Driving from Chicago - thru IL or IN??

[Minnie824]

I know this has been asked before, but I wanted to check again now that our trip is getting closer. For those who have driven from IL, do you prefer taking I-57 thru IL or I-65 thru IN? To me, traffic isn't really an issue because we're leaving at 1:30am, so it'll be about the same hopefully either way. I've also heard the speed limit is 70 in IN as opposed to the 65 in IL. We drove thru IL last year and other than it being a long boring drive, had no problem with it, but now we're thinking of trying the IN way this time. Any advice?

 

[DemoBri1]

You might want to check with your local AAA agent to see what the construction situation is on either road. To me the drives are probably the same scenary wise. The only question is whether you could get through Indy before rush hour, and if you're leaving at 1:30, depending from which area of Chicago you're starting from, you will probably miss it.

 

[Jeremy B.]

I'm not sure how the IL way is, but I live in Indianapolis, and travel to Chicago a few times a year. I can tell you that 65 south out of Gary / Crown Point / Valpo all the way down to Indy hauls you know what! Typical traffic speed all the way down to Indy is 80 - 85. Just last week I was in with a group of cars doing 90 - 100 the entire way down. It's not uncommon to even get you fast Chicago drivers leaving the city and heading south to pass you like you're standing still when you're doing 90 - 95 as well!

If you get to Indy before 7:00am the inbound traffic will be fine going 65 right through town. From 7:00 - 8:45 it is very congested, but nothing extremely bad. Once you get through downtown and start heading outbound from there you will not have any traffic what so ever. If you do get into Indy a little after 7am you can always take 465s around the west side of Indy down to 65 s. This will be an extra 10 mins or so, but during rush hour there is hardly any traffic southbound 465 on the west side. Average speeds once you get south of Indy are still 80mph, with a posted speed limit of 70mph all the way to Louisville.

Right now there is no construction at all on I-65 from the Chicago burbs in northwest Indiana all the way to Louisville. Once you get into Kentucky I can not speak of that though.

If you have any other questions let me know.

 

[WOODY13]

I would definitely take I-65. It is about 40 miles shorter then I-57 from Chicago.