Chicago Living Tip No. 35
sorry for the late post. and now…
before driving in Chicago, familiarize yourself with the names of the expressways and tollways. they are referred to by name, not number. today, i bring you this handy dandy conversion chart so you, too, can make sense of traffic reports as you’re driving:
| Number | Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| I-80/294 (while they’re merged) | Kingery | from Indiana to the 80/294 split, SW of the city. |
| I-294 | Tri-State Tollway | from I-80 in the S to Wisconsin in the N, this is the primary N-S route through the western suburbs. the three “Tri” states mentioned are Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. |
| I-290 | Eisenhower | also known as the “Ike,” the Eisenhower begins in the northwest suburbs, travels S, takes a turn to the SE when it meets the North-South Tollway, and then turns E for the city at the junction of the East-West and the Tristate. this ends when it meets the Kennedy downtown. |
| I-55 | Stevenson | the Stevenson takes you from just S of downtown, past Midway Airport and to the southwest suburbs. |
| I-88 | East-West Tollway | the East-West Tollway brings you from the cornfields of central Illinois to the near western suburbs where it ends, leaving drivers a choice of taking the Tri-State to the N or S, or the Ike to the E. |
| I-355 | North-South Tollway | N on the North-South is just W of O?Hare; S on the North-South is just W of Midway. this interstate begins by branching off of the Stevenson and ends by merging with the Ike. |
these are relatively easy to remember because most of their names describe their routes. where it gets tricky, however, is with Interstates 90 and 94, both of which change names repeatedly in Chicagoland.
| Number | Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| I-90 | Northwest Tollway | Tollway Interstate 90 has this name from the Illinois/Wisconsin border (just north of Rockford) to O?Hare, where the Tollway ends. once it ends, I-90 becomes? |
| I-90 | Kennedy | from O?Hare to the I-90/94 merge, I-90 is named after JFK. |
| I-90/94 | Kennedy | even after the merge with I-94, I-90 still retains the Kennedy name; that is, until it reaches downtown, when it becomes? |
| I-90/94 | Dan Ryan | bonus question: who was Dan Ryan? the two interstates stay together for only a short amount of time, and then I-90 splits off, turns E towards Indiana, and becomes? |
| I-90 | Chicago Skyway | have your toll money ready. after this you?re in Indiana, and like everything else there, the roads are boring, so I-90 is just plain old I-90. |
and finally…
| Number | Name | Location |
|---|---|---|
| I-94 | Edens | coming into the city from the northern suburbs, I-94 is called the Edens, and remains the Edens until it merges with the Kennedy above Chicago?s Irving Park neighborhood. it then becomes? |
| I-90/94 | Kennedy | see table above. this becomes? |
| I-90/94 | Dan Ryan | ?which then becomes? |
| I-94 | Bishop Ford | ?once it splits off from I-90 on the south side. amazingly, I-94 keeps this name until it ends at I-80/294, S of the city. (I-80/294 being, of course, the Kingery.) |
so, did you get all that? good.
research compiled by Brian, my blogless husband
April 4th, 2005 - 4:33 pm
Chicago Living Tips
Chicago Living Tips
my goodness! i knew many of them, but not all. it’s crazy- i think i’ll stick to taking the el!
April 4, 2005 9:19 pm
And this would be how you can tell a lifetime suburbanite from the city dwellers, or previous city dwellers. LOL! Honestly I can never keep the names straight but that’s b/c I only used 90 and 290…oh and 355 which I always call 53. Anything else meant, ‘take the train’.
At least here in AZ we only have one expressway, I mean ‘interstate’, and it’s I-10. Boring!
April 5, 2005 1:59 am
I’m having a hard time lately, trying to view your blog. It won’t show up for me. I have to hit refresh and then some more of your blog shows up, little by little. I’ve cleaned my browser and deleted cookies and junk, so I don’t think it’s me. This post:
“sorry for the late post. and now…
before driving in Chicago, familiarize yourself with the names of the expressways and tollways. they are referred to by name, not number. today, i bring you this handy dandy conversion chart so you, too, can make sense of traffic reports as you’re driving:”
Then there is about 5 feet of “nothing.” Then there are some directions…then 5 more feet of scrolling past nothing. Then there is the comment area. Today is the first time that I could even get the comment area to show. What’s up, do you think?!
April 6, 2005 1:22 pm
Actually,
I - 88 is now officially the Ronald Regan Memorial Highway, and an absolute nightmare at about 5:30 every single night.
April 6, 2005 5:12 pm