# Towing On 80/90 In Indiana And Illinois?



## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

I'll be heading out to Minnesota next week, not towing the Outback this time though. I'll be towing my antique tractor to the National Red Power Round Up in Albert Lea, MN. The tentative route west is to take 80/90 across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. I have absolutely zero desire to tow anything through Chicago







, so when 90 splits off north near Gary, IN I plan to continue west on 80 to 39, then will take 39 north to meet back up with 90 and take that west to Albert Lea. Looking for input from anybody in Indiana/Illinois as far as how this route is for towing, any patches of really rough road, construction sites







, etc. Thanks for any help/insight you can provide.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I 294 to I 90 isnt too bad if you hit it at normal hours. Rush hours suck. It can be as bad or worse from I 57 on west to I 39 thru Joliet on I 80.

I pulled a good 100 rv's of all sizes up I 294 to I 90 and lived to tell about it. Never had a problem. Youd be fine going that way too. If its rush hour it doesnt matter which way you go. Your gonna be in bumper to bumper traffic for miles.

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

There is a dealer in Minot that has a Gold Demonstator for sale http://swensontractor.com/international.htm scroll down the pape a ways. Yeah I been looking at maybe restoring an old tractor myself. I remember running up on a Gold and I thought about you and your beauty.

We have an antique tractor show coming up soon too. http://www.dcthreshingbee.com/
Boy I have never seen so many old tractors than right here in town. Its like the tractor mecca here. Everyone and I mean everyone has at least one tractor here.

Carey


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## Traveling Tek (Oct 15, 2010)

ditto on that. Anything near Chicago during rush hours will be jammed up. Took me two hours once to get through. Then the a week later took me about 15 minutes to get through. Amazing.


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

Thanks Carey and Ryan. I'm hoping to be going through there by early afternoon so that the traffic won't be too bad. May have to give 294 a try if it doesn't look too bad.


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> We have an antique tractor show coming up soon too. http://www.dcthreshingbee.com/
> Boy I have never seen so many old tractors than right here in town. Its like the tractor mecca here. Everyone and I mean everyone has at least one tractor here.
> Carey


Looks like a good show there, the same weekend as our club show.


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

When we went to Yellowstone a couple years ago, we went through Chicago at around 4PM. It took over three hours. Coming home we decided to time it so we would drive through late at night. We ended up going through at 2AM and it still sucked. Not as much traffic, but crazy drivers everywhere. I am not sure which was worse.

DAN


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## Stan (Aug 9, 2006)

Live in Chicagoland, so I'd suggest you avoid 294 from the south anytime up to 9:30 am, it sucks from 80 all the way to O'hare, which is at I90. Beyond 9:30 it's usually pretty wide open and when I was down there a few weeks ago there was only some minor road work. The other thing to remember is that 294 is a TOLL ROAD!!! not sure what the toll is, it's based on # of axles and between 80 and 90, I think there are 3 or 4 toll booths. You can probably find out at Illinois Tollway ... if you are unsure, tune your AM radio to WBBM 780. They have pretty good traffic reports every 10 minutes 24 hrs a day, and they're a powerful station, you should easily pick them up East of i65, and they give reports for 80/90 and 94 all the way from Gary through Chicago and West of Chicago on 80. You should check the DOT site for the state of IL, because I'm pretty sure there is construction on 80 but don't know about the section of 90 that runs west from 294. 
Like others have said, avoid going through downtown Chicago .. it's very unpredictable!
Good luck, safe travel
Stan


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

Growing up in Michigan and now living in northern Illinois, anytime that we head home, we go around Chicago. Many of these trips have included the Outback as well as other trailers. Coming from Indiana, I would suggest 94 to 294, 294 to 290, 290 to 90 and away from Chicago. This will keep you out of the heart of the Chicago traffic. If you have a tollway transponder, you are able to go through the "I-PASS" lanes with a trailer in tow, saving a ton of time. As others have pointed out, be sure to plan your trip through between the hours of 9:30am and 4:00pm. The route that I suggested should take you about 2 hours to get from the Indiana / Illinois state line to Rockford, near the Wisconsin / Illinois state line. The 80 to 39 route will add about 50 miles and at least 45 minutes which is probably way more time that you would loose with traffic around Chicago. Have a safe trip!!


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

Thanks everybody







I'm hoping to be hitting the Chicago area between 1-2:00pm Central time. Will listen to the traffic reports and if 294 is running good I'll probably go that way, would certainly be nice to cut off 50 miles or so.


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## havinfun (Mar 27, 2010)

Camping Fan said:


> I'll be heading out to Minnesota next week, not towing the Outback this time though. I'll be towing my antique tractor to the National Red Power Round Up in Albert Lea, MN. The tentative route west is to take 80/90 across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. I have absolutely zero desire to tow anything through Chicago
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I-80 is under construction. It starts westbound at Route 30 (Maple) and finally opens up just after the bridge in Joliet. Last Thursday we crawled through the constuction. Today we took backroads home. They took us out of our way but we got home sooner. No matter what time you go through this construction it is slow moving. Good luck and allow yourself plenty of time.


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

havinfun said:


> I'll be heading out to Minnesota next week, not towing the Outback this time though. I'll be towing my antique tractor to the National Red Power Round Up in Albert Lea, MN. The tentative route west is to take 80/90 across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. I have absolutely zero desire to tow anything through Chicago
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I-80 is under construction. It starts westbound at Route 30 (Maple) and finally opens up just after the bridge in Joliet. Last Thursday we crawled through the constuction. Today we took backroads home. They took us out of our way but we got home sooner. No matter what time you go through this construction it is slow moving. Good luck and allow yourself plenty of time.
[/quote]

Thanks, good to know.


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

We made it around Chicago in one piece!







Hit the southern Chicagoland area about 1:00 local time, had some moderately heavy traffic initially but as soon as routes started branching off of 80/90 the traffic thinned out some. Took 294 to 290 to 90, traffic moving well the whole way and only minor construction that didn't slow the flow very much. Thanks for your help everybody!







BTW, Wisconsin won the award for best AND worst roads of the day!


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Yea up around Madison its like riding a bucking bronco down the road. Glad things are going good for ya.

Carey


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> Yea up around Madison its like riding a bucking bronco down the road. Glad things are going good for ya.
> 
> Carey


You got that right! It was such a bumpy ride around Madison that Mom couldn't even read in the back seat, her book was moving around too much!


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