Commuting from Lincoln Park to Northfield

[chet everett]

The funny thing is that the "thousands of people do it" mantra does sorta apply to the idea of "living by myself in a big new city where there is only the tiny island of people I know" to the living situation too: if the OP does decide to spend a little time scouting location that would take the hairest edge off their commute AND still have decent access to transit so that they could get together with their friends AND meet people AND not be on some work schedule that makes 'em a target of "WHEN are YOU getting in?" queries from new employer that is way to sorta "work out a whole new plan" before the old one blows up.

The most obvious choices are spots close to the BROWN Line around Albany Park or Ravenswood Manor (which is exceedingly quiet / family oriented) or Lincoln Square which is a bit more lively but very safe and STILL allows one good / great access to friends in Lincoln Park AND crucially allows one far better acccess to Edens by slicing off yucky portion of Kennedy south of Irving Park... If you are OK with quiet , safe, but boring consider spots in Jefferson Park on BLUE Line which is also top choice to get to hip spots like Bucktown / Wicker Park...

[marothisu]

If she's leaving at 9am or a little after going north from Lincoln Park and coming back at 7:30pm or 8pm, I think it'll be fine. The worst thing to worry about would be parking back in LP if she doesn't have private parking

[reppin_the_847]

In the OP's defense...Northfield is a heck of a lot closer to Lincoln Park distance-wise than Elgin or Gurnee, lol. It's roughly 18.5 miles in terms of distance.

Originally Posted by chet everett

I have dozens of friends that have been in exactly the same situation as Drover describes -- they accept a position in Elgin or Gurnee while thinking "other people do it, it must not be all that bad, I can still live in XXXX XXX and see how it goes."

Then they keep getting blindsided not just with long day-in-day-out drudge of getting home after 8PM and waking up before 6AM that eats up so much of your day but the occaisional off-the-charts delay that is MUCH worse. Their ability to interact with friends / partners / kids suffers. They hate work, they hate home, they are not even able to really apply for other jobs closer becuase they know they are gonna come off as too desperate. They don't get enough sleep. They have to screw together a "whole new plan" that may include looking at different neighbors / different town / different line of work...

If you can avoid this sort of things all together it really is better all around.

[chet everett]

Oh, yeah, the distance is MUCH greater to places further out, but the "congestion zones" are the issue to a spot like Northfield from Lincoln Park and it is basically a solid wall of cars at several points... As was suggested if the "friends" are as close as possible tto the western edge of Lincoln Park that shaves off a considerable hassle, putzing along the last couple off miles and being tempted to just walk 'cause traffic all fouled up is something lots of experienced.

[marothisu]

How about we're reminded of the latest info the OP gave us. Look below.

Originally Posted by LScholl

I appreciate the replies, I get it, expect an hour, sometimes more. I am a 20 something female who is from the east coast, I do not know anyone in Chicago except the friends who I can live with in Lincoln Park. I know it sounds crazy but I would rather not live by myself my first year in Chicago. I think I may have some flexibilty with work schedule. If I worked 10am to 730 or 8pm, would that help?

[chet everett]

Honestly given the relative level of inter-day tie-ups that I've seen on the Kennedy and surface streets in Lincoln Park I am not sure that even shifting work hours makes much sense. There are other parts of the region where traffic does fall off sharply outside the peak of rush hour but this corridor is not likely to be totally "jam free" except at hours that only emergency rooms and overrnight delivery guys keep...

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Honestly given the relative level of inter-day tie-ups that I've seen on the Kennedy and surface streets in Lincoln Park I am not sure that even shifting work hours makes much sense. There are other parts of the region where traffic does fall off sharply outside the peak of rush hour but this corridor is not likely to be totally "jam free" except at hours that only emergency rooms are overrnight delivery guys keep...

Uh, pretty sure.......no, it's a lot better. 7:30 or 8pm leaving work and coming back from Northfield? Yeah, not a big deal (unless the roads suck in the winter). By the time you hit the city and junction, say 7:45-8:15pm, the roads will not even be that full. 99% of Cubs night games are at 7pm too, so you've beaten most of the traffic going to the game for that (only a little left by the time you hit the Lakeview area on the interstate by say 7:50-8:25pm).

9-9:15am in the morning? There's not tons of traffic going north from LP, it's only going South into the city there is. There might be a few slow spots for a minute but it's nothing major usually.