Chicago freeways

[Tom89t]

Chicago freeways are mostly toll roads. There are only a few non toll roads there. In Los Angeles there are a lot of freeways there. There are 3 toll roads, state route 261,241 and 73. I know Chicago is not as big as Los Angeles. Chicago metro area is only 9,581 sq miles wide. Driving from downtown Chicago to a suburbs take own 20 mins or so if, there is traffic.

[Brandon]

Chicago freeways are mostly toll roads. There are only a few non toll roads there. In Los Angeles there are a lot of freeways there. There are 3 toll roads, state route 261,241 and 73. I know Chicago is not as big as Los Angeles. Chicago metro area is only 9,581 sq miles wide. Driving from downtown Chicago to a suburbs take own 20 mins or so if, there is traffic.

I'd say half tollways.  The Edens, Kennedy, Ike (and Extension), Stevenson, Ryan, I-57, I-55, I-80, and Route 53 are all toll-free.  The (Neither) Elgin (Nor) O'Hare is currently toll-free as well.

[kphoger]

As far as traffic goes, toll vs free doesn't seem to make much of a difference.  One huge thing about Chicago's freeways is that rush hour is generally one-way, which is to say that, since there are no commuters going to the middle of Lake Michigan, it makes all the other regions' commute traffic that much heavier.  I remember, once a few years ago, I had a concert I was playing in on a Friday evening.  My now-wife and I were coming from Naperville, and the concert was in River Forest; we got to the Naperville Road entrance to I-88 (East Tollway), I got to the head of on-ramp, saw a sea of brake lights, pulled over onto the shoulder of the ramp, put it in reverse, and drove backwards back down to Naperville Road.  I then proceeded to take surface streets (Naperville Rd, Blanchard St, Roosevelt Rd, Route 53, St Charles Rd, 5th Ave Maywood, Lake St, Thatcher Ave, Augusta St).  We made it in like 45 or 50 minutes; I shudder to think what it would have taken if we'd taken 88 to 290 to Harlem!

I also found it faster to take surface streets to O'Hare during rush hour (Route 53, St Charles Rd, Route 83, Irving Park Rd accessed via local streets, Mannheim Rd, I-190).

For much of my time in the Chicago area, I did not own a car, and became very used to using public transportation; that is much to be preferred during times of heavy traffic.  Most MetRa lines generally run every hour (more during rush hour), and CTA has an excellent grid.

[mgk920]

Also, NOBODY, but NOBODY here in the upper Midwest, especially in and around Chicagoland, will EVER refer to a highway that one must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'.  They are 'TOLLWAYS', period.  Also, interestingly, the freeways in Chicagoland are usually referred to as 'expressways'.  'Freeways' are generally found in the surrounding states like Michigan and Wisconsin (exception - the section of I-94 formerly known as the Calumet Expressway on Chicago's south side and in the near-south suburbs is now known as the 'Bishop Ford Freeway').  I-57 in Chicagoland still has no formal name other than 'I-57'.



Mike

[hobsini2]

Also, NOBODY, but NOBODY here in the upper Midwest, especially in and around Chicagoland, will EVER refer to a highway that one must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'.  They are 'TOLLWAYS', period.  Also, interestingly, the freeways in Chicagoland are usually referred to as 'expressways'.  'Freeways' are generally found in the surrounding states like Michigan and Wisconsin (exception - the section of I-94 formerly known as the Calumet Expressway on Chicago's south side and in the near-south suburbs is now known as the 'Bishop Ford Freeway').  I-57 in Chicagoland still has no formal name other than 'I-57'.



Mike

Not to long ago, the "Chicago Tribune-Rand McNally Chicagoland Map" used to label I-57 as "West Leg Dan Ryan Expy."
The state official maps never did though.

[Brandon]

Also, NOBODY, but NOBODY here in the upper Midwest, especially in and around Chicagoland, will EVER refer to a highway that one must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'.  They are 'TOLLWAYS', period.  Also, interestingly, the freeways in Chicagoland are usually referred to as 'expressways'.  'Freeways' are generally found in the surrounding states like Michigan and Wisconsin (exception - the section of I-94 formerly known as the Calumet Expressway on Chicago's south side and in the near-south suburbs is now known as the 'Bishop Ford Freeway').  I-57 in Chicagoland still has no formal name other than 'I-57'.



Mike

Not to long ago, the "Chicago Tribune-Rand McNally Chicagoland Map" used to label I-57 as "West Leg Dan Ryan Expy."
The state official maps never did though.

Actually, some of the older ones (pre-1980) did, IIRC.  In fact, the Chicago Metropolitan Expressway System map put out by the state in 1963 refers to I-57 as the South Expressway.

