chichow

FT,

I am coming from Lake Shore and North Ave and going to 1st Ave and Roosevelt.

I-290 tends to get to get congested for that period where it narrows from 4 lanes to 3 lanes.

I have tried alternatives like taking North all the way to 1st Ave (too many lights and too slow)

I have also tried getting off a Kostner while going west bound and taking Roosevelt road, but aside from the number of lights the area is very iffy.

Are there any suggestions for alternative routes?

Thanks.

flying junkie

If you're not okay driving through the west side neighborhoods, there really aren't any good alternatives to sitting on the Ike. However, if you don't mind a few extra stoplights, you can exit at Austin (which is where the Ike reduces to 3 lanes). The exit is on the left and the leftmost lane usually moves pretty quickly except for the idiots that don't seem to realize the lane ends until they're nearly on the exit ramp itself (and proceed to block traffic waiting to be let back into the through lanes). You can then hang a left and Roosevelt is only a few blocks south of the Ike there. It may not always look like much, but the neighborhood is definitely better than east of Austin. (Austin and Roosevelt are the east and south borders of Oak Park). You'll still have issues with stoplights, and Roosevelt isn't always that quick through Oak Park, but it does loosen up a bit past Harlem. Otherwise, I usually just grin and bear North Ave. all the way across the city, or sometimes duck down to Washington/Warren Blvd or Madison.

The added bonus of Roosevelt is that there is a Portillo's at Roosevelt and Des Plaines.

ElmhurstNick

Best approach, from somebody who used to do it on average 3 days a week:

1. Do not take North Avenue all the way from downtown....
2. Take 290 to Laramie. If traffic is bad between Ashland and Independence, you can easily get off and drive along Van Buren and move faster than traffic. If you're on 290 at Calfornia, always take the exit and get back on again after the railroad tracks (i.e. never go up the hill)
3. Get off at Laramie, and you have three options depending on your preferences:
3a. Left on Laramie, Right on Roosevelt, Right on Des Plaines, left on Madison, right on 1st. This is better in reverse in the mornings where turning left from Harlem or Austin onto 290 is a killer, but a bit out of your way in the evening.
3b. Stay on the frontage road to Central, get BACK on 290. This gets you around the big weaving problem caused with the Austin Blvd. exit. You still have traffic, but now you're in the right lane.
3c. Stay on the frontage road to Central, right on Central, left on Madison, right on 1st.

I used to alternate between 3a and 3b myself. If traffic was relatively light to Cicero, I'd take 3b. Otherwise, I'd bail and take 3a. North Avenue isn't fun east of 1st, it's too narrow for the traffic level. And if you didn't like the neighborhood at Kostner and Roosevelt, there's not a lot of other options - you've got to stay on 290 from Sacramento to Laramie.

ElmhurstNick

Oh, to get to 290 at that time of day, I'd probably try LaSalle to Wacker to Randolph to Ogden to Van Buren instead of trying to catch Congress Parkway at the beginning.

fried.food.is.good

Other posters have made good suggestions but what time are you making this trip - morning / afternoon? That will ultimately determine which route is best.

By the way, are you going to one of the hospitals (Loyola, Hines, Madden) there? Traffic at that intersection can be terrible. Assuming that you have to make the trip back, I would never get on at 1st Ave to go back - but you probably already know this.