Short Comparison Of Airports (Chicago, Cicero: crime, houses, neighborhoods)

[HOWELL_STREET]

Let's do a short comparison of Chicago's O'Hare Airport and Midway Airport. Of course, many, many people travel through O'Hare each day. But not so many through Midway. Midway Airport is the smaller of the two and it is located on the near south-side of Chicago in a residential area. Although there are many Chicago policeman patroling the Midway Airport areas - - in my opinion - - that residential area is somewhat dangerous. But that is conditional. It is dangerous only if you get away from the airport and are lost. Very good airlines such as "SouthWest" fly out of Midway. And I suppose one could identify 'Midway' as the airport with the smaller airlines.
There is no electrified tramway on the airpot property. However, there is the CTA electrified third rail station right at the airport. So I am talking about two different systems of transportation.
O'Harre Internationa Airport is much larger that Midway. And it has many different terminals that are stretched out similar to New York's Kennedy International.
So to service people with stretched out terminals - - O'Hare airport operates a free tramway system. Although that may not be a good description - - it is an electronic / computer train system probably similar to the famous 'B.A.R.T.' (" Bay Area Rapid Transit") out in California.
O'Hare does not have any residentail neighborhoods close to it. And, O'Hare is also serviced by the CTA electrified third rail system. Part of it is above ground but then becomes a subway closer to the city of Chicago. For safety, I am pointing out that the third rail of those electrified trains - - has 660 volts a.c. on it. So it is very important to stay away from that third rail.

Carter Glass

[mdz]

I disagree with the notion that the neighborhood around Midway is dangerous. Maybe north of I-55 on Cicero is a bit sketchy, but it's standard blue collar bungalow belt around the airport.

[nanannie]

The street we take to Midway off the xpress way has some very bad neighborhoods and a delapadated housing project around the airport.On the other side,your right,typical chicago type houses,and neighborhoods.Now for the life of me,I cant think of the "bad" street,I am sure you know as you seem familiar with that area

[Manigault]

Midway Airport is on the south side of Chicago -- that means the streets are straight as an arrow and are numbered. So, for most folks, the chance of getting lost is greatly reduced if you have any idea of your destination. There is a small housing project on Cicero avenue about two miles north of the airport. Perhaps the project needs some rehabilitation but I'm not sure its denizens create a threat to people going to or from the airport; even to those who become lost near the project. Other than that, the airport is located in the midst of middle-income, blue collar Chicago. There's not much street traffic in the neighborghood areas after dark so a person may would not hesitate to detour around a stopped freight train after dark. There aren't "very bad" neighborhoods around Midway.

With that said, if you are going to the airport, anyone going down Garfield Blvd. (55th street) east of Western Ave. should be aware of exactly where they are going because this main street will take a car right through the heart of Englewood, an area with crime problems. A better route to those less familiar would be north on Cicero avenue to I-55.

[Steve-o]

I agree that the 'hoods around Midway arent that bad at all. I had to pick up my BIL from Midway (1 am flight--- yeehaw) and didnt want to pay for parking so I just cruised around the neighborhoods for almost an hour (I got there too early) and it was completely fine. I wouldnt do that in Maywood though... lol

[Manigault]

Next time, use the free cell phone lot. Or the White Castle at 63rd and Cicero.

[pw72]

Both airports have advantages.

Midway is closer to the Loop, has shorter lines (usually), and parking is a bit cheaper. I will agree, the neighborhood around isn't that bad. When weather gets bad, Midway still seems to get planes in and out (despite that unfortunate December '05 accident).

O'Hare is huge. On a good day, it is poetry in motion. Planes approaching and departing on a precise pinpoint schedule that is quite impressive. On a bad day, things can go downhill very fast and the delays can be severe.

O'Hare obviously has more destination options, and as mentioned above, has mass-transit right into the city.

A quick nightmare story about O'Hare, I'm sure not that unusual. I was flying into O'Hare from Seattle, and about an hour from arrival, a thunderstorm moved right over O'Hare. We literally circled for atleast 90 minutes. Finally landed, and because of all the delays among other planes, the pickup area was worse than any big-city traffic jam. Took another hour to find my pick-up. Point is, when there are problems at O'Hare it goes from functional to disaster very quickly. Midway, due to being much smaller, avoids a lot of these type of problems.

[reppin_the_847]

For the reasons you just described, I prefer flying domestic flights out of Midway. When flying international, however, a person from Chicagoland pretty much has no choice but to fly out of O'Hare. If you think about it, even Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport does not have many International flights (I don't think they have one single flight to London or from London for example), and so people from Milwaukee will have to venture down to O'Hare as well for many of their international travels whether for leisure or business. I did notice that Milwaukee had a few Toronto (Canada) flights, but that was about it. I use FlyteComm (FlyteComm Real-Time Flight Intelligence Solutions) to track flights usually if I need to pick someone up at one of the airports.

Originally Posted by pw72

Both airports have advantages.

Midway is closer to the Loop, has shorter lines (usually), and parking is a bit cheaper. I will agree, the neighborhood around isn't that bad. When weather gets bad, Midway still seems to get planes in and out (despite that unfortunate December '05 accident).

O'Hare is huge. On a good day, it is poetry in motion. Planes approaching and departing on a precise pinpoint schedule that is quite impressive. On a bad day, things can go downhill very fast and the delays can be severe.

O'Hare obviously has more destination options, and as mentioned above, has mass-transit right into the city.

A quick nightmare story about O'Hare, I'm sure not that unusual. I was flying into O'Hare from Seattle, and about an hour from arrival, a thunderstorm moved right over O'Hare. We literally circled for atleast 90 minutes. Finally landed, and because of all the delays among other planes, the pickup area was worse than any big-city traffic jam. Took another hour to find my pick-up. Point is, when there are problems at O'Hare it goes from functional to disaster very quickly. Midway, due to being much smaller, avoids a lot of these type of problems.

[via chicago]

to echo what has mostly been said: the area around midway is by no means "bad". unless you're completely ignorant. its solidly working class blue collar.

[Drover]

I'm so sick of hearing the "Midway neighborhood is dangerous!" nonsense. Those of you who keep saying that: please, shut up. The neighborhoods around the airport are probably safer than most of the hipster/yuppie North Side neighborhoods that we all recommend without a pause.