glg

I suspect she was talking specifically about the Kennedy where the reversibles are. I've read at least a couple articles stating that IDOT should flip them more frequently. IIRC, there was something about the "traditional" commute being more compressed (ie stricter hours on downtown jobs), where the "reverse" is more spread out. eg, in the morning, inbound does still make sense during the heaviest time from say 7 to 9, but it should flip to outbound by 9 or something like that (I'm too lazy to dig up the article right now, so those times are almost certainly off). Might have also been outbound before 7 as well.

I think there was something about stodginess on IDOT's part as well. They have the technology to make the switch remotely, including full camera coverage to ensure the lanes have cleared, but they still choose to send a truck down the lanes well after closure to "make sure it's clear". That lengthens the time it takes to switchover, especially when I've seen the IDOT truck making that sweep and he's doing it at like 20-25.

Sweet Willie

I suppose it does.

Combine that with seemingly most drivers lack of understanding re: the merge process* and that will lead to slowdowns.

*it seems most drivers instead of adjusting their speed, would rather pull into a different lane when faced with a merging vehicle. In my driving experience, this seems to be happening EVERYWHERE, not just Chicago. Somehow drivers have lost their ability to gauge the speed of a merging vehichle.

gglave

Raises hand.

In my case it has nothing to do with not being able to judge speed - It's all about my utter lack of trust in the vehicle merging. Merging vehicles speed up, slow down, stop, weave, panic - I just want to get the h3ll out of their way.

rjque

Well, when I took driver's ed many, many years ago, we were taught that it is the responsibility of the person entering the highway to adjust speed and merge. The fact that others think that those on the highway need to adjust speed demonstrates that there is really no rule anymore, and I can understand just wanting to get out of the way.

chgoeditor

I'm a she, actually

I was referring to data like that contained in this article, that shows there has been a steady increase in the number of Chicago residents making the reverse commute. That said, I was incorrect in saying that the number of commuters doing a reverse commute from Chicago is greater than those doing a regular/traditional commute. This Census chart seems to show there are still more people commuting in than commuting out in Chicago. (Though I'm not sure who the "non-workers" are.)

glg

Post updated

Those census numbers are probably too broad since they don't break out by mode. ie, transit use is going to be much higher for traditional commuters simply because that's how our transit system is setup. The percentage of reverse commuters using transit is much lower. If you took purely auto commuters, I'm guessing the numbers would be much closer.

Anecdotally, listening to traffic times gives some idea as well. With the exception of the Kennedy reversibles, all the other expressways have the same capacity in and out. My impression over time is that the traditional is generally a lot higher on the Ryan, but fairly similar on the Stevenson, Ike, Kennedy and Edens. There also seems to be a morning/afternoon split on it. When I occasionally have to do a reverse commute, it's usually fairly smooth in the morning, but terrible getting back into the city in the afternoon.