Reverse commute question (Oak Brook: lease, work, quiet)

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by bodolo

What about Wheaton or Oak Brook? Not too far from Lisle and they are safe, older and more established neighborhoods. As for Jefferson Park, the drive to and from Arlington Hts, for instance, can be up to an hour depending upon traffic. From the Western burbs, could be more. Jefferson Park (I grew up there) is a wonderful place for families, close to public transportation, etc. Not a lot of apartments, mostly single family homes and it's getting cutting edge. But I would opt to go to the Western Suburbs. If you like city life, take the Metra train and cab it when you arrive downtown. That's what I do and I am constantly going downtown for plays, museums, etc. , esp. on the weekends.

Sometimes it is nice to hear that there are others that do exactly what I suggested... What is that saying about a "prophet is least heeded in the home"?

[Ceolas]

I've been reading these posts and there's a ton of good information in here! My husband may be taking a job in DG, and we are looking at living in Oak Park. Anyone have that commute? I've seen a couple of posts saying it's not bad, but are we talking 30 minutes or 60 minutes bad?

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Ceolas

I've been reading these posts and there's a ton of good information in here! My husband may be taking a job in DG, and we are looking at living in Oak Park. Anyone have that commute? I've seen a couple of posts saying it's not bad, but are we talking 30 minutes or 60 minutes bad?

Door-to-door, 30 (plus/minus 5) sounds about right.

[chet everett]

Respectfully I have gotten on the Eisenhower many times in recent weeks from Harlem Ave and had delay of well over 45 minutes going to Rt 83, 30 minutes is awfully optimistic. Now I realize that this is largely due to the massive reconstruction of I-88 where the Cermak toll plaza used to be, but it has seriously impacted the travel times both inbound & outbound. Further, as teachers are out of schools and college kids are back home traffic volumes are higher as well there being much more midday traffic.

It should not take 60 minutes in "normal commute periods" to get from Oak Park to DG, but not sure how long it'll be before things are "normal", that project is not scheduled to wrap till 2009...

BTW A commute that relied on surface streets has an optimistic time calculation of about 50 minutes via google maps: from:Oak Park, IL to:Ridgeland Ave @41.863500, -87.783890 to:Harlem Ave/IL-43 @41.841000, -87.803310 to:41.829154,-87.882385 toowners Grove IL - Google Maps

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Respectfully I have gotten on the Eisenhower many times in recent weeks from Harlem Ave and had delay of well over 45 minutes going to Rt 83, 30 minutes is awfully optimistic. Now I realize that this is largely due to the massive reconstruction of I-88 where the Cermak toll plaza used to be, but it has seriously impacted the travel times both inbound & outbound. Further, as teachers are out of schools and college kids are back home traffic volumes are higher as well there being much more midday traffic.

It should not take 60 minutes in "normal commute periods" to get from Oak Park to DG, but not sure how long it'll be before things are "normal", that project is not scheduled to wrap till 2009...

BTW A commute that relied on surface streets has an optimistic time calculation of about 50 minutes via google maps: from:Oak Park, IL to:Ridgeland Ave @41.863500, -87.783890 to:Harlem Ave/IL-43 @41.841000, -87.803310 to:41.829154,-87.882385 toowners Grove IL - Google Maps

I'll defer to you then. I haven't done that drive during rush hours much in the past year.

[Ceolas]

Thank you both! I love these forums, they've been a huge help to me. I appreciate your advice.

[Drover]

Can anyone remember the last time 88 was not torn up? What the hell are they doing over there?

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Drover

Can anyone remember the last time 88 was not torn up? What the hell are they doing over there?

Ask Blago.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Drover

Can anyone remember the last time 88 was not torn up? What the hell are they doing over there?

They're expanding it to 4 lanes in phases. I think they've actually done a great job minimizing lane closures and traffic congestion considering the scope of the project. This current phase (reconfiguring what was the Oak Brook toll plaza including the 294/290 merge) is the most complicated so its bound to cause the most congestion. I don't know what the timeline of this project was, but compared to many state/city projects that go awry, this seems like its been making steady progress since the construction began.

[aragx6]

Yeah they've been working on that for a while, though i do feel like there's been some progress made. I'm sick of them closing the 83 offramp on weekend tho...

... but I only care for exactly 2 more weeks!!!!