BY MARC CHASE, Times of Northwest Indiana
mchase@nwitimes.com
Ted Markiewicz started his engine at 6:30 a.m. Monday, preparing to drive an alternative route to what he believed would be a certain debacle on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
But when news radio traffic reports indicated a 25-minute commute from 95th to the circle interchange in Chicago, Markiewicz opted for his traditional route to work.
Even though Monday marked the opening day for commuters to experience the Dan Ryan Expressway construction project, Markiewicz and hundreds of other drivers who risked the Ryan for their morning commutes were pleasantly surprised at the ease in which they found their ways to work.
"It was very nice," said Markiewicz about the expressway, even though all of the express lanes have been closed. "My normal commute is an hour from my home in Crown Point. Monday morning only took one hour and 10 minutes."
Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said plenty more drivers had similar experiences, despite the gloom-and-doom forecast of the Ryan construction's first morning commute.
"This went very smooth for us," said Kollias, noting that the average travel time from 95th to the Loop was about 30 minutes Monday morning. "Traffic and travel times were nice and steady."
The fluidity of traffic came as an extra surprise, given the rain, slick roads and flooding along some places of the route, Kollias said. Even the alternate routes suggested to drivers by IDOT -- along Stony Island and Ashland -- moved along at a nice clip, she said.
Kollias attributed the lack of gridlock to drivers heeding IDOT calls for leaving early and using alternative routes.
But many Northwest Indiana and south suburban morning commuters weren't taking any chances.
Portage commuter Kathy Mash opted for a train trip on the South Shore rather than rolling the dice on the Ryan. And based on the crowd on the 8:10 a.m. train out of the East Chicago station, Mash wasn't the only one with that idea.
"The train was already crowded by the time I got on," said Mash, who works in accounts receivable for the White Sox. "I did get a seat, but after that, all of the seats were taken."
Becky Hinton, of Dyer, rode the same train, leaving from the Hammond station at 8:15 a.m. Hinton said by the time the train reached Chicago's Hegewisch neighborhood, no seats were left.
Hinton, a fashion pattern maker in the city, rode the train into The Loop and then walked more than a mile to her workplace rather than attempt the Ryan.
And even though Norm Klemp, a Metra machinist who works at Chicago Randolph station, rides the train to work every day, he still had to brave some traffic on Interstate 94.
Klemp, of Lansing, drives to the Kensington station every day and rides the rail the rest of the way to work. Had the Ryan been bad, his route to Kensington likely would have been bad, too.
"But it wasn't," Klemp said. "At 6:10 a.m., there were no backups, no nothing.
"I'm sure the worst is still to come, but Monday morning was really nothing."