How is Westbound AM traffic on 290? (Chicago, Aurora: home, construction, school)

[eating while walking]

Hi all, I am making an itinerary for friends visiting from out of town, and part of my plans include heading west on 290 to visit people in Aurora. I would be heading west from Pulaski/290 at 830AM and back east at about 12PM on Friday. I almost never take 290 so I am not familiar with traffic patterns, and I would appreciate any help.

P.S. any good hot dog or beef stands in Aurora?

Thanks

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by eating while walking

Hi all, I am making an itinerary for friends visiting from out of town, and part of my plans include heading west on 290 to visit people in Aurora. I would be heading west from Pulaski/290 at 830AM and back east at about 12PM on Friday. I almost ever take 290 so I am not familiar with traffic patterns, and I would appreciate any help.

P.S. any good hot dog or beef stands in Aurora?

Thanks

There is a significant amount of westbound traffic on 290 and I-88 every morning. The estimates that the Waze app / website provides are mostly accurate UNLESS there is a major weather event or some kind of traffic collision, then things become a parking lot.

I frankly don't think it is realistic to think you can get to Aurora in less than 90 minutes or so at 8:30AM in a regular work day.

There is an interesting hot dog / beef stand on North Ave in West Chicago that is probably worth going to if you are out that way -- Scooby's Menu

Aurora itself has Portillo's close to Fox Valley as well as Buona Beef or two as well as many local places that are more known for Mexican food than either hot dogs or beef.

There is an old school hot dog stand / burger stand called Doggie Diner that is serviceable for tradition -- Doggie Diner - Aurora, IL | Yelp

I am generally not much of a fan of chains but there is a well run A&W in Aurora and also a nice enough Sonic if you have a taste for either of those places that are kind of underrepresented in the region --
A&W North Aurora

Sonic Aurora IL

[eating while walking]

Thanks for the reply Chet. Do you think it's more reasonable to leave at around 11AM to arrive in Aurora at 12PM?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by eating while walking

Thanks for the reply Chet. Do you think it's more reasonable to leave at around 11AM to arrive in Aurora at 12PM?

I would probably not leave much latter that 10:30AM. I probably would not leave too much earlier than 9:15 -9:45 as there is a bit of "let up" that happens as folks get into their offices ...

[MSchemist80]

I take 294 S to I-88 W every morning and there is seldom any significant traffic delays. There are usually only minor ones if any on the way home in the reverse direction.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by eating while walking

How is Westbound AM traffic on 290?

Wretched.

[Ace Rothstein]

Both EB and WB suck on 290. If you try to avoid the worst of it OB in the morning then you'll end up hitting the worst of it coming back IB in the afternoon. Friday afternoon traffic is generally the worst not taking weather conditions into account.

[Lookout Kid]

I-88 is rarely a problem, even in the peak of rush hour. In either direction. But 290 is just awful between Oak Park and the Hillside bottleneck, seemingly always.

[ChicagoMeO]

Sunday morning is THE BEST time to take the Congress Expressway going west. Coming home it gets too much traffic. during the week, your best time to avoid rush hour traffic going west is after 10:00 a.m. unless there is an accident or some other unusual circumstance like a special event happening causing more traffic.. or like road construction can really screw up an otherwise ideal traffic drive. sometimes there is a small delay near Harlem where everyone is going 20 MPH. but after Mannheim, it seems to speed up where you can go the speed limit.