I had a somewhat less-than-excellent experience on a day trip to attend the International Machining Technology Show (IMTS) at McCormick Place in Chicago.
I looked into public transportation options to get there and back from Madison, WI, and they ran about 5 hours each way, making for a longish day trip so I drove my car. Mapquest gave the door-to-door trip time from my house to McCormick Place at 2.5 hours (hah!), but I figured that even with the Tollway slow zone and Downtown traffic in the middle of the day (planned arrival at 10 AM, departure at 2:30 PM to spend 4.5 hours at the show), it would be quicker than the Public Option.
It was -- taking roughly 4 hours coming, 3 hour going, with an hour spent looking for parking. So maybe there is a lesson there, no matter how ungoshly awful the driving is, it is still somewhat faster than transit, especially if you don't have a one-seat ride.
In the alternative universe where the Wisconsin Talgo's were put in service, it would have been a mere 2 hours from Madison to Chicago Union Station? Maybe that one needs a "hah" because the PTC allowing 110 service is still a work-in-progress, and the train leaving the Madison Downtown as the political people decided would have been slower than the train leaving Dane County Regional Airport as WISDOT orginally planned and the enthusiasts/advocates were counting on?
As things stand, there is a frequent motorcoach service from the heart of the "U" to Union Station. It is scheduled for 4 hours, and I doubt it would have been ahead of schedule owing to 1) a Tollway construction zone all the way from Elgin to Desplaines (do they ever complete any road projects in Illinois?), and 2) jammed traffic for much of the Kennedy Expressway. But then that only takes you to Union Station, and Union Station is not at the Loop, and McCormick Place exhibition hall is some distance down the Lakefront from the Loop. CTA delegates transit trip planning to Google Maps, which was offering surface-street bus service, with at least one connection, which would take the better part of an hour, hence my 5-hour estimate.
Other options would be a 2-hour drive to Milwaukee and 1.5 hour Hiawatha Train, again to Union Station and how-do-you-get-to-McCormick Place which is neither there nor at the Loop? Or, there is the 1.5 hour drive (on back roads) to Harvard Illinois at the headwaters of the Metra (old C&NW) Northwest Line to Ogilvie Center? Or there is a Tollway Exit at Arlington Raceway offering a Park-and-Ride to Ogilvie, which may have enough day parking owing to the enormous parking lot for the horse racing spectators, and then there is a Park-and-Ride for the CTA to the Loop on the O'Hare airport line, with unknown parking availability later in the day?
One other question, perhaps off topic, but it speaks to the transit/transportation picture. What is the deal with the 45 MPH speed limit in Illinois in the Tollway construction zones, where workers are indeed present, signs warn of a $375 ticket given out by photo-radar, but where everyone seems to be doing at least 60 and driving 45 to not get that ticket makes a lot of people very upset.
Its not like they have it down to one lane, there are a full three lanes, but there doesn't seem to be a lane where being a "slow driver", that is, for someone going the legally mandated and sternly scolded and threatened speed limit. On both the way up and the way down, I saw a sign (one sign in each direction at the entrance to this zone) advising trucks to "keep left", so I figured that the right lane was the "passing lane." I tried the middle lane on the way up; I tried the left lane on the way down as this was the one right against the concrete barrier with the construction site in the median and the one a person should drive slowest in. Hoo-boy, was I unpopular.
Before people lay into me "you should know better to use a transit option rather than drive" or "you shouldn't be driving 45 and endangering other drivers on the Tollway", what is the "deal" with the 45 zone?
'Sconsin has its construction zones on US 41/I-41 to Green Bay marked at 55, and yes, our drivers don't even obey that higher limit. But they have much shorter segments of the roadway under the construction zone than in Illinois, and yes, that helps in not getting drivers so frustrated.
There are also "speed limits" and then there are "speed limits." Highway speed limits, apart from "speed traps", are widely known to give this "keep it below 10-over" margin before you get a ticket whereas School Zones are often much more strictly enforced owing to the endangerment of children and also crossing guards who have lost their lives in the time I have lived in Madison. The 45 zone has the appearance of a strict limit that one should treat like a School Zone because too many workers get hurt or worse, so why is everyone going so fast?
Is the deal that if you are from Illinois, you kinda know when it is OK to go 60 in the construction zone, but a rube Cheezehead from 'Sconsin (who was born in the Chicago city limits and received his Drivers Ed expressway training on the Edens?) will get the $375 ticket to make up for all the tickets handed out to Chicago visitors by the Door County Sheriff when US 42/57 slows down to 45 MPH at Rosy's Tire Barn? Or that Illinois drivers go 15 over as a matter of habit and they post it at 45 to keep the speed down to 60?
Or that the Illinois Germans simply have much less Gemutlichkeit to Auslanders than the Wisconsin Germans? What is the deal here? What is the cultural/social expectation?
