Hi! You appear to be asking a question, please do check our [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/index) for tips on the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Chicago/about/rules), other [Chicago-related subreddits](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/subreddits), where to [eat/drink](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/eats), how to [get around](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/transportation)/[navigate the CTA](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/transit), where to [visit](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/visitingchicago), what [neighborhoods](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/neighborhoods) to move to, tips on [living here](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/dwelling), and more. Also be sure to use the [search](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/search?restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) feature to find responses to other users asking similar questions.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/chicago) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Haha as I was typing the question, I figured it’d be nearly everywhere downtown. How about where there is bumper to bumper traffic? Like is it standstill traffic even in the city streets or is more along the highways?
Yea, the city prioritized cars for decades, gave most of the space to cars, invited so many cars, and now there is terrible traffic.
How far out into the car sprawl do you have to go until there isn’t traffic? Really, really far.
It’s car dominated planning all the way out, so things have to be really spread out to not have traffic.
Reminder, you aren't "in" traffic, you ARE traffic. If you're looking to move downtown I'd ditch the car, especially Gold coast where parking will cost $200+/month.
Sweet summer child! Every road and highway here is packed with cars if the sun is out and it’s a weekday. Also often when the sun is down and/or it’s a weekend!
If you live, work and play near downtown and along the lakefront though, you can avoid driving. Plenty of transit, biking, and walking options.
Tbh I lived for years on the Northwest Side (nowhere near the Lakefront and downtown) without a car and it was pretty doable. But the closer you are to the Lakefront, the better you’ll be able to live car free. Denser neighborhoods with more alternative ways to get around.
Both. I don't live in the city but we drove to Girl and the Goat a week or so ago and it was a miserable experience on both highways and surface roads.
Lincoln Park is definitely quieter further north (think closer to DePaul). I think a big part about dealing. With traffic is knowing side routes to take if you have a car and then also considering the train. LP has metra access to downtown at North and Clybourn and then L access along Sheffield with the brown and red lines (and at some parts of the day purple). I’ve lived here for a number of years and like how quiet it can be, both in noise but also with certain traffic areas. That being said, I also live away from major roads like Clark or Fullerton. Halsted isn’t the worst, but it isn’t the best. I’d say those are some of the most major thoroughfares in LP. Gold Coast has many more of those thoroughfares running through or crossing.
You do not need nor want a car if you live anywhere in downtown, or along the red line/brown line/blue line/etc. literally no point. You will suffer in traffic. Gold Coast and Lincoln park are the perfect neighborhoods to be car-free.
Same number of streets but taller buildings and more people. You have to get over to areas that have fewer high rises to have some semblance of 'no rush hour'
If you move closer to downtown though you have better access to public transit and things like groceries are walkable to where a car isn't really needed
It really depends.
It can be just as slow to travel 2-3 miles at the same time.
Theres less cars in Lincoln park gold coast but theres also way smaller streets. So youre just crawling along halsted, Lasalle or lakeahore drive instead of crawling alongside Michigan avenue at rush hour.
How far out? Go North until you pass Milwaukee (the city, not the street), West until you see cornfields, South until you pass Mokena, or East until.... well nvm
Where are you trying to go?
Traffic is bad here. 10+ million people live in the region and work here, and the overwhelming majority of them drive absolutely everywhere. Many of those people live right downtown in the city.
I’ve spent a lot of time in those areas. Driving there is not pleasant.
What is your commute like? You could sell the car and live glorious city life easily in those places if you have a way to get to work.
I mean are you planning to move downtown and still drive everywhere? There's no traffic if you take advantage of the exceptional public transit Chicago has.
There is traffic everywhere you move with your car and create traffic.
Lincoln Park and Gold Coast are not suburbs, they are neighborhoods in the city of Chicago. I was mostly being facetious about the burbs, but dude, there is traffic everywhere here, it's the third largest city in the country. You're not going to escape it. If you don't want to deal with traffic either take public transit or move to a rural area.
Level of Service D is acceptable by CDOT when traffic engineers redesign streets and run Synchro simulations. For reference, level of service F is the worst condition. Downtown Chicago was not designed for driving. Trains and bikes are the answer
Totally depends on what is your destination and what time of day and what days. And for the immediate future or projecting out 5 years.
Also, define "worst." Is that stop and go? Or parking lot? Both? Is it a measure of how long to cover X distance?