[roadman65]

I think the de

Also, NOBODY, but NOBODY here in the upper Midwest, especially in and around Chicagoland, will EVER refer to a highway that one must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'.  They are 'TOLLWAYS', period.  Also, interestingly, the freeways in Chicagoland are usually referred to as 'expressways'.  'Freeways' are generally found in the surrounding states like Michigan and Wisconsin (exception - the section of I-94 formerly known as the Calumet Expressway on Chicago's south side and in the near-south suburbs is now known as the 'Bishop Ford Freeway').  I-57 in Chicagoland still has no formal name other than 'I-57'.



Mike

I believe the general term freeway does not refer to the fact a roadway has to be a free of tolls, but free of intersections and obstructions.   Expressways can be at grade and have signals on them too.

In New York the term expressway is used like Chicago does, but for the most part it is to designate the road being open to all vehicles.  Parkways in New York are only open to private automobiles and motorcycles.  This raises another differential of how terms are used.  Here in Florida a Parkway is not restricted as it is in New York.  For example, John Young Parkway in Orlando allows commercial vehicles. In New Jersey, the Garden State Parkway only restricts trucks, but does allow other commercial vehicles.

[NE2]

In New York the term expressway is used like Chicago does, but for the most part it is to designate the road being open to all vehicles.  Parkways in New York are only open to private automobiles and motorcycles.  This raises another differential of how terms are used.  Here in Florida a Parkway is not restricted as it is in New York.  For example, John Young Parkway in Orlando allows commercial vehicles. In New Jersey, the Garden State Parkway only restricts trucks, but does allow other commercial vehicles.

Not all parkways in New York restrict trucks either. For example, the Bear Mountain and Briarcliff-Peekskill Parkways in Peekskill and Briarcliff are designated truck routes.

[vtk]

One must not mistake the last word of a road's name for a good characterization of the kind of road it is.  Not every road called "___ Parkway" is a Parkway by the NY definition.  There are expressways in Chicagoland that aren't named "___ Expressway", while most freeways are named "___ Expressway" or "___ Tollway".  A boulevard is usually defined as a divided urban road with a landscaped median; many roads called "___ Boulevard" are not boulevards and many boulevards are named like "___ Avenue" or "___ Parkway".  In Lenawee County, MI, any north-south county road is named like "___ Highway"; while technically they are highways in that they are public roads, most people would expect a "highway" to be a major road, or at least paved with a hard surface (which most county roads in SE MI aren't).

Of course, local naming conventions can influence people's perceived definitions of words for kinds of roads, but there's too much variance from locality to locality to redefine words based on those conventions, even for specific regional dialects of English.

[roadman65]

The City of Newark calls NJ 21 McCarter Highway although it is a city street.  The only thing highway about it is its number "NJ 21" and that it is a thorofare through the city proper.  In Connecticut you have part of I-84 as the Wilbur Cross Highway.  Names could mean anything really.

In Clermont, FL there is a Grand Highway that is not at all anywhere near the standards of a highway in the most general use of the name.  It is more like an Avenue and it serves residential neighborhoods.  Years ago, when Clermont was all citrus groves, I believe, that it was a rural two lane road, but not part of any route or corridor serving through motorists.

[SSOWorld]

Also, NOBODY, but NOBODY here in the upper Midwest, especially in and around Chicagoland, will EVER refer to a highway that one must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'.  They are 'TOLLWAYS', period.  Also, interestingly, the freeways in Chicagoland are usually referred to as 'expressways'.  'Freeways' are generally found in the surrounding states like Michigan and Wisconsin (exception - the section of I-94 formerly known as the Calumet Expressway on Chicago's south side and in the near-south suburbs is now known as the 'Bishop Ford Freeway').  I-57 in Chicagoland still has no formal name other than 'I-57'.



Mike

They are referred to as tollways in Illinois.  The definition of "freeway" has different meanings, so in Mike's perspective he is correct, but it also is shorthand for controlled access highway (just like Motorway is for Europe), so whether it is taken out of context depends on what definition one thinks is correct (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/freeway - one dictionary's view).  The term I look at for a tolled CAH is toll road.  The use of 'freeway' or 'expressway' in a name is just a title.  States have different definitions for types of highways.  Wisconsin calls a completely controlled access highway a freeway and a partial or non-controlled access highway an expressway.  That state also determines which highways fit that definition, for example: US 51 N of Merrill, US 53 N of Rice Lake, US 10, WIS 29 between Elk Mound and Green Bay, US 151 West of Fond-Du-Lac, US 10 East of Stevens Point (and soon west to Marshfield) US 41 N of Green Bay and US 141 between Coleman and Green Bay are expressways.  All of the Interstates, plus US-51 South of Merrill, US 41 from near I-43 south to I-94 and US 53 South of Rice Lake are freeways by definition in WI.  

Think of a car dealership called Midwest Motors.  Just because it has that name doesn't mean it can't sell cars.