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Cab? Uber? From CUS to Mac.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
I thought about the cab option. Does anyone know what a cab would cost from Union Station to McCormick Place? There might be heavy waiting time because there was this massive congestion of cabs lined up at the McCormick "passenger drop off" lane on account of this large trade show. I couldn't tell if it took that long to get dropped off. Maybe, instead, this was the queue of cabs waiting to take fares from the show back to the Downtown hotels or O'Hare?
The other thing about the rail mode vs airlines is that there is one massive airport (OK, OK, there are two, O'Hare and Midway, but generally people don't make connections between airports). The historically earlier rail mode had its multiple stations, each one for a separate line or later in a Union State, grouping of companies.
But even with Metra, you have the former C&NW at Ogilvie, Milwaukee Road (also the Burlington) at Union Station, and didn't Santa Fe operate out of a place called Dearborn Station?
Today, both the South Shore line with their single-level and Metra-of-the-former-Illinois Central with their double-level cars, they both run EMUs out of a station that appears close to the Loop but again, away from those other stations.
I used to work a summer internship Downtown, but it was only a block away from Oglilvie (called Northwestern station) back in the day. If you are commuting, it is really, really nice if you have a single-seat ride and don't need to make connections. Do you suppose that which suburb people live in may be influence on where they want to work downtown? Say, if you are a high power executive and transfered to work at an office near the Metra Electric Service station, you would shop for a house in a South Suburb, and if the office were in Downtown West, you would choose to locate to a place with one of the other Metra services?
Or, if you live in one of those place, this might influence which Downtown firms you would seek a job with?
Paul, your opening salvo reminds me why I can't talk about peoples' driving habits. I get all worked up, my blood pressure goes up, ...
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
I guess blood pressure is a definite reason to seek a transit option even if driving offers some time savings.
Paul Milenkovic In the alternative universe where the Wisconsin Talgo's were put in service, it would have been a mere 2 hours from Madison to Chicago Union Station? Maybe that one needs a "hah" because the PTC allowing 110 service is still a work-in-progress, and the train leaving the Madison Downtown as the political people decided would have been slower than the train leaving Dane County Regional Airport as WISDOT orginally planned and the enthusiasts/advocates were counting on?
When the original Chicago to Dane County airport proposal came out, I was in favor of it. Indeed, with a Portage/Watertown dogleg I thought one of the trains could become a second Twin Cites/Chicago service.
Then in the middle of the night and without any public comment it was switched to downtown Madison, to a transportation hub to be designed and constructed later and trains running across numerous city streets. Sorry, to me that was a bridge too far as it largely ruined the fast transportation concept, and no one seemed to have a realistic idea of additional cost.
In the end I thought Madison got what it deserved from its political leadership.
Paul MilenkovicIf you are commuting, it is really, really nice if you have a single-seat ride and don't need to make connections. Do you suppose that which suburb people live in may be influence on where they want to work downtown? Say, if you are a high power executive and transfered to work at an office near the Metra Electric Service station, you would shop for a house in a South Suburb, and if the office were in Downtown West, you would choose to locate to a place with one of the other Metra services? Or, if you live in one of those place, this might influence which Downtown firms you would seek a job with?
Neither. Folks live where they want to (including in the city) and can afford to. If they commute by Metra or CTA, they walk, bus or cab to their office. BTW, as best as I know these days, folks are not so precise about Loop boundaries. It generally extends beyond the L tracks, meaning Canal to Michigan and the river to Congress. Near North includes Michigan Ave. north of the river, River North and Streeterville.
Other Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show? All states have their idiosyncracies on construction speeds and traffic, One has to "go with the flow" and as the expression goes, "deal with it." I have found that parking costs are prohibitive in Chicago, taxis are not. Union Station to McCormack I would expect to be about $15.00 each way, not including tip.
According to online fare finders, it's $17-25 in a taxi including tip; $15-18 with Uber one way + tip. Parking at McCormick Place is $15-23 for most of a day. CTA is obviously much cheaper. It depends on personal choice.
Electroliner 1935 Other Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show? All states have their idiosyncracies on construction speeds and traffic, One has to "go with the flow" and as the expression goes, "deal with it." I have found that parking costs are prohibitive in Chicago, taxis are not. Union Station to McCormack I would expect to be about $15.00 each way, not including tip.
I spoke on the phone with representatives of the Illinois Tollway as well as a Sergeant of the Illinois State Police. "Go with the flow" risks that $375 ticket plus a mandatory court appearance and perhaps the need to retain a criminal defense attorney. I have read on the Web that the arraignment hearing court in Illinois is jammed up with accused construction zone violaters. How does work when you are from out-of-state?
It really depends on what level of enforcement is taking place, and I did see one car stopped by the police at the entrance to the construction zone.
