Question on a commute (Schaumburg, Palatine: hotels, home, live)

[GQpilot3]

My friend needs to attend a training session on friday mornings coming up the next few weeks. I don't really drive this route so I figured I would ask you guys. He will staying in lincoln park with his friend since he lives in Kenosha. He needs to commute to Hoffman Estates and the seminars begin 8:30am. How long would do you guys think that commute would average? He is trying to figure out whether to just stay at home in Kenosha or stay in LP with his friend. Thanks for any info.

[Drover]

If I had to be in Hoffman by 8:30, I'd leave Lincoln Park at 7:00. He'd almost be better off commuting from Kenosha.

[chicagojlo]

I agree, Kenosha would be easier.

[chet everett]

Technically it is faster to get to Hoffman Estates from Limcoln Park than from Kenosha.

The difficulty is that coming all the way from Lincoln Park could easily take more than an hour in rush hour.

Coming from Kenosha would take longer, especially if there is any snow to deal with.

Basically the only route to Hoffman Estates is the NW Tollroad, which since it angles is hard to beat for directness.

The "plus" is that Friday mornings tend to be among the lighter travel days, with noticeably less trucks in the AM and even a light amount of regular commuters early in the morning. 90 minutes is probably giving a BIG cushion to the commute, if there is no weather related delays and traffic is light it could half that time, but 8:30 arrival is in some ways harder than asking for a 7AM start time, as that would see mostly open roads and probably 45 minute commute...


If there is an option to stay at one of the hotels in Hoffman Estates , Schaumburg or Barrington that would really be smarter -- get to training all well rested instead of stressed from traffic....

[SJaye]

From Kenosha to Hoffman Estates, it is possible to take I-94 to Lake-Cook Rd. to IL-53 to either I-90 or Higgins (depending on where in Hoffman you are going to). The problem is that Lake-Cook Road has kind of a bottleneck in Buffalo Grove. 94/294 to Willow/Palatine Road may also be a good choice.

I'd say that the drive from Lincoln Park would be more frustrating than the drive from Kenosha, but depending on where in Hoffman Estates the training session is, it may be possible to take public transit. I know there is a PACE bus from the Rosemont Blue line stop that goes express to the Sears Center, and some places have shuttle busses to a METRA station.