Chicago → I-88 Morning Traffic- UGH!

Due to a change in management my days of working at home are over, so when I'm not traveling to one of our smaller regional offices to work on something (Madison, Davenport) I'm working out of our main office in Warrenville. Never mind that my boss gets to work at home full time.

When I first made the move to Sycamore, which was at the tail end of the rebuild and widen project it was and easy trip when I had to head in except in bad weather. It could do it easily in 45 minutes. Now it can take an hour and a half. It's back to being almost as bad as it was before the widening project and it seems like it gets a little worse every day.

It doesn't seem like there's been that much growth to the west, it's still pretty well just corn past Orchard. So what's with all this traffic?

I've noticed eastbound is tied up terribly due to the Tri-State/Ike/88 spaghetti bowl. The Ike is ALWAYS jammed from the Tri-State to Harlem. I never use it because it's so bad.

I drive downtown a lot and I take Roosevelt all the way to Harlem just to avoid that nonsense.

If you go to work early in the morning Rt 64 to Rt 47 to Rt 38 to Winfield Rd to Warrenville may be an option. At least, if it takes an hour and a half, you won't pay any tolls.

I have been driving to the east side of Aurora for 3 years and the backup between the Aurora toll plaza to Eola just never makes sense to me, it nearly seems random to the days it occurs, more likely on a sunny day, but not always. In the last week the back up is nearing Orchard road at 7:20. I am starting to get off at Orchard and taking side streets to not have to sit in traffic.

Just wait until the 59 construction gets going and everyone is watching the new bridges and lane changes.

For now leaving a little earlier and getting off at Farnsworth and going the rest of the way via Bilter Rd/Ferry Rd will have to do. I could do without the impatient drivers riding my ass because I won't go 55 in a 30. Sorry, but getting busted for reckless driving isn't on my to do list!

CMW you don't happen to go down Orchard to Indian Trail? If so how bad is that, especially with the construction on Orchard? I used to live on the west side of Aurora and Indian Trail was a pain at that time.

Orchard construction is not that bad, it is only on the Bridge. I have been in North Aurora a couple of mornings, so I get off on Orchard and go north, but the IL 56 bridge on the fox river has been a pain. When coming all the way over to IL59 I have found Indian trail to be a decent alternative, getting off at 31 or Orchard. It was pain last year when west of Farnsworth was under construction.

This morning I came all the way up to 59 on 88, it all depends on the traffic on the tollway and if I am headed towards 59 or North Aurora. Typically I will use the Eola exit, I try to avoid Bilter around the outlet mall, as that section is seems slower.

Yesterday I tried Orchard to Sullivan to Mitchell to Butterfield and I and it seemed alright, at least I missed the fox river bridge in North Aurora.

You too huh? Sucks. I still can just not as often as I used too. Having a manager in Texas was awesome. Now my manager sits 10 feet away.

One more note, the construction east on Butterfield is nearly complete. It might be higher speed limit way east and west. That seems to be a speedway when I was driving it from Aurora to Lombard.

Jon, yeah one of many things I'm not happy about. The funny thing is my manager is in Arizona and works out of her home. But even though she works at home herself, she doesn't believe that people can work at home and be productive. Huh?

CMW thanks for the info. I do wish they would have extended Butterfield all the way to Rt 31. The old bridge on the Fox has been a pain for a long time. It probably has some historic significance but it's still a pain!

Have you noticed the Tollway Authority is up to something with the same section we're talking about? They milled and repaved the rumble strip on the left median going west. I see they have two west bound lanes between Rt 59-Rt 25 scheduled for tonight through Sunday morning for "rumble strip work and striping". The same for east bound except just for Saturday.

Wonder if they are planning on using the median as a lane to ease congestion or if they have something more nefarious planned?

Do you work for Marissa Mayer? Does she check with someone to see if you're there? How would she know? I could probably work from home more than I do but Since my boss is there I feel like I should show my face more often.

I still have a pretty flexible schedule though. I wander in when I want, 7, 9, 10am and wander out at 2, 2:30. But I work prior to leaving in the morning and will be on con-calls until 9 or 10 o'clock at night.

They don't really care as long as they're not getting calls that I'm not responding. At least they haven't said anything.

I had not noticed. I have been at our building on Butterfield most afternoons and getting on at Farnsworth or 31. I would assume by 59 is for the interchange work on 59. They need to build 2 new bridges and the ramps are changeing as well. That does not explain all the way to 31.

On Edit: Found this on the Tollway's site. 117.4 - 123.3 WB : between IL 25 & IL 59 Pavement Striping; Traffic Shift for Sunday night. So they are shifting traffic, for what reason i don't know.

Here we go:
Rprs Intmnt Pvmnt & Pvmnt Markings
EB&WB : Fox Rvr - IL Rte 59
MP 56.4 to MP 138.5

from the tollway's site on bid projects: »www.illinoistollway.com/ ··· dule.pdf

Maybe some of the washboard in this section can be fixed?

This stupid state can't fix anything. I just went to the SOS to renew my registration. They take discover & mastercard but not visa? WTF is up with that? Stupid state.

Yeah, that department is a joke. They rejected me for emissions even though I passed last year. The woman recited all of the information on "my" record back to me. I let her finish her rant when I finally said "That's not my record". So now I know the name, address, plate number, make, model and year of car of some random stranger. I gave her my plate number again and behold I passed emissions. What a joke.

Thank God, I live outside the area that requires emission testing.

No, no I don't. If I wasn't there my associates Miss Perfect and Piggy would be all too happy to tattle on me like little school girls. The boss is coming to visit next week and she thinks she is going to "help". That should be fun, she doesn't have a clue what we do.

As far as the construction goes on I-88, I don't really know what they are doing. Lanes are shifted to the left west bound and they have the bloody 45 mph signs up. But I don't see any signs of actual work being done. Not really affecting traffic other than I have to decide from risking a ticket or dealing with the impatient DuPage County drivers that want to see how close they can get to my bumper without actually hitting me.

yeah the lane shift has made my entrance from Eola more interesting. You always have to deal with the people on right wanting off at Farnsworth and now it is even harder to see if you can get in and across to the left side. By the Toll plaza I usually just ride in the left lane to try to avoid all the exiting traffic.