![]() ![]() ![]() Construction is the last major cause, at 10 percent. Traffic accidents and related slow-downs cause about 25 percent, while bad weather is responsible for 15 percent of lurching road travel. But what are the general factors that influence traffic patterns?Īccording to the Federal Highway Administration, the major contributors are what you might expect: Bottlenecks, or just the sheer number of cars on the road, make up 40 percent of congestion nationwide. So that’s the basic answer to Esther Bowen’s questions about Chicago’s worst hours, days and seasons for traffic. On the Edens Expressway (I-94), for example, northbound traffic is heaviest in the morning while southbound is worst in the evening, suggesting a flow of traffic away from downtown for the workday. But that’s not the case for all local expressways. “In general the traditional commute still is heaviest, more often than not,” says IDOT’s Carson Quinn. So, naturally, she wants to know if her increasingly common arrangement results in less traffic compared to the traditional commute from the suburbs to the city. That has created a surge in urbanites with suburban occupations, like Esther. ![]() Suburban development and job growth has taken off in recent decades. In Chicago we see an annual lift of up to 10 percent.” What about reverse commutes?Īs a city dweller who treks out to the suburbs during business hours, our question-asker, Esther, is a so-called reverse commuter. “Nationally, it can increase traffic congestion levels by up to 15 percent. “On a seasonal basis, the biggest impact is school schedules,” says Bak. Jim Bak, a spokesman for INRIX, relays this office adage about seasonal traffic patterns: “Back to school, back to work, back to traffic.” The Kennedy and Edens (I-90 and I-94) get 8 and 11 percent more clogged, respectively.īut fall also sees a significant uptick in travel times. The Stevenson (I-55) sees the biggest jump, with as much as 12 percent more traffic, while traffic on the Eisenhower (I-290) only increases by 3 percent. IDOT says average weekday traffic increases on all of the Chicago area’s major highways during the summer, but by different amounts. According to Bill Eisele of the Texas Transportation Institute, construction is the fourth-leading cause of road congestion and is responsible for 10 percent of traffic jams nationwide. Summer is the worst season for Chicago-area traffic, in part because of the increase in construction work. Traffic pattern: A typical year, measured month by month But the Chicago area’s worst commute day overall “is a toss-up between Wednesday and Thursday,” according to spokesman Jim Bak. Seattle-based traffic data firm INRIX agrees that Friday evening’s commute is the single worst of Chicago’s week. IDOT Spokeswoman Carson Quinn says they’re seeing this pattern start to emerge on summer Thursdays, too. They think that’s due to people taking long weekends, working from home, or otherwise shifting toward a four-day work week in the summer months. rush hour tends to be a lot lighter than the other days of the week.” “Oddly enough, we’ve noticed in the past few years during the summer months our a.m. “Thursday and Friday tend to be our worst p.m. The discrepancy between morning and evening rush hours is even most pronounced on Friday, which IDOT says is generally the heaviest traffic day of the week in the Chicago area. ![]()
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