FU IDOT!
There's a saying around Chicago ... There's only two seasons here - winter and construction. Well kids, looks like it's time to put away your heavy coats and break out your reflective vests.
Starting April 1st, IDOT has announced a massive construction project that will, essentially, ream the Hell out of everyone south of the loop. They're gutting the Dan Ryan (90/94 south of the city) in a two-phase construction project that is the largest ever undertaken by IDOT. It won't be finished until winter of 2007. Holy crap.
For anyone not from Chicago, there's four highways in to / out of the city. From the NW, it's the Kennedy. From the W, the Eisenhower. From the SW, the Stevenson. And from the S, good ol' Dan Ryan. I don't know who half those guys were, or why their names are attached to our highways, or why no one just uses the numbers to relate to the highways ... but I digress. The point is - THE connection between Chicago and it's southern suburbs is the Dan Ryan.
IDOT, for some reason, has been inspired to basically gut the lovely 10 mile stretch of road. I guess they're gonna do some sewer work and some work on the CTA train tracks that run inbetween the two directions of the road. Whatever. It doesn't matter to me WHAT they're doing ... just the fact that they're doing a complete overhaul on one of the most important pieces of asphalt in the city.
See - you gotta realize - Chicago sits on a big ass lake, Lake Michigan. Anyone coming from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey ... Hell ... ANYWHERE east of the Mississippi River and going anywhere north of Chicago, is practically forced to use this road. And IDOT thinks they've got a good idea on their hands. HA!
And IDOT's solution for the thousands of commuters and weary travellers who brave 90/94? Use alternate routes, specifially Ashland Ave, Stony Island Ave and Lake Shore Drive. Yes - instead of taking the highway, they're suggesting you use side streets. SIDE STREETS. Basically, that's like asking the heart to go ahead and avoid the arteries ... let's pass blood to the brain via capillaries only, k?
My solution (and I'm sure many others) is to avoid the car all together and take public transportation. But the same full trains, running on the same schedules, with the same full parking lots, and a whooooooole lot more passengers ... well, you do the math. It adds up to not-fun.
This is getting long and ramble-y (can you tell why I'm not a journalist?) ... but the point is ... I hate commuting. I really with I lived in the city again. I wish I had a helicopter. I wish I had a job HERE ... not 40 miles away. I wish roads wouldn't deteriorate. I wish construction would stop and clear out of the way when I'm on my way to a job. I wish Trekkies would get inspired and invent the friggen transporter already.
I REALLY wish that this is all an enormous gag. Like - April 1st, on the 6p news, the IDOT spokesman will come on and be all "LOL!!!!11 OMFG i cant believe u fell 4 it!!1! do u think we r crayzee? ROLFMAO ur dum. april fools"
But they won't. And I'll be mumbling curses under my breath as I squeeze in next to some other poor soul on the train like a Japanese commuter.
FU IDOT.
Starting April 1st, IDOT has announced a massive construction project that will, essentially, ream the Hell out of everyone south of the loop. They're gutting the Dan Ryan (90/94 south of the city) in a two-phase construction project that is the largest ever undertaken by IDOT. It won't be finished until winter of 2007. Holy crap.
For anyone not from Chicago, there's four highways in to / out of the city. From the NW, it's the Kennedy. From the W, the Eisenhower. From the SW, the Stevenson. And from the S, good ol' Dan Ryan. I don't know who half those guys were, or why their names are attached to our highways, or why no one just uses the numbers to relate to the highways ... but I digress. The point is - THE connection between Chicago and it's southern suburbs is the Dan Ryan.
IDOT, for some reason, has been inspired to basically gut the lovely 10 mile stretch of road. I guess they're gonna do some sewer work and some work on the CTA train tracks that run inbetween the two directions of the road. Whatever. It doesn't matter to me WHAT they're doing ... just the fact that they're doing a complete overhaul on one of the most important pieces of asphalt in the city.
See - you gotta realize - Chicago sits on a big ass lake, Lake Michigan. Anyone coming from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey ... Hell ... ANYWHERE east of the Mississippi River and going anywhere north of Chicago, is practically forced to use this road. And IDOT thinks they've got a good idea on their hands. HA!
And IDOT's solution for the thousands of commuters and weary travellers who brave 90/94? Use alternate routes, specifially Ashland Ave, Stony Island Ave and Lake Shore Drive. Yes - instead of taking the highway, they're suggesting you use side streets. SIDE STREETS. Basically, that's like asking the heart to go ahead and avoid the arteries ... let's pass blood to the brain via capillaries only, k?
My solution (and I'm sure many others) is to avoid the car all together and take public transportation. But the same full trains, running on the same schedules, with the same full parking lots, and a whooooooole lot more passengers ... well, you do the math. It adds up to not-fun.
This is getting long and ramble-y (can you tell why I'm not a journalist?) ... but the point is ... I hate commuting. I really with I lived in the city again. I wish I had a helicopter. I wish I had a job HERE ... not 40 miles away. I wish roads wouldn't deteriorate. I wish construction would stop and clear out of the way when I'm on my way to a job. I wish Trekkies would get inspired and invent the friggen transporter already.
I REALLY wish that this is all an enormous gag. Like - April 1st, on the 6p news, the IDOT spokesman will come on and be all "LOL!!!!11 OMFG i cant believe u fell 4 it!!1! do u think we r crayzee? ROLFMAO ur dum. april fools"
But they won't. And I'll be mumbling curses under my breath as I squeeze in next to some other poor soul on the train like a Japanese commuter.
FU IDOT.