Notice from the Fire that 71st St. at the railroad tracks will be closed from now until next May. Great as far as I'm concerned since it means we will be building and over/under pass for the trains so no more stops when coming to or leaving games. Yeah!!!!
How is northbound Harlem from 79th St. to the stadium before games? Just trying to figure out how much extra time I'm looking at for the drive since this is going to spill into next season too. I can't wait for this to be completed. I think I have about a 30% success rate of not being stopped by a train there.
I wonder/hope if the Fire will ask for a delay in their home opener next year until the construction is finished. It will put them behind the eight ball with a lot of away games to start the year, but the flipside to that is they'll be backloaded later in the year (or in the middle of the summer, when the weather is nicer). I haven't seen anything to make me think this team is competing for a title next season, so I don't think this is a huge deal. Of course, the project better get completed on time...
I almost always come in from Roberts Road on 71st street. The one time I came north on Harlem, they closed off the left turn lane just as I was getting to 71st and I had to go over the bridge, turn around and come back. It was pretty annoying. I wish the club provided a bit more detail in the email they sent for those of us who park in the West lot and have avoided Harlem like the plague. Now, if you have to feed back into exiting traffic from the north and east lots, that west lot where the season ticket holder parking is will be a bear to get out of after games, no? This is a really big deal, and once again, I think the FO dropped the ball on really informing those of us who are affected about what's up and what we can/should do.
I always take Archer north to Roberts to 71st. It's always felt like the secret back way in and except for the occasional train it's bean real easy. I'm not too excited about having to deal with Harlem even if it is just for 8 blocks or so. I've only once taken Harlem to the stadium but that was southbound from I55 It was a nightmare for a weekend afternoon game. I can only imagine for a weeknight game it's even worse. Does anyone know about Oketo Ave? It looks like it connects 79th to 71st. about halfway between Roberts and Harlem. Does anyone know if that's an option instead of going all the way east to Harlem?
Getting out of the lots after a game will be a nightmare. The west lot has been great- very fast getting out down 71st. But now all that traffic will have to go east- along with the other 3 or 4 exits onto 71st.
I inadvertently trashed the email and my email trash auto-cleared yesterday so it is gone. I recall something about being able to get more info on line. So I just went to the web site, and I can't find anything on the front page or the news page at all. I then click on the Toyota Park link and follow it to the Parking link and find this: From I-55 Exit at 171/Archer instead of Harlem (first exit south of Harlem), follow Archer south to Roberts, continue on Roberts then make a left on 71st to the stadium. From the Harlem exit, make a right on Archer (first light south of I-55), then follow directions above. Exit at Cicero south then go west on 73rd to Sayre, make a right and follow Sayre to 71st; go west on 71st to the stadium. Exit at Central, take Central to 65th, right on 65th to Harlem, left on Harlem to stadium. From I-294 Take 294 south to I-55 north, merge onto US-12 E/US-20 E/US-45 S/ULYSSES S GRANT MEMORIAL HWY via Exit 279A, merge onto IL-171 N/S ARCHER AVE via the ramp on the left toward 79th, exit Archer Avenue North to Roberts road and take a right, go to 71st to stadium So, with a game this weekend, their parking directions send people from every direction from Roberts Road down 71st to the stadium. Is it possible that they will detour a couple of blocks into the neighborhood so that you can still use Roberts? I have no idea, but we are only a couple of days to the next game.
I'm not sure so that's why I'm asking. When I've come in on 71st I don't think the streets west of the tracks are blocked off before the game. I think they usually have police blocking them after the games but not before. I don't know if those streets east of the tracks are the same.
There are really only 2 roads that cross the tracks in that general area, 71st or 79th. There is really no way to reroute traffic on 71st. around the construction except for taking Roberts all the way down to 79th then coming back up on Harlem (or possibly Oketo if the residential streets are not blocked off). I guess my question is if I'm forced to take Harlem am I better off taking it south from 63rd or north from 79th? My assumption is that traffic would be lighter going northbound because you don't have traffic coming from 55. For weekend games it's generally not an issue because I can just leave earlier but for some weeknight games I'm usually only getting there 15-20 minutes early as it is.
I have the same question as my one experience with this was that I couldn't turn left into the stadium off Harlem. Is that always the case or did I just hit a bad night. They literally coned off the left turn lane so I had to go across the bridge to that Lithuanian restaurant and turn around and head south again.
If I recall, going northbound on Harlem from 71st, there's an entrance to the frontage road on the east side of Harlem, which then goes further north, and passes under Harlem by the bridge, and then goes south into the North lot. Now whether the Bridgeview authorities will be using that is a different story. I usually use the Roberts Road route, so this will the first time I've used Harlem in a while.
I always took Roberts Road as well. But the one time I didn't was this summer at the Jimmy Buffet concert, which prompts my question - at Fire games, do they ever funnel traffic east? Because at the concert, I had to park east of Harlem in the industrial park there because the main lots were full. Post-game, they sent us east to Sayre, and down that to 79th. I don't know if they ever use that during Fire games (this may be completely old news to all of you), but that seemed like a nice bypass of the Harlem crud)...then I took 79th back to LaGrange Road and voila. Or, I could have shot down 73rd to Cicero and gone that way (probably the way that the Pace express bus goes). Is this route already well used and covered, or do they typically avoid funneling cars eastbound on 71st?
so if i'm coming north on harlem then i can get to the parking lot since it's before the train tracks? i usually get off a 95th and take roberts road to 71st but that seems like its' out of the question. i get off of work at 1 and it will probably take me an hour or so to get there. as long as i am in the stadium before kickoff i don't really care.
North on Harlem, left (west) onto 71st should get you to the lots, as yes, they are east of the train tracks.
They said they will. The official directions coming from the O'Hare area is to take the Tri-State south to 95th, then Harlem N, then left on 71st. However, Bridgeview controls the actual traffic control, and they've been known to be inconsistent.
On the announcement that is now posted on the web site, it says this in big red letters: IMPORTANT - ALL PATRONS will enter parking lots from Harlem. Only season ticket holders and VIP guests will be allowed to turn west on 71st St to enter parking lots S1 and S2 From Downtown Chicago (I-55) Hard to believe that I don't know this but I never come in from Harlem. I thought you had to come down Harlem and turn onto 71st street to get into the main lot? Is there actually an entrance ON Harlem and can you turn left into it? Seems odd. It also seems like this will be one major cluster******** for the rest of this season and the beginning of next.
Yes No. Heading N on Harlem, go past 71st and stay to the RIGHT. You will directed off to a frontage road that continues north to the bridge over the RR tracks. The frontage road goes under the bridge and then doubles back toward the stadium.
I will probably head down roberts like normal but cut over to harlem on 79th. a little roundabout but it works. i have season ticket parking passes so they say i can still go down 71st to get to the lot
Park at the stadium? Id rather go to the Mohel for a trim. Have a beer before and after with us... http://www.yelp.com/map/fire-station-pub-summit-argo
half hour tops. Its a 15 min walk. Usually, we go below the bridge. Sometimes there is a train parked, in which case we go over.
Is there anyone here in the Bridgeview area that can provide an update on the construction? Are they still on target to have this completed in April or May? They had the best winter possible for road construction so hopefully they are ahead of schedule.