Oak Park to Lake Forest (Cicero, Skokie: extended stay, day care, hotel)

[oakparkdude]

My father-in-law is considering taking a temporary assignment in Lake Forest for five months. He lives in Boston, so is considering staying with us in Oak Park. Google maps say its about 50 minutes from OP via North Ave, River Road, Irving Park, then the Tollway. Realistically, does that mean it'll be 60, 70, 80, or 90 minutes during normal commuting hours?

[chet everett]

YES. Not to be flip, but I know that the combination of surface streets, expressways and tollroads that link OP to LF all have LOTS of traffic, LOTS of construction, LOTS of variable congestion and I have personally driven a similar route in under an hour at night (after 8PM) while I have also sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic that was more than DOUBLE that without any weather factor. The back-ups from touristy type stuff (like O'Hare or Six Flags) are HIGHLY variable.

I would think five months ought not to push dad over the edge, and he could always find a nice extended stay hotel closer to work if he gets too close to the brink, but if he knows that 'variability' is the name of the game he will be OK -- this is totally different than if he HAD TO be home at the same time every day to pickup kids from day care or let a pet out, and I would warn anyone that IS in that position that such a commute with time constraints would be madness...

[Lookout Kid]

Ike to Kennedy to Edens seems like a better option to me... But that would still suck. I somewhat recently had to commute out to Lake Forest from River North for meetings once a week during rush hour, and we'd usually give ourselves an hour to get there.

[Paige65]

It will be a very long commute, regardless of whether he takes the Kennedy/Edens or the Tri-State. With no traffic, it's a solid 45-50 minutes from Oak Park to Highland Park. Lake Forest is even farther north. I don't know for sure, but my guess would be 75+ during rush hour. Sorry!

[mendelman]

This may get poo-pooed, but I recommend he drive Lake to Cicero north to where it turns into 41 (Skokie Boulevard?) and then continue on 41 to Lake Forest. I think the traffic runs pretty smooth on Cicero and he won't have to deal with getting stopped by freight and Metra trains (all grade separated crossings in the City) as he surely would using River Road.

I don't know about 41 during rush, but I do know that I-294 is always a mess.

Good luck to him.

[Lookout Kid]

In my experience, 41 is often less congested than the Edens during Rush Hour. But it's a slower route in general, so it often doesn't make up the difference unless there is a problem on the Edens.