Eastern Railroad Discussion > Joliet Railfan Info

Greetings,

This Friday I hope to make it back to Joliet, IL for the first time in several years. I was just wondering about a couple of things.

1. I am coming from Milwaukee, WI - What would be the best route to avoid "Chicago Traffic" that we here about up here ??

2. What would be the best frequencies to have in the scanner to keep up with action at the diamond ?

3. How have rail traffic levels been lately ??

Thanks in advance

Keith Schmidt

1. I am coming from Milwaukee, WI - What would be the best route to avoid "Chicago Traffic" that we here about up here ??


thats not going to happen!!!!!

unless you drive in at 2am on a sunday.

that and all the road work bing done around here . 55 to 80 might be your best bet . 294 has work as does 94 right at 80 going east but they allso have some work going west. good luck .

You can avoid one construction site on 294 by jumping off it at Interstate 88, which you'd take west to I-355, then south to I-55. Rather than go all the way to I-80, I'd suggest getting off at Joliet Road (same exit as I-55--the end of I-355), and either taking that into town or crossing the river/canals and going in via New Avenue and Illinois 171 (the latter is the "scenic route", along the former GM&O).

Definitely avoid the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) south of I-55 -- even at night! It had a 10-mile zone of single-lane traffic last night so a crew could paint lane stripes. Other states manage to do this stuff without nearly so much complication, but the idiots in Illinois apparently are happy to take their toll money and do whatever with it.

When you deal with the Tollway, there are three ways to do anything: the right way, the wrong way and the Tollway....

However, in due fairness, the traffic levels on all Chicago area expressways are ridiculous no matter what time of day or day of the week. The Toll Authority has been trying to do as much work during off-peak hours as possible. This results in the temporary lane closures that Patch experienced. I'll admit it is annoying as all heck sometimes but the work needs to get done.

It will get a lot, and I mean a LOT worse, when the Tollway begins its long overdue reconstruction and widening of I-294 from 95th street to the I-94 interchange next spring.

For the guy heading down from Milwaukee, if you can avoid hitting the O'Hare area around 6-9 in the morning and 3-7 in the afternoon, you should be okay. I-55 southbound (to Joliet) will be a zoo in the late afternoon. It could easily take an hour between I-294 and Joliet. The advice to take I-88 to I-355 won't save much time in the afternoon thanks to construction on I-88 west of Naperville (yes, the back-ups can stretch that far east).