Northwest SUBURBS???? (Chicago, Arlington Heights, Palatine: best, park, area)

[Master Jay]

fusillirob1983, you SEE how some of us view the definition of "suburbs" up here?... I could drive 30 minutes directly west on I94 here and I would NEVER call that a Milwaukee suburb. AND I could drive 30 minutes directly west of Chicago on the highway system, and I would never call THAT area a Chicago suburb either, by the same interpretation. But maybe that's just ME! But I think you see my point!

[damba]

Originally Posted by Master Jay

fusillirob1983, you SEE how some of us view the definition of "suburbs" up here?... I could drive 30 minutes directly west on I94 here and I would NEVER call that a Milwaukee suburb. AND I could drive 30 minutes directly west of Chicago on the highway system, and I would never call THAT area a Chicago suburb either, by the same interpretation. But maybe that's just ME! But I think you see my point!

Some of that is skewed slightly by the fact that you can often get across the entire Milwaukee area in 30 minutes or so- traffic is quite a lot easier. Traveling for an hour plus down here might only mean you drove 10-15 miles LOL

[Master Jay]

damba, oh how RIGHT you are! Now you know why after driving for 75 + minutes from Milwaukee, I prefer to stay in areas north of Montrose Avenue, whenever possible!

[leroy217]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The designation that the toll authority uses on the directional signs for I-355 are obviously limited by space -- when you are in Bolingbrook it is a "SW suburb" and the places farther to the south & west have to be called SOMETHING ...

The general designation of the towns that are roughly along I-90 corridor as "Northwest suburbs" is kind of a no-brainer.

I suppose that there might some folks who'd like to see individual town names such as "Joliet, Homer Glen, New Lenox" for the areas past Bolingbrook and maybe "Schaumburg" as the target of the northerly path, but that is a choice that the toll authority makes probably as much to not distract drivers as anything else...

Chet,


The Tollway has to follow FHWA guidelines as far as what control cities or areas are placed on the signs. I personally do not like the terms NW Suburbs and SW Suburbs. They finally gave IDOT the go-ahead to put "Aurora" on the overhead signage in the circle in downtown Chicago for I-290.

[leroy217]

Originally Posted by fusillirob1983

I-88 and I-355 intersect at the Lisle/Downers Grove border and is between Butterfield and Ogden, approximately 4000 South. This is technically southwest of the 0 North/South and 0 East/West, but this is not at all the southwest suburbs. That would definitely be considered the Western Suburbs, as is most of DuPage County except for the northernmost and southernmost points. Maybe towns like Darien, Woodridge and definitely Bolingbrook would be considered southwest suburbs.

Typically anything along the I-55 corridor is a SW suburb once you get west of roughly the Chicago border.


Countryside, Forest View, Indian Head Park, Burr Ridge, Darien, Woodridge, Lemont, Bolingbrook, etc.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by leroy217

Typically anything along the I-55 corridor is a SW suburb once you get west of roughly the Chicago border.


Countryside, Forest View, Indian Head Park, Burr Ridge, Darien, Woodridge, Lemont, Bolingbrook, etc.

I could make the argument of any of those falling into both W or SW suburbs. If I had to I'd probably put Lemont and Bolingbrook as SW and the rest as W. Lemont falls in two counties but can have a 630 area code. Shopping can easily be done in Darien, Woodridge, DG, Burr Ridge or Bolingbrook, but I've known many south siders that have moved to Lemont and it shares some similarities with Orland and Homer Glen. Bolingbrook is pretty far southwest, but I've seen people from Bolingbrook take the Naperville Metra. In spite of how far southwest Naperville actually goes, I've never heard someone refer to it as a southwest suburb


Culturally and based on school districts, I would probably do it that way. In my mind, I have always thought of I-55 as the boundary between W and SW or based on suburbs historically covered by the Daily Southtown newspaper (which maybe has changed since it's own by Tribune and can be accessed digitally).

[personone]

Originally Posted by damba

Look at a map. Those are inner ring suburbs. 355 gets you to Arlington Heights and Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg, examples of what we call nw suburbs down here.

Agreed. My understanding is that when us local Chicagolanders say "Northwest Suburbs," we are usually referring to Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Palatine, Elk Grove, etc.

Park Ridge, Niles, and Morton Grove are east of O'Hare so I don't think most of us consider them in the common definition of "Northwest Suburbs."

[pvande55]

Any point lying within the boundaries of Lake St (Route 20 ) to the south, Chicago City Limits to the east, Milwaukee Av (Rt 21) on the northeast, extending 60 miles (100 km) west of Mannheim Rd (Rt 45). That is a good definition of Northwest suburbs.

[bobsell]

The signs on the tollways are all over the place, when it comes to the text.

For example: I-294 north will say "Milwaukee" and "Wisconsin" depending on its location. I-355 will say "Joliet" and "Southwest Suburbs" depending on the location.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

To me, the NW suburbs are anything that's firmly northwest of the airport - Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Palatine, Crystal Lake, Algonquin, etc. Maybe because the metro area sprawls out farther NW than any other direction, my cutoff for it is farther out.

Niles and Park Ridge are north suburbs; Itasca and Bensenville are west suburbs.