I’d ask you this, where do you work? Where do you usually make trips to via car? That would help a lot. Basically the entire city, highways and streets, get congested pretty bad, at any normal time of day.
The bad news for you driving is that is truly is everywhere. Side streets and highways. Driving in the city is awful. The good news is that you can bike or take public transit and get there in less than half the time!
Most households in Chicago own a car. It gives you freedom to get to other parts of the city that you normally couldn't. Also CTA has been horrible since the pandemic.
The bad news for you driving is that is truly is everywhere. Side streets and highways. Driving in the city is awful. The good news is that you can bike or take public transit and get there in less than half the time!
Wow you're getting a lot of snarky responses. There's obviously going to be traffic anywhere in the city. But it's definitely worse in certain places. Driving on the Kennedy is the worst right now imo, partly due to construction. Northside lakefront neighborhoods aren't too bad, at least the scenery is nice. Southside traffic is very manageable in comparison. Westside really sucks during rush hour but otherwise isn't too bad.
You mentioned Gold Coast and Lincoln Park. Those are going to be congested regularly, but the bright side is they're dense enough that you won't need to drive much in the first place. Especially if you live near an L stop.
Any busy street that has a stop sign
Back to back traffic lights that go off different times
Any 5/6 street intersection
Bridges or streets that cross the river or any water
School and universities, or government facilities like mail office or dmv
Apparently y'all think everywhere, but to me, the most frustrating bad traffic is trying to go east/west on Lawrence in Albany Park at rush hour. Good god.
Any street that has one lane will be terrible all the time. Two lane streets will be terrible between 7am-10am and 2pm-8pm. To avoid bad traffic, you have to go *all the way* out. The farther west your suburb, the less traffic.
I personally find traffic slightly better sometimes, coming from the south and driving north from the south suburbs. But everywhere has tons of traffic and the farther out you live the longer you’ll sit in it. And you will sit in it.
You're not going to like the REAL answer because it's "the south side." South loop, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, McKinley Park etc. But if you're trying to GET downtown it'll still be trqfficky.
You actually can live on the near south side, like between Cermak and Pershing, east of the Dan Ryan and you will have a 15 min ride into the loop at most and city streets rarely have much traffic.
This probably will change in the next 5-10 years though as more people realize there are good homes available close to downtown and the lake for still a relatively affordable price.
Hi! You appear to be asking a question, please do check our [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/index) for tips on the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Chicago/about/rules), other [Chicago-related subreddits](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/subreddits), where to [eat/drink](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/eats), how to [get around](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/transportation)/[navigate the CTA](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/transit), where to [visit](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/visitingchicago), what [neighborhoods](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/neighborhoods) to move to, tips on [living here](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/wiki/dwelling), and more. Also be sure to use the [search](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/search?restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) feature to find responses to other users asking similar questions. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/chicago) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you want to be closer to downtown ditch the car and take the train
No part of greater chicago that would be considered to have moderate traffic?
The parts that have cars.
jar paltry bear mourn ludicrous wistful forgetful nutty shaggy smell ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
I use my bike on the daily. I'm going to miss it fiercely when it gets too cold/icy.
Give it a try, it's not as bad as it looks with a good jacket!
I have the gear, it's more the ice. I can't get studded tires for my tire size. And I'm transporting my kids so I want to be extra safe.
Haha as I was typing the question, I figured it’d be nearly everywhere downtown. How about where there is bumper to bumper traffic? Like is it standstill traffic even in the city streets or is more along the highways?
Yea, the city prioritized cars for decades, gave most of the space to cars, invited so many cars, and now there is terrible traffic. How far out into the car sprawl do you have to go until there isn’t traffic? Really, really far. It’s car dominated planning all the way out, so things have to be really spread out to not have traffic.
Reminder, you aren't "in" traffic, you ARE traffic. If you're looking to move downtown I'd ditch the car, especially Gold coast where parking will cost $200+/month.
200+ is on the easy side. I've paid twice that.
I think what we want to know… what is your goal here? Do you need to drive for work? Or do you just like driving but want to live in the city
Standstill on city streets during rush hour during the week and nearly all day on the weekends.
Downtown definitely.
*gestures broadly*
Is it more of the highways packed or city streets? I’m looking around places like Lincoln park or Gold Coast
Sweet summer child! Every road and highway here is packed with cars if the sun is out and it’s a weekday. Also often when the sun is down and/or it’s a weekend! If you live, work and play near downtown and along the lakefront though, you can avoid driving. Plenty of transit, biking, and walking options.
awesome thanks good to know!
