Traffic Comparisons

The Dan Ryan Expressway almost lived up to the hype I've read so much about. See... we figured it would be pretty bad, but since we weren't in the rush hour traffic, we didn't think it would be very bad. We were right, but that doesn't mean I would advise taking the Dan Ryan - traffic sucked. But it wasn't just the Dan Ryan, traffic was bad all over the Chicagoland area, if you were using an expressway, or other interstate related route. The city's interstate system is under construction. 90, 94, 294... it doesn't really matter which one you're using - it's under construction, and you will experience delays. If you think that's bad traffic... you're right. Knoxville traffic always sucks - construction is everywhere - but it's not so bad as the Dan Ryan. But then, in comparison to Route 66 Pigeon Forge, TN traffic from interstate 75 (exit 407) - Knoxville, or Chicago traffic is a welcome sight.

I say this because we got home from Chicago on Friday night, and I told my kids we could go to Dollywood on Saturday. Well, Saturday at 10am, we were sitting in traffic. 11am rolled around and we had moved about 1.5 miles (at most). With a few more hours to go, we decided to postpone the Dollywood trip until Sunday morning - early. Very early. We figure this will give us the jump on traffic.

I was wandering: is there construction taking place on all parts of America's interstate systems? It seems there is an abundance of orange cones and flagmen all over the place.

In the near future I'll post some pics and a few more thoughts on the Chicago area - mostly good because this post tells the worst part of the trip.