290 traffic (Chicago, Atlanta, Ogden: home, construction, live)

[Chicago_Person]

So recently we got bumped to 3rd most traffic filled city... yes even more than Atlanta or LA.

And the majority of it is due to that damn interchange being worked on. Now it's delayed by like 2 years and this week they changed the traffic pattern and it has backed up for miles.

anyone else deal with this every AM?

[bobsell]

Yeah, Chicago traffic just keeps getting worse and worse.

I remember back in the 90's if I left by 2PM I could zoom home without delay. Now it is noontime and the slowdown started.

I remember if I waited until 6:30pm in the 90's, the expressway home would be green. But that later went to 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30.....and counting.

[Chicago_Person]

Today i caved in and took my motorcycle and just lane split the whole way.

Pretty ridiculous.

[Chicago60614]

Hoping the rebuild of the circle interchange will at least help some of the bottlenecks that are and were so terrible from the Dan Ryan, Eisenhower and Kennedy all leading to that point.

they're doing a decent job of segregating out traffic lanes and adding new lanes.

After:
Dan Ryan will be 17 lanes directly south of the interchange
Kennedy will be 14 lanes direclty north of the interchange
Eisenhower will be 11 lanes directly west of the interchange

Before:
Dan Ryan 10 lanes directly south of the interchange
Kennedy 10 lanes direclty north of the interchange
Eisenhower 8 lanes directly west of the interchange

[Chicago_Person]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Hoping the rebuild of the circle interchange will at least help some of the bottlenecks that are and were so terrible from the Dan Ryan, Eisenhower and Kennedy all leading to that point.

they're doing a decent job of segregating out traffic lanes and adding new lanes.

After:
Dan Ryan will be 17 lanes directly south of the interchange
Kennedy will be 14 lanes direclty north of the interchange
Eisenhower will be 11 lanes directly west of the interchange

Before:
Dan Ryan 10 lanes directly south of the interchange
Kennedy 10 lanes direclty north of the interchange
Eisenhower 8 lanes directly west of the interchange

Do you know if it will open in stages, or all together?

[smegmatite]

Traffic downtown is worse than ever too, its not just 290... economy is doing well and then add the tens of thousands of uber/lyft drivers everywhere and you pretty much have a 2 hour window during the day 12-2pm only on weekdays where you can drive around town without massive amounts of traffic. Or unless its a government holiday, then there isn't a lot of traffic then either

[ChicagoMeO]

I have been watching that traffic report that shows the Eisenhower as a parking lot for miles!!! ugh!


so they are going to give 2 lanes to the ramp leading to the Kennedy and the Dan Ryan?? and one for going east down Congress? What are they going to do? Put in a cement divider? I don't know why they even need that since people know how to change lanes on their own. Why are they doing this?? So stupid.

[fusillirob1983]

Today was specifically bad. I can typically make it in 45-50 minutes when I leave before 5:30 a.m. Today it took about 85 minutes leaving at 5:25 a.m.

[pete6032]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

I have been watching that traffic report that shows the Eisenhower as a parking lot for miles!!! ugh!


so they are going to give 2 lanes to the ramp leading to the Kennedy and the Dan Ryan?? and one for going east down Congress? What are they going to do? Put in a cement divider? I don't know why they even need that since people know how to change lanes on their own. Why are they doing this?? So stupid.

Why are they expanding the capacity of the circle interchange?

[CCrest182]

290 has never been a particularly "good" freeway when it comes to traffic. It's always been pretty crappy, even before all the construction on the Byrne interchange started.

I'm so happy I can use 55/the Stevenson to get to the city from where I live. Straight shoot into the city for whatever the hell I'm going there for, and really only somewhat bad during rush hour, though even then not always. I try to avoid 290 and the Dan Ryan/Kennedy like the plague. Sometimes it even makes sense just taking Ogden all the way through the west side to avoid that traffic (if you can't tell, I'm from the inner western suburbs).

This is also why using Metra (if you can) is well worth it. Avoid traffic altogether. But I understand not everyone is able to do that.