Commuting to/from Hines VA in Maywood (Chicago, Oak Park: apartment, schools)

[milkman5oh]

I'm looking at accepting a position at the Hines VA Medical Center in Maywood. My question is how far away can I live and still have reasonable commute time of no more than 45 minutes. My wife has family in Gurnee and we would like to be as close to them as possible. Thanks!

[chet everett]

Ugh. Maywood is "centrally located" in sortuva bad way -- not insanely far from anything but not super easy to get to from anyplace that it is not adjacent too. Being served by roads that get real congested much of the time is a problem. If you are coming from anyplace north or west or even east you have to rely on the Eisenhower, Roosevelt or 22nd St for east-west connection and then 1st Ave for north-south access. A few miles on 1st Ave can be torturously slow and some folks try to get off a few exits ahead, but that just means more time on surface streets with lots of stop signs and more opportunity for a ticket or worse...

Since you probably want to be somewhat north AND somewhat close to major expressway or arterial I would think your best bet is something south of O'Hare and probably no further west that Rt 83 , not further east than Austin. Good chunk of Chicago would have you commuting down 1st Ave /River Rd/ Cumberland corridor, as well as the 'burbs that border Chicago like Oak Park, Elmwood Park, Norridge, Park Ridge. Some passable 'tweener burbs" like Melrose Park, Franklin Park too. Stuff very near Hines might be OK -- Riverside, Brookfield, Westchester, LaGrange should be OK. You start going even a bit past Western Spring, maybe as far west as Downers Grove and your 45 minute commute is shot in rush hour due to the congestion on the surface streets as well as the expressways / tollways.

[Brandito711]

Milkman5oh, I work overnights at Hines and commute from the Northside of Chicago via El trains and the pace bus. If you will be working dayshift I highly recommend either living somewhere along 290 or taking public transportation. The problem is everywhere between Chicago and the hospital is either too expensive or too violent. It is a very unique area in that virtually every town has very good and very bad blocks(with the exception of the towns I mention in the next sentence). I echo Chett's sentiments in that Riverside, Brookfield, and La Grange are safe and have great schools. I had an apartment in Lyons and while it was not the most exciting town, the place was affordable, safe and close to work. My friends grew up in Lombard and Villa Park and enjoyed it. If you want to keep your commute under 45 minutes I wouldnt go further out than Villa Park or further into the city than the loop.