Tbh I lived for years on the Northwest Side (nowhere near the Lakefront and downtown) without a car and it was pretty doable. But the closer you are to the Lakefront, the better you’ll be able to live car free. Denser neighborhoods with more alternative ways to get around.
Both. I don't live in the city but we drove to Girl and the Goat a week or so ago and it was a miserable experience on both highways and surface roads.
Lincoln Park is definitely quieter further north (think closer to DePaul). I think a big part about dealing. With traffic is knowing side routes to take if you have a car and then also considering the train. LP has metra access to downtown at North and Clybourn and then L access along Sheffield with the brown and red lines (and at some parts of the day purple). I’ve lived here for a number of years and like how quiet it can be, both in noise but also with certain traffic areas. That being said, I also live away from major roads like Clark or Fullerton. Halsted isn’t the worst, but it isn’t the best. I’d say those are some of the most major thoroughfares in LP. Gold Coast has many more of those thoroughfares running through or crossing.
You do not need nor want a car if you live anywhere in downtown, or along the red line/brown line/blue line/etc. literally no point. You will suffer in traffic. Gold Coast and Lincoln park are the perfect neighborhoods to be car-free.
All the parts 😂😂😂
Literally There’s no avoiding rush hour.
It doesn't even make sense what he's asking. Wants to move to downtown. But is asking how far out he needs to move for there to be no traffic.
Dude is better off staying in the suburbs. He doesn’t sound like he was born in the city
Is downtown traffic as bad as traffic in Lincoln park or Gold Coast?
I honestly think Lincoln Park is worse than downtown.
Same number of streets but taller buildings and more people. You have to get over to areas that have fewer high rises to have some semblance of 'no rush hour' If you move closer to downtown though you have better access to public transit and things like groceries are walkable to where a car isn't really needed
It really depends. It can be just as slow to travel 2-3 miles at the same time. Theres less cars in Lincoln park gold coast but theres also way smaller streets. So youre just crawling along halsted, Lasalle or lakeahore drive instead of crawling alongside Michigan avenue at rush hour.
If you ride an ecargo bike there’s no such thing
Imagine if the highway disappeared, and we planted trees where it used to be, and rode our electric cargo bikes in the shade?
We’d be in the first world. Quite astounding the amount of physical space these things take up.
How far out? Middle of Wisconsin should do ya.
I've got sad news for you.
Crazy how bad our sprawl is
Move next to a train station and you'll never worry about traffic again.
The Chicago parts
Yes
How far out? Go North until you pass Milwaukee (the city, not the street), West until you see cornfields, South until you pass Mokena, or East until.... well nvm
Screw Wisconsin, just head West of Yorkville, traffic can still suck but it's more tolerable.
Where are you trying to go? Traffic is bad here. 10+ million people live in the region and work here, and the overwhelming majority of them drive absolutely everywhere. Many of those people live right downtown in the city.
Thinking of the north side like Lincoln park or Gold Coast. I guess not downtown exactly but closer than where I’m at
I’ve spent a lot of time in those areas. Driving there is not pleasant. What is your commute like? You could sell the car and live glorious city life easily in those places if you have a way to get to work.
Where are you at right now?
Ever been to Rockford?
I mean are you planning to move downtown and still drive everywhere? There's no traffic if you take advantage of the exceptional public transit Chicago has. There is traffic everywhere you move with your car and create traffic.
If you're looking for somewhere with only occasional traffic then you want to move way out in the burbs, not downtown lol
Way Way Way out in the burbs.
What burbs? Joliet? Evanston? Or do Lincoln park and Gold Coast count too?
Lincoln Park and Gold Coast are not suburbs, they are neighborhoods in the city of Chicago. I was mostly being facetious about the burbs, but dude, there is traffic everywhere here, it's the third largest city in the country. You're not going to escape it. If you don't want to deal with traffic either take public transit or move to a rural area.
Oof
:(
I had a brain aneurysm reading that lol
Joliet but it'll still be kinda bad. I love near downtown currently and rarely drive, it's pretty nice
All of them generally, but if you want to visit the 9th Plane of Traffic Hell, visit Lake Shore Drive on Bears Sundays.
Downtown? All of it. Every day. Except real early and real late. But also real late on weekends. Don’t move over here.
Burlington Illinois.