Actually, paying as much as $30 for parking would not have been unreasonable given that the motor coach to Union Station is $60 each way and cab fare is an additional $25 each way? The problem was finding any parking, and the show organizers hinted at that without as much as coming out and saying it.
The show organizers advised not getting on the stub of the Stevenson Expressway leading to Lake Shore Drive, which I think would have lead to Lots B and C. Their advised route of 18th to State to Cermak leads you to the middle of the multi-building McCormick Place complex (the McCormick Archipelago?) and past Lot A, which was closed off with orange cones. There are no signs directing motorists to any of the other two lots, and it appeared that "you can't get there from here" as there was no way to get to Lake Shore Drive from the Cermak end of the Complex.
There is that one thing about "going with the flow."
There is another thing where the whole place is hostile to visitors. Where I work at the "U" is like that but on a smaller scale. Yes, a visitor needs to adapt to the local culture, but when the local culture is going broke and may have to throw itself at the mercy of the Federal system, maybe the local culture could adapt to being a tiny bit more friendly to the stranger among them?
JL Chicago gave you excellent advice for inexpensive, quick public transit. Your choice to ignore him.
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The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
schlimm JL Chicago gave you excellent advice for inexpensive, quick public transit. Your choice to ignore him.
I was in Arlington, Virginia in late May of this year, also for a work-related trip. I had a very positive experience using D.C. Metro -- I also reported on that on this site. The D.C. Metro trip planner was also much more helpful than the Web tools offered by the CTA, which did not turn up "JL Chicago's" El-train connections.
One thing I also noticed in Arlington is its extreme pedestrian friendliness. I ask my host whose home base is Virginia Tech about motorists stopping to let you cross if you even look in the direction of the opposite side of the street. I asked if this was a case of "Southern Hospitality" (Virginia is traditionally considered part of the South even though politically it is a Blue State)? Or was this a case of very strick police enforcement?
My immigrant host exclaimed, "Oh, I would not know anything about any Southern Hospitality, but the police are certainly very strict, here."
I guess I learned my lesson, that making do with the transit connections when visiting Chicago is a necessity rather than an option. The half-mile walk from Union Station to the El-train is probably the reason the trip planner didn't offer this as an alternative, with the offered 50-minute bus trip with connections being a factor that tilted my decision towards driving.
A half-mile walk at each end should not be a big deal to me. The McCormick Complex itself must span at least that distance. I walk a mile in my home town without worrying about it. The only thing is that not having lived in the Chicago area for 35 years, I don't know my "safe" neighborhoods.
But then the Illinois Tollway is not a "safe" neighborhood. Drive with the flow of traffic and you risk a harsh legal penalty. Maybe the "locals" know what is enforced and what is not and what is the speed "overage" below with you don't get a ticket. Officer Minx of the State Police was not going to divulge that information over the phone to me on Monday -- I suppose any statement he made could be used as a legal defense if I get dragged into court.
Drive at the posted limit and one is treated not only rudely but dangerously with reckless driving behavior to "make a point" -- this is not just an isolated incident but it is the entire culture in Northern Illinois. I gently slowed down after exiting the Tollway on the ramp up to the Belvidere "Oasis", and a motorist behind me was blowing his horn and making emphatic "speed up" gestures -- all of this was on that one trip, and no, I don't experience anything like is in 'Sconsin, but with the new 70 MPH speed limit, lower gas prices, an much faster driving, all this may change.
I guess some people call this anarcho-tyranny, where you have very strick laws with severe penalties that impose harsh burdens on people, most people ignore the law, the severe penalties are handed out sporadically, unevenly, and largely to the minority, the poor, the immigrant, the stranger, the visitor from Wisconsin?
And the general rudeness in Northern Illinois -- "Your choice to ignore him" -- people in Wisconsin joke about it and I joke about being from "Wisconsin. Southern Wisconsin, far, far Southern Wisconsin." I am from Chicago. Was I like that? Am I still like that? I cringe when I visit my Heimat/Rodina.
He-he-he-he....Amtrak has direct service from Madison via thruway bus and it was not even considered....so much for building ridership stats for future train service.
If it was me I would have chosen the Amtrak thruway bus from Madison to Chicago CUS, then take a cab from there to McCormick Place. One ticket, one carrier, 11 departure times each way. Travel time is reasonable (3.5 to 4.5 hours depending on time) and probably far less construction on the freeways.
There really was a good reason why the Milwaukee Road choose to run the Varsity via Fox Lake to and from Madison instead of via Milwaukee and Watertown.
Paul MilenkovicAnd the general rudeness in Northern Illinois -- "Your choice to ignore him" -- people in Wisconsin joke about it and I joke about being from "Wisconsin. Southern Wisconsin, far, far Southern Wisconsin." I am from Chicago. Was I like that? Am I still like that? I cringe when I visit my Heimat/Rodina.
Two ways to interpret that. Could be a deep seated Bus Phobia of some kind on your part....heh-heh.
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