Navigating O'Hare after "airport expansion" construction?
 

Over the past 2 years two things have happened to my bike to work
route-- Chicago's O'Hare airport (which lies between my home and work)
has expanded, and my place of employment has moved a few blocks to the
south.

I used to be able to bike on Old Higgins road near O'Hare when I biked
from home (in Schaumburg) to Des Plaines or Rosemont (where I work).
Now Old Higgins has a big sign up saying "Airport traffic only", and
there seem to be no safe roads for me to get from here to there and
back.

Here are the directions I used to take. I was going from the
intersection of Meacham and Schaumburg Rd.

S on Meacham

L on Biesterfield going E

Follow path to cross bridge

Exit to Biesner

L then R onto Ruskin to avoid entering Busse Woods

L on Winston going N

R on Cosman going E

Slight L on Arlington Heights Rd going E

R on W Elk Grove Blvd going SE

L on Lions Dr/Charing Cross Rd. going NE

R on Laurel St. going E

R on Tonne going S

L on Greenleaf Av going E

L on Carmen going N

R on Old Higgins Rd going SSE *** now closed

L on Mt Prospect Rd. going N

R on Howard going E

This is how I got to my old job in Des Plaines. Now I work a few
blocks away, near the intersection of Higgins and Des Plaines River
Road. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bridge the gap from
Greenleaf to Higgins and River Road? Any suggestions would be
appreciated.

Thanks,

Caden

Navigating O'Hare after "airport expansion" construction?
 

On 2007-03-26, wrote:

I used to be able to bike on Old Higgins road near O'Hare when I biked
from home (in Schaumburg) to Des Plaines or Rosemont (where I work).
Now Old Higgins has a big sign up saying "Airport traffic only", and
there seem to be no safe roads for me to get from here to there and
back.

[snip]

This is how I got to my old job in Des Plaines. Now I work a few
blocks away, near the intersection of Higgins and Des Plaines River
Road. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bridge the gap from
Greenleaf to Higgins and River Road? Any suggestions would be
appreciated.

I assume you want no part of the madness around Higgins/Busse/Oakton.
Unfortunately, the only route that jumps out at me looks something like
this:

[from Greenleaf]

L on Nicholas Blvd (N)
R on Landmeier Rd (E)
L on Elmhurst Rd (N) ---- Danger, Will Robinson!
R on Wille Rd (E) ---- Just past the interchange w/ NW Tollway
R on Mt Prospect Rd (S)
L on Howard St (E)
L on S Chestnut St (N)
R on Prospect (E) ---- Gets you across Mannheim
L on Circle St (N) ---- Shallow left, 5-way intersection
R on Everett Ave (E)
R on Maple St (S)
L on Pratt Ave (E)
R on S Craig Dr (S)
L on Patton Dr (S) ---- Shallow left
L on Devon Ave (E)
R on River Rd (S)

As noted, the ugly stretch is on Elmhurst Rd, around the NW Tollway,
but the rest of the route should be relatively calm, and, as with your
prior route, is mostly on streets recommended on the Chicagoland Bike
Map. You might want to consider scouting the route by car (if you have
one, that is) just to be safe, as I'm working from maps and memory as
a driver in that area (I don't work in Schaumburg anymore, and I car-
pooled when I did, so I haven't done any riding in that area).

--

__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_
(_)/ (_)