Before the first toll in IL, get off on 41, which skirts on the otherside of Gurnee IL, it will eventually catch up to I94 and take you downtown Chicago. We pull our 44 ft trailer through to avoid the tolls. It does have stop/go lights for about 5 miles, but most are long green lites and you can sail through pretty easy. The only toll is the exchange from I94 to I80-Indiana gets you too.
You will run into road construction no matter what down by I94 and 80, even if you took the 294 around Chicago.
I just read in our local paper, 41 between Oshkosh and Fond du Lac starts road construction this week if you are coming that way. Otherwise you can save 20 minutes and come down 43, but then you have the hassle of construction in Milwaukee by the Marquette interchange.