Commuting to Roseland / Pullman from the northwest side - route advice

My office is moving far, far, far away from me beginning next week. I live in Avondale and will now have to commute to 103rd and Cottage Grove. I am going to continue to bike this as much as I can, though I plan to also experiment with (and, if it works well, use fairly regularly) the Metra Electric line.

I have looked at google maps' route suggestions; I drove down there today and drove back north on the suggested route using Jeffrey to the LFP - this takes me on Cottage Grove up to 93rd, 93rd over to Jeffrey and Jeffrey up to the LFP at 67th. This seemed OK except for the utility work on parts of Jeffrey, and maybe the buses.

Google also suggests Martin Luther King as an option, either to Marquette and then over to the LFP or all the way to McCormick. Any comments on these routes, or suggestions on alternates? I am very much a northsider and have no familiarity at all with these parts of the south side.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on September 27, 2017 at 8:45am

Can you work from home at all? Even if only a day or two a week that could make a huge difference.  I just ask cuz that is a very long commute by bike.

Permalink Reply by David P. on September 27, 2017 at 8:53am
Indeed, that is one long-ass commute. I doubt I am going to ride the whole thing every day, because while I can think of many worse things than a lot of time on a bike, it's grueling to do 45 miles a day 5 days a week. I'll surely take advantage of Metra, which sort of sucks for my application but gives me exactly one option for a train going each way. I will probably even drive every once in a while. But unfortunately, Donald Trump will turn into Barack Obama before my job will let anyone work from home.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on September 28, 2017 at 4:05am

Going to the red line at Roosevelt and taking your bike on might work. It depends on whether you get any resistance from the station attendant at the gate. It's worth a try.

Permalink Reply by David P. on September 27, 2017 at 9:03am
Yeah, at first I thought Metra would be great, until I looked at their schedule and realized reverse-commute schedules suck. But as long as I can make that one train in the morning and one train in the afternoon, riding to Millennium Station and taking Metra will work well, give me riding time every day, and save a lot of time (though of course cost me $). I did not know about the #118 bus - thanks. I think an all-CTA commute takes almost as long as riding the whole thing, in which case I might as well ride. But I can take my normal bikes on Metra (I checked), and I do have a Brompton.
Permalink Reply by ad on September 27, 2017 at 10:01am

I think the Jeffrey Jump bus line might be another option.  Runs from Washington/Jefferson to 103/Stony Island pretty frequently in the morning (like every 13 minutes).  Not sure about rush hour, but you could likely rack the bike as well. 

Permalink Reply by Shawn Evans on September 28, 2017 at 6:09am

If you have a folding bike, you can take it on the CTA trains. So pedal over to the Red Line and take it all the way south. Seems that would be the fastest & easiest way to get there.

Permalink Reply by David P. on September 28, 2017 at 6:25am

Yes, I can take the Brompie anywhere, and it's easy to carry up and down stairs at non-accessible stations. The Red Line option is about 1:30-1:40, which is not a whole lot less time than just riding the whole thing. Metra from the Loop seems to be about 20 minutes faster. I am most interested in beta on the various riding routes between Pullman and the Loop, though.

Permalink Reply by Peter Taylor on October 17, 2017 at 4:25pm

Despite many years of advocacy Chicago remains very much a divided city in terms of cycling infrastructure.  No effective network of bike lanes compared to the north side.  King Drive will get you to Hyde Park and you will be halfway to Roseland.  At that point the bike lanes end.  Everything becomes disjointed.  Michigan Avenue is a great route south.  No bike lanes but wide and one way. At 63rd you have to jog west to State Street to navigate the intermodal yards  You could even take State Street south from the loop.  There are probably bike lanes a lot of the way. Until 67th when State becomes one way north. Go east to Indiana, residential one way to 83rd. At 83rd Indiana becomes bi-directional. At 95th go east to Cottage Grove where you can use the new bike lanes to 103th.  Taking the LFP to Jeffrey is taking you way out of the way.  95th Jeffrey to Cottage is not a good route.  You might also consider Milwaukee - Halsted - 71st - Indiana - 95th -Cottage Grove.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on October 18, 2017 at 2:54am

^I only know some of these routes, but good advice IMO.

Permalink Reply by David P. on October 18, 2017 at 3:05am

Peter,

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try some variations of those to compare the travel time and pleasantness factor with what I have been doing. My routine so far has been to ride to the Loop in the morning, take the train to 95th and ride the last mile down Cottage Grove. In the afternoon, I take Cottage-93rd-Jeffrey-LFP ro either Randolph or Diversey. I can get to the Loop in an hour or slightly less and home in about 1:45 this way if I don't have a headwind. It is a surprisingly pleasant ride. Jeffrey is the only part that does not have some kind of bike infra, and I have a bus/parking lane to ride in most of that way. It is slightly more distance than riding streets, but it is also non-stop from Marquette to Diversey, which is quite a distance.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on October 18, 2017 at 4:15am

Have you had any issues taking your bike on the train during rush hour?

Permalink Reply by Peter Taylor on October 18, 2017 at 5:26am

Not a bad route if you don't mind the xtra distance.  Pretty frequently traveled streets. Tailwinds!

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