Illinois Thanksgiving 2018 Travel Guide: Best, Worst Travel Times

AAA is projecting 54.3 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more away from home this Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving holiday weekend will see the highest Thanksgiving travel volume since 2005. For the 48.5 million Americans planning a road trip, AAA said travel times could be four times longer than normal. AAA expects even more people — an increase of about 3 million motorists — to hit the road this Thanksgiving compared with last year.

AAA said in most cases, the best days for travel will be on Thanksgiving Day, Friday or Saturday.

In Illinois, more than nine million vehicles are expected to travel the Illinois Tollway system this Thanksgiving Week. Illinois Tollway said the heaviest travel is expected on Wednesday, when nearly 1.9 million vechiles will use the tollway system.

“With more than 9 million vehicles turning to the Tollway system over the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we’re asking our customers to do their part to stay safe when driving," Illinois Tollway Executive Director Liz Gorman said in a release. “Construction is ongoing on parts of the Tollway as we continue our work to deliver roadway improvements to improve travel and mobility.”

Hitting the road

In Chicago, the worst day for drivers will be Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. According to AAA, the worst hot spot will be I-94W from exit 40A to 1. Travel times will be two times worse than usual.

The Illinois Tollway website has some helpful tools for travelers, including real-time traffic information to Trip Tweets for incident information on each of the five toll roads to I-PASS account management tools. One useful resource is the Trip Calculator.Tollway customers can use Trip Calculator to determine in advance how much they will pay in tolls along a designated route or use the pay online feature to identify and pay for any missed tolls to avoid violations. You can also check for travel times, roadway incidents, construction and roadway congestion on the TravelMidwest.com website.

Construction on the roads

Construction is happening all around the tollway system, and some changes will occur for the Thanksgiving weekend. The tollway is planning to reopen two lanes in both directions on I-88 between Route 56 and Peace Road. Ongoing lane reductions will be in place on the I-88 corridor from Peace Road to Illinois Route 251 in Rochelle.

The tollway said it will also restore I-294 mainline traffic to its original configuration between Balmoral Avenue in Rosemont and Wolf Road in Franklin Park, as well as reopening the ramps connecting Irving Park Road to northbound I-294, in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Construction activity will be restricted during the holiday travel, the tollway said. Temporary construction and maintenance lane closures will be suspended from noon on Wednesday, Nov. 21, through 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 26.

According to the tollway, ongoing construction includes:

On the Tri-State tollway (I-94, I-294 and I-80)

• On the Edens Spur, between Pfingsten Road and the Edens Expressway, traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction.
• On I-294, traffic is shifted in both directions at the Cermak Road Toll Plaza.
• At the 159th Street Interchange the ramps carrying traffic from westbound 159th Street to southbound I-294 and from northbound I-294 to westbound 159th Street are closed with posted detours.

On I-88

• Between I-290 and York Road, traffic is shifted in both directions. Westbound drivers must travel in the right lane on I-88 to access the cash side of the York Road Toll Plaza as well as the 22nd Street exit ramp.
• On the ramp connecting eastbound I-88 to northbound I-355 one lane is closed.·
• Between Peace Road and Illinois Route 251, traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction in segments.

On I-355

• Between Boughton Road and Butterfield Road, traffic is shifted in both directions

At the airport

If you're headed to the airport for Thanksgiving, the worst travel times in Chicago will be Wednesday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. from downtown to O'Hare via Kennedy Expressway West. At peak travel time, it will take 1 hour and 37 minutes to get to O'Hare, AAA said.

Other Thanksgiving travel tips to know from AAA:

• Highers gas prices aren't keeping holiday travelers home. Nationwide, motorists can expect the highest gas prices in four years, AAA said.
• Car rental costs have fallen. The average daily rate is for a car rental is $63, AAA said.

As of Monday morning, the average gas price across Illinois was $2.57 for a gallon of regular unleaded, lower than the national average of $2.62. For the Chicago metro area, however, the average is higher at $2.66, according to AAA.

But current prices in Illinois are lower than a year ago, when the state average was $2.70. At the start of Thanksgiving week 2017, the Chicag0-area average was $2.86 per gallon.

AAA said it expects to rescue 360,000 motorists during the holiday. The top reasons for rescue typically include dead batteries, lockouts and flat tires.

On the train

Metra will modify schedules on most lines Wednesday, Nov. 21 to help customers get an early start on their Thanksgiving plans. Trains have been added, combined or cancelled as part of Wednesday's schedule. The full schedule for Metra's "pre-Thanksgiving early getaway service" can be found here.

On Thanksgiving, trains will operate on a Sunday/holiday schedule, which means there will be no service on the North Central Service, Heritage Corridor and SouthWest Service lines. Regular weekday service will resume the Friday after Thanksgiving to accommodate Black Friday shoppers, with the exception of Metra’s BNSF Line. The BNSF Line will operate additional inbound midday trains Friday and adjust the schedule for outbound afternoon trains. The schedule can be found here.

In addition to the modified service the night before Thanksgiving, Metra is making travel for the holiday and for Black Friday shopping even more affordable by offering a special $10 unlimited ride holiday pass for use on both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. The regular $10 Weekend Pass will be available for Saturday and Sunday. Mobile versions of both passes are available on the Ventra App, available for free in the App Store or Google Play.

Image via Shutterstock.