Commuting I-94 / I-43 Kenosha to Mequon (Milwaukee, Racine: home, construction, live in)

[JeepGuyBrian]

Hi Folks,
Long time reader, first time posting.

My wife and I currently live in the Kenosha area. Young couple, no kids. I'm looking at a career change that would have me commuting to Mequon 5 days a week. The idea is to eventually move up closer to the Milwaukee area assuming I like the new job.

Anybody make a similar commute on this stretch of I-94 / I-43? Non-traffic it is about a 1 hour commute each way, interested to hear how rush-hour affects this. I'm not so much worried about the morning (will be before 7am), but evenings may have me driving south-bound through downtown area around 5pm. Also curious of congestion now that the freeway construction is finished thru the airport area (seems much better few times I have done it).

Appreciate any and all input!

Brian

[mizzou65201]

Slowdowns are usually from Capitol or just south of it, through the Marquette Interchange and across the High-Rise Bridge. Usually starts to speed up after Becher. Average delay is probably 10 minutes but an accident or something like that and things get real bad real fast. I don't know about how things go further south into Racine/Kenosha, but the few occasions I've had to drive that way in the evening rush hour it's busy but no major delays.

[brian571]

I don't think you'll have too much to worry about. You'll definitely be OK going north in the morning at that time of day. If it was a bit later, say 7:30 - 8:00, it'd be another story. I-94 northbound backs up frequently between the airport interchange and downtown during the rush hour. Going home at night, you'll probably have some brief backups between Locust and downtown and again south of downtown for a mile two, but not really anything to be too concerned about unless there's an accident or bad weather.

For what it's worth, I commute from Glendale to Lake County, IL 4 days a week. It's not a bad drive, but not something you'll want to do long term. You'll be ready to make a change eventually. We're planning on moving south this summer.