Reporter finds I-355 commute easy

To steal a line from George Carlin, I've added highway gapers to my personal list of people I can do without.

I'm positive the people who basically parked their cars in the left lane of northbound I-355 near the 63rd Street exit Wednesday morning to watch a state trooper investigate a fender-bender were the only things keeping me from my shortest morning commute yet.

Being a New Lenox resident who bought a home there in anticipation of the new Veterans Memorial Tollway making daily commutes more manageable, this has been a good week.

On Monday and Wednesday mornings, I made the 24.8-mile commute in less than 40 minutes, shaving at least 30 minutes off my normal commute on Route 53 between Lisle and Joliet.

A reporter's schedule has so far prevented me from experiencing an evening rush-hour commute.

While quicker commutes from the South suburbs were expected to be a highlight of the 12.5-mile extension, tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis warned me that my shortened Monday drive could have been skewed by the Veterans Day holiday.

Still, I was actually on pace Wednesday to beat Monday morning's drive time until the gapers struck. Instead, I left my garage at 8:15 a.m. and was at my desk at 8:54 a.m., keeping Monday's pace.

On Wednesday afternoon, McGinnis told me traffic on the extension has been "at or above" projections of 54,000 daily commuters.

But, she added, the "response from drivers has been overwhelmingly positive."

Once I got home Wednesday night, I agreed with her.

I did notice more southbound traffic than in previous drives. Still, I pulled into my New Lenox garage at 5:43 p.m. -- 37 minutes after leaving Lisle.

A reader commented that he believes southbound traffic and drive times between Army Trail Road and Maple Avenue have been "absolutely horrible."

South of I-88, however, was free sailing once I was able to merge out of the far right lane and into the center.

Eventually, I'm sure traffic will catch up to the extension and I'll be right back to where I started.

But in the meantime, please stay off of I-355 south of I-55 or as I like to call it, My-355.