Let The Commuting Begin

By Scott Smith in Miscellaneous on Nov 21, 2006 4:26PM

The day before the day before the holiday is just getting started, yet we’re already counting down the hours until we can stuff ourselves silly. To get our minds off the siren call of the Ho Ho Freakout, we’re busy making last-minute travel plans.

For those headed out to the ‘burbs, Metra will run extra outbound trains tomorrow and will offer a $5 holiday pass that’s good for unlimited rides on Thursday and Friday (the usual $5 weekend pass will also be available for Saturday and Sunday). Trains are on a Sunday schedule for the holiday and weekend Family Fares are good on Friday. And if you’re a crazy person, extra express trains will be running on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line into downtown, so you can get your holiday shopping done early.

IDOT officials say that traffic around O’Hare will be re-routed on both Wednesday and Sunday to ease congestion:

Access to the westbound Northwest Tollway (Interstate Highway 90) is closed from Interstate Highway 190, the airport road that routes traffic via the northbound Tri-State Tollway (Interstate Highway 294) and onto westbound I-90.

The ramp to I-90 will reopen Wednesday night after midnight and remain open Thursday through Saturday, officials said. The detour will be in effect again on Sunday.

The TSA is touting its new 3-1-1 initiative to help people remember that they’re allowed only one carry-on bag, while liquids in carry-on bags must be in containers that hold 3 oz. or less and secured in a quart-size clear bag.

If you’re driving, expect higher prices at the pump and more patrols on the highways.

With the weather forecast looking decidedly mild for the holiday – Tom Skilling is predicting a high of 60 – it looks like one more opportunity to play shirts vs. skins in a game of touch football, so long as Grandma ends up on the “shirts” team.

What are your Thanksgiving travel plans? Or are you skipping the family reunion and having an "orphans" Thanksgiving this year?