there are two major roads running in/out of town. HW150 and I-74. Somebody in their infinite wisdom thought it would be a brilliant idea to shut both of them down to one lane at the same freaking time. Can't wait for one to finish before you rape the daily commuters...nope...have to go for the double fisting and bring all traffic in and out of town to a complete crawl.

Bravo!

 

[arcenite]

Well, I am adding Illinois to my list of places to never visit.

In fact, Illinois is the start of this list.

Any others I should add?

 

[tk149]

One word: Kickbacks

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: blinblue

Thankfully the chicago area has some pretty nice public transit. It is a million times nicer for me to take the Metra into the city than trying to drive (cheaper too if there are fewer than 3 passengers in the car)

I love the Metra and always take it into the city. Cheap (compared to price of gas+parking), fast and totally not frustrating.

Problem is, there's no Metra station by my work. Closest one is 3 miles. I could ride a bike from the station, but they don't allow bikes on the train when it has to arrive in the city by 9 or leave by 5. And then, what do I do during winter?

Maybe I should leave my car at the train station!

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: Xanis
You've never lived in Pennsylvania, have you? Welcome to our hell.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: Xanis
You've never lived in Pennsylvania, have you? Welcome to our hell.

Finally, another Pennsylvanian who understands.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: Xanis

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: Xanis
You've never lived in Pennsylvania, have you? Welcome to our hell.

Finally, another Pennsylvanian who understands.

They've been working on adding another lane to an 80 mile stretch of road between state college and pittsburgh (rt 22) for going on 15 years now.

It takes them so long that by the time they finish a chunk of it, it's time to re-pave it already.

edit: and anytime you drive through a work zone, it's just a bunch of worthless unionized penn-dot employees standing around doing nothing.

 

[paulney]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
I guess I'm lucky to be in Minnesota. We have a lot of construction but nothing has lasted that long other than the construction on 35W between Bloomington and Minneapolis (my commute home). Even that isn't too bad.

How's that bridge holding up for ya?

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
I know we had a bunch of road construction pop up because of the stimulus.

Yeah, definitely some like that in IL too, they put the big sign up to let you know.

I've seen in down here in southern illinois, close to st. louis

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: Platypus
at least in the burbs you get actual work done, we just get massive metal plates in the city

No kidding. I'll die of shock the day they finally fix North Ave. At least they built that nice new bridge over the river two years ago.

On a brighter note the city has been replacing all of the broken, crappy sidewalks near work in the last month.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Kyteland
On a brighter note the city has been replacing all of the broken, crappy sidewalks near work in the last month.

Yeah.. the sidewalks are pretty crappy in the city. Last year I parked on the roof behind the Kerryman on Erie and had to walk down to the Chinese consulate on State Street and I must've just about twisted my ankle a couple times on those damn dilapidated sidewalks.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: arcenite
Well, I am adding Illinois to my list of places to never visit.

In fact, Illinois is the start of this list.

Any others I should add?

Ohio. Construction can be as bad as that an Illinois, but on top of that, OSHP (state police) are nazi about pulling over speeders (wtf, 35 MPH for 20 miles in a construction zone that is normally 65 MPH, when there aren't any workers present?). And many local governments don't have the money to repair their roadways, so they are just rotting away.

And ODOT's snow removal crew is just horrible. It's pathetic when local gov't roads are better maintained in the winter than state roads.

I don't mind driving in Illinois, seems just like home, just busier. lol

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: K1052
Illinois has two seasons: Winter and road construction.

Some of my Naperville/Aurora living coworkers are heavily lamenting the fact that just as the seemingly decade long reconstruction of the I-88 tollway draws to a close they have now decided to resurface the Eisenhower Expwy thereby preventing any improvement in commute time for at least another year.

They arnt lying. That construction was going on when I started going to college in Naperville in 2003. Here it is, nearing 2010 and that shit STILL isn't finished.

DOES NOT COMPUTE

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Downstate isn't any better. In Peoria there are two major roads running in/out of town. HW150 and I-74. Somebody in their infinite wisdom thought it would be a brilliant idea to shut both of them down to one lane at the same freaking time. Can't wait for one to finish before you rape the daily commuters...nope...have to go for the double fisting and bring all traffic in and out of town to a complete crawl.

Bravo!

I have an ex who lived in Danville, Il ... (knew her back before she moved to Chicago area)
The main North/South access was Hwy 1.
The Hwy1 bridge was closed for work several years ago....

As far as I know, it's still closed. This is just an IL highway ... 2 lane non divided road .... The bridge was over like a 25 food branch of a river ....

The town does have an interstate running by it too, with east-west access to Champagne / indy .... it was under construction with lane closures last time I was out there .... (couple years back)