Kennedy Traffic (Chicago, Rosemont: home, employment, living in)

[aga412]

So I'm newer to living in Chicago proper, and was curious about the traffic situation on the Kennedy, namely why outbound is nearly as congested as inbound during morning rush hour and seemingly more congested inbound during evening rush hour. Where outbound rush hour seems to taper off dramatically by 7pm, inbound seems consistently bad until sometimes well after 8pm.

Why is this? Lack of employment opportunities forcing people to work in the suburbs? More train commuters diluting the "city" traffic to be smaller in number? Infrastructure issues? Something I'm not getting that's glaringly obvious?

[jman07]

I have a few theories for this.

1. They have an express lane that switches to inbound during the morning and outbound during the evening so help traffic. So one extra lane both ways.

2. Most people that work in the city from the suburbs take the train, while the outbound workers to the suburbs have to drive. There are a lot of jobs in the suburbs. Rosemont alone has more office space than a lot of big city downtowns.

[FAReastcoast]

Originally Posted by aga412

So I'm newer to living in Chicago proper, and was curious about the traffic situation on the Kennedy, namely why outbound is nearly as congested as inbound during morning rush hour and seemingly more congested inbound during evening rush hour. Where outbound rush hour seems to taper off dramatically by 7pm, inbound seems consistently bad until sometimes well after 8pm.

Why is this? Lack of employment opportunities forcing people to work in the suburbs? More train commuters diluting the "city" traffic to be smaller in number? Infrastructure issues? Something I'm not getting that's glaringly obvious?

Probably a combination of ORD and the Express Lane that shifts in the direction depending on time of day, giving the "rush direction" an extra lane.

[jsk1983]

Too much traffic merging into 3 lanes out by O'Hare....

[beaniemac]

I used to work in des plaines, and the days that I drove versus working from home or taking the train were HORRIBLE. I didn't usually take the kennedy except for days like the day after thanksgiving or when CPS had spring or christmas break. There was ALWAYS sooooooo much traffic no matter what time I left or came home. and public transportation was no better cuz I had to take a bus and the yellow and red/purple line. Or I could take the bus to o'hare and take the blue to the red line to get home. not ideal no matter which mode of transportation I used. The horrible commute was the main reasons I left that job once I got my current job which allows me to work from home everyday basically.

I think the kennedy is the WORST expressway in chicago by far when it comes to the amount of traffic on it.

[jman07]

Originally Posted by beaniemac

I used to work in des plaines, and the days that I drove versus working from home or taking the train were HORRIBLE. I didn't usually take the kennedy except for days like the day after thanksgiving or when CPS had spring or christmas break. There was ALWAYS sooooooo much traffic no matter what time I left or came home. and public transportation was no better cuz I had to take a bus and the yellow and red/purple line. Or I could take the bus to o'hare and take the blue to the red line to get home. not ideal no matter which mode of transportation I used. The horrible commute was the main reasons I left that job once I got my current job which allows me to work from home everyday basically.

I think the kennedy is the WORST expressway in chicago by far when it comes to the amount of traffic on it.

I know people in the city who worked in mundaline everyday.

[beaniemac]

Originally Posted by jman07

I know people in the city who worked in mundaline everyday.

did those people live on the south side? cuz driving from the north or northwest side is a lot easier.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

Originally Posted by aga412

So I'm newer to living in Chicago proper, and was curious about the traffic situation on the Kennedy, namely why outbound is nearly as congested as inbound during morning rush hour and seemingly more congested inbound during evening rush hour. Where outbound rush hour seems to taper off dramatically by 7pm, inbound seems consistently bad until sometimes well after 8pm.

Why is this? Lack of employment opportunities forcing people to work in the suburbs? More train commuters diluting the "city" traffic to be smaller in number? Infrastructure issues? Something I'm not getting that's glaringly obvious?

Probably because its a major highway in the third largest city in the country that also leads to one of the busiest airports in the world...and there are lane shifting issues that are in the works of being addressed I believe.

[pvande55]

Another reason (in the PM rush) is that north and northwest suburban residents are heading into the city for sports or entertainment.

[Chicago60614]

As other said, it's probably a factor of the 300,000 rides given by Metra being more inbound/morning and outbound/evening and the fact that the two reversible lanes give the Kennedy 6 lanes inbound in the morning vs 4 outbound and the opposite in the evening.

Those two factors help the inbound/outbound and is probably why it seems "opposite" when looking at the traffic map vs what you would expect.