Help with Harwood Heights / Norridge area, please? (Chicago, Schaumburg: 2015, apartment)

[johnochicago]

Hello, all.So, I've lived in the Southside of Chicago (about 10 minutes South of downtown) my entire life. I've just been offered a sweet new job in Schaumburg and it looks like I'll be accepting (woot!). I'd like to find a place about halfway between Schaumburg and Downtown Chicago since I'll be heading back there a lot because my family and friends are still here. After staring at a map for about 20 seconds, it looks like the Harwood Heights / Norridge area would be a good location, especially since I prefer not to move past the airport.I guess I have 2 major questions. (1) Can anybody give me some input on the area? Is it nice, safe, clean, etc? (2) It looks like the best way to get to Schaumburg from there would be to take the I-90 (Jane Addams Memorial Tollway) Northwest. Would anybody know what the commute is like there? Would I be looking at a terrible commute traveling to and from work with that?I guess I should also mention that I'm a single guy with no kids who doesn't really care about the nightlife in that area. I'm just looking for a nice area will give me some reasonable travel distances to Schaumburg and Downtown Chicago. Any input at all from anyone would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Drover]

Norridge and Harwood Heights are standard post-war inner-suburbia. Taken together they're independent municipalities otherwise contained within the city limits. I guess they managed to ward off the annexation that washed over the area or something. They're quite similar to places like Garfield Ridge and Clearing to give a comparison somewhere close to your neck of the woods. They're clean and tidy enough and there's convenient access to a good amount of shopping and some restaurants along Harlem Avenue. Not much happening nightlife-wise though.

The commute is pretty tolerable. Getting onto the expressway itself is a major choke point, but once you get on it's usually smooth sailing; outbound traffic usually starts flowing at or near full speed immediately west of Harlem. Right now the "smooth sailing" is being interrupted by some road work near Cumberland but once you get past there you start moving. Another choke point happens a couple miles past the Devon toll when the Addams pares down from four lanes to three; but again once you get past it, traffic resumes its free-flow status.

The commute home is a slightly different story. Backups usually start before the toll plaza and traffic crawls from there all the way into downtown. Sometimes you can zoom right up to the toll plaza before hitting the backup; sometimes it starts a mile or more out. But you can avoid a lot of this backup by getting off before then and/or using surface streets, which usually aren't too snarled west of Harlem. However, current work on Cumberland is messing up surface-street traffic flow for the time being.

[Chicago87]

Originally Posted by johnochicago

Hello, all.So, I've lived in the Southside of Chicago (about 10 minutes South of downtown) my entire life. I've just been offered a sweet new job in Schaumburg and it looks like I'll be accepting (woot!). I'd like to find a place about halfway between Schaumburg and Downtown Chicago since I'll be heading back there a lot because my family and friends are still here. After staring at a map for about 20 seconds, it looks like the Harwood Heights / Norridge area would be a good location, especially since I prefer not to move past the airport.I guess I have 2 major questions. (1) Can anybody give me some input on the area? Is it nice, safe, clean, etc? (2) It looks like the best way to get to Schaumburg from there would be to take the I-90 (Jane Addams Memorial Tollway) Northwest. Would anybody know what the commute is like there? Would I be looking at a terrible commute traveling to and from work with that?I guess I should also mention that I'm a single guy with no kids who doesn't really care about the nightlife in that area. I'm just looking for a nice area will give me some reasonable travel distances to Schaumburg and Downtown Chicago. Any input at all from anyone would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Are you currently living in Bridgeport?

[johnochicago]

Thanks for the reply, Drover. I read about this area technically being outside of Chicago. I thought it was a bit odd but nothing off-putting. Is there some kind of disadvantage about this, though? When you say the commute is tolerable, how much might this be time-wise? I know it can vary depending on weather, traffic, etc. but I was wondering if you could give a general idea, please? And Chicago87, yes I'm in the Bridgeport area. The commute from here to Schaumburg sounds like it would be a nightmare so I'd like to move a bit more Northwest.

[jdiddy]

Typical commute, plan on 20 minutes in the morning and 35-40 on the way home from Harlem/Kennedy to Schaumburg.

[Chicago87]

Originally Posted by johnochicago

Thanks for the reply, Drover. I read about this area technically being outside of Chicago. I thought it was a bit odd but nothing off-putting. Is there some kind of disadvantage about this, though? When you say the commute is tolerable, how much might this be time-wise? I know it can vary depending on weather, traffic, etc. but I was wondering if you could give a general idea, please? And Chicago87, yes I'm in the Bridgeport area. The commute from here to Schaumburg sounds like it would be a nightmare so I'd like to move a bit more Northwest.

Trust me when I say that you are going to want to live as close to work as possible. Would you rather drive longer 2 days a week with no real time constraints when you come into the city, or drive longer 5 times a week to get to work with likely strict punctuality requirements? I live around the Bridgeport area and used to have to commute out by the O'hare area, and I absolutely detested that commute. It took 2 to 3 hours out of my day 5 days a week.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by johnochicago

Thanks for the reply, Drover. I read about this area technically being outside of Chicago. I thought it was a bit odd but nothing off-putting. Is there some kind of disadvantage about this, though? When you say the commute is tolerable, how much might this be time-wise? I know it can vary depending on weather, traffic, etc. but I was wondering if you could give a general idea, please? And Chicago87, yes I'm in the Bridgeport area. The commute from here to Schaumburg sounds like it would be a nightmare so I'd like to move a bit more Northwest.

The length of your commute would depend on where in Schaumburg you'd be working, since it's a pretty long city east-west. If you're headed to the area around Woodfield, bet on about 25 minutes in the mornings and 35 in the evenings. Add another 8-10 minutes if you're out by Barrington Road.

[williepotatoes]

As someone who lives in Schaumtopia and makes this very commute frequently, I would say that Drovers
numbers nailed it. About thirty minutes or a little less for me to get from the Roselle on ramp to Cumberland avenue during PM rush. Usually best to get off at Cumberland and enter Norridge from it's west border and then use Lawrence ave. to get to your chosen destination.

[North Side Brandon]

Get off at Cumberland avoid Harlem if you can. Harwood Heights and Norridge are nice stable communities. You might want to look at Edison Park, Norwood Park or Oriole Park too. Those areas filled with Cops and Fireman and other city workers. They are very safe areas with very low crime.

[johnochicago]

Thank you all so much for the info. I'm really glad to hear the commute won't be absolutely horrible if I live in that area. My job will be close to Woodfield Mall so it sounds like I got the good end on that deal as far as distance goes. I'll also take a look at Edison Park, Norwood Park or Oriole Park if I can't find anything around there. I guess the hard part now is actually finding a decent apartment in the area. Thank you all again!