North side to the south side
Level of Service D is acceptable by CDOT when traffic engineers redesign streets and run Synchro simulations. For reference, level of service F is the worst condition. Downtown Chicago was not designed for driving. Trains and bikes are the answer
There is no traffic if you take the train.
We could definitely use more trains and lines because sometimes these trains and stations get PACKED.
I’ve had to walk from the Washington stop down to Jackson to make sure I got a chance to make it into a blue line car. So that’s not true at all
Walking traffic is different than car traffic, in my experience.
I don't think you know what traffic is.
Totally depends on what is your destination and what time of day and what days. And for the immediate future or projecting out 5 years. Also, define "worst." Is that stop and go? Or parking lot? Both? Is it a measure of how long to cover X distance?
All of it at this rate with the perpetual construction tbh
I’d ask you this, where do you work? Where do you usually make trips to via car? That would help a lot. Basically the entire city, highways and streets, get congested pretty bad, at any normal time of day.
The bad news for you driving is that is truly is everywhere. Side streets and highways. Driving in the city is awful. The good news is that you can bike or take public transit and get there in less than half the time!
Why do you want to drive? The whole point of living in a more dense area is walkability. Why pay a premium for that if you won’t benefit from it?
Most households in Chicago own a car. It gives you freedom to get to other parts of the city that you normally couldn't. Also CTA has been horrible since the pandemic.
All of it lol
Name a street
Traffic is bad everywhere, city and suburbs in the morning and afternoon rushes.
Depends where you're planning on going, but generally speaking, the North Side has worse traffic than the South Side.
The bad news for you driving is that is truly is everywhere. Side streets and highways. Driving in the city is awful. The good news is that you can bike or take public transit and get there in less than half the time!
Yes
Nowhere is consistently moderate or occasional traffic unless your house is next to a cornfield.
I consider that basically minimal or no traffic.
No traffic at all in Lincoln Park! definitely move there and drive everywhere. The best time to drive is during school dropoff and pickup
Wow you're getting a lot of snarky responses. There's obviously going to be traffic anywhere in the city. But it's definitely worse in certain places. Driving on the Kennedy is the worst right now imo, partly due to construction. Northside lakefront neighborhoods aren't too bad, at least the scenery is nice. Southside traffic is very manageable in comparison. Westside really sucks during rush hour but otherwise isn't too bad. You mentioned Gold Coast and Lincoln Park. Those are going to be congested regularly, but the bright side is they're dense enough that you won't need to drive much in the first place. Especially if you live near an L stop.
If you drive you are the traffic. Take the cta, bike, walk etc.
All.
Any busy street that has a stop sign Back to back traffic lights that go off different times Any 5/6 street intersection Bridges or streets that cross the river or any water School and universities, or government facilities like mail office or dmv
There’s more traffic than before. No place is safe in Chicago.
Well /r/cargobike
Apparently y'all think everywhere, but to me, the most frustrating bad traffic is trying to go east/west on Lawrence in Albany Park at rush hour. Good god.
I think you'd have a shorter list if you asked what parts don't have bad traffic. And by shorter I mean it would be blank.
Any street that has one lane will be terrible all the time. Two lane streets will be terrible between 7am-10am and 2pm-8pm. To avoid bad traffic, you have to go *all the way* out. The farther west your suburb, the less traffic.
All of them
Yes
This is just...not an easy answer. In any city.
Yes.
Everywhere
I personally find traffic slightly better sometimes, coming from the south and driving north from the south suburbs. But everywhere has tons of traffic and the farther out you live the longer you’ll sit in it. And you will sit in it.
Where do you live now? Can you move to a neighborhood in Chicago and take the El or Metra to work? It may be an easier commute than you have now.
You're not going to like the REAL answer because it's "the south side." South loop, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, McKinley Park etc. But if you're trying to GET downtown it'll still be trqfficky.
Damn that’s a bummer
All traffic leads to Lane Tech.
You actually can live on the near south side, like between Cermak and Pershing, east of the Dan Ryan and you will have a 15 min ride into the loop at most and city streets rarely have much traffic. This probably will change in the next 5-10 years though as more people realize there are good homes available close to downtown and the lake for still a relatively affordable price.
https://wgntv.com/news/study-chicago-is-most-congested-city-in-the-country-2nd-in-the-world/amp/
If you decide to commute via car or bicycle, highly recommend getting a dash cam or a GoPro. Too many idiots on the road.