Chicago Part 3: The Driving (3 comments)
First of all, I have to say that the notion of downtown driving being scary is bullshit. Most everyone I know from the Chicago suburbs has an odd fearful respect for city driving, and now that I've done it, that serves to reinforce my opinion that suburban kids are generally inept when it comes to driving.
My biggest problem when it came to city driving was Lake Shore Drive. To an outsider, Lake Shore Drive is a six-lane expressway on the Eastern edge of Chicago. Locals also know that Lake Shore Drive is a two-lane street that runs alongside that expressway. I think that's stupid. I was driving north on North Lake Shore drive when the Google Maps directions I was following told me to turn onto Chicago Ave. and after 0.0 miles, back onto North Lake Shore Drive. That sounds an awful lot like confused software, so instead of turning twice to be where I was, I continued straight, only to see my left turn a few miles ahead blocked by a bunch of concrete and three lanes of southbound expressway.
My other complaint for the Chicago driving experience is that the interstates aren't made as visible as I'd like. In most of my driving, when an interstate is ahead, I've been greeted by a prelude of large green signs that explain what road it is, where it's going, and how to get to it. In Chicago, there's generally a ~8" tall red, white, and blue interstate sign with a vague arrow. For instance, going southbound on Harlem Ave., the only sign indicating I-294's presence was a small sign instructing traffic to go up and to the right. There were two exits onto 12/20 not far after the sign, and neither was marked. I drove by them before realizing that we'd come in on 12/20, and on my second approach, this time northbound, I found that both exits to 12/20 were marked with interstate signs. of course, I chose the wrong one.