Driving from Central Illinois

[TMARE]

Hi! This is my first post. :wave:

Just wondering if anyone has made the drive from the northern half of Central Illinois. We are just south of Kankakee, and wondered if anyone had advice on quickest routes and best places to stay.

We are heading down in late June and plan on making the drive down in two days, probably stopping near Chattanooga on day one, and then staying off WDW property on day two. That way we can check into the Polynesian first thing the day of our ressies and head straight to the parks!

Can't wait!!

Thanks!

 

[Unplugged]

As long as there are so many of us driving from the Midwest area, has anyone mapped out the occurance of, oh I don't know.....police traps?

Just curious as the traffic was moving at 85-90 in a vast majority of spots we were in. With the new Limits at 75, 80 is not without reason. Based on our drive from Crown Point, IN, we spend 8-9 hours * 2 days including 2 lunch stops, 2 dinner stops (little one in the car), plus a few bathroom/gas stops. My thought was at that rate, 16 hours is not unrealistic for a straight drive thru during off-hour travel as we'd eliminate a few meal stops. I'd love to pull-off a 6A-10P drive but doubt it can be done reliably close.

Not counting absurd stories (the ol' "my cousing drove it on a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 in 3.4 hours" :brick, does anyone have any recent "made great time" stories? Sounds like for the next few years while my little one is still little, I should plan on the 2 day drive. He's 2 1/2 and we'll be midst potty training during our trip. I don't want to discourage him. Anyone with potty training while driving suggestions?!?

 

[Wilt Dasney]

There were a few spots, especially before and after Atlanta where the traffic just piled up to a standstill for miles, bumper to bumper, sitting still for 5-10 minutes at a time, inching along at a snail's pace, with no visible evidence as to the cause. Traffic would just clear up and resume to normal, leaving me to think, "what the heck was all that about?"

Sounds like a perfect description of Atlanta traffic to me. :lol:

It really is a crapshoot going through there. Obviously, some times are better than others, but you never know when an accident or some big event you didn't know existed will clog the roads...or as you said, the "phantom" backups that have no rhyme or reason. Taking 285 around the city can be a help, but it's no guarantee. If you have to hit Atlanta anytime other than late at night or very early in the morning, it's probably a good idea to just assume it will be a nightmare and give yourself an hour or 2 cushion if possible. Then if you end up sailing through, you just give yourself more time to get to Disney or arrive a few hours early.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Anyone with info on the Atlanta closures, please post. We're driving in October, which though far off, we have to coordinate with relatives on the East Coast to meet in WDW. The GA mess could hit a lot of us posters here hard.

Thanks in advance for any highlights.
:wave:

http://www.ajc.com/traffic/content/metro/traffic/

http://www.georgia-navigator.com/

The first link is to real time traffic conditions in the Atlanta area and has a link to the local police event calendar (so you can see if anything major will be going on when you drive through).

The second link has real time traffic delays around the state and features upcoming construction projects.

The real-time conditions can be useful if you're within an hour or so before setting off (say, north GA, southern TN/NC or east AL) although it may only be useful in letting you know you might have to grin and bear it soon. :lol:

 

[JustPlainBill]

As long as there are so many of us driving from the Midwest area, has anyone mapped out the occurance of, oh I don't know.....police traps?

On my last trip down in early June 2007, I only saw one speed trap, surprisingly.
I don't remember if it was southern Georgia or Northern Florida on I-75. It was the same day, Sunday, that I mentioned in my previous post only mid-late afternoon. I saw a state police cruiser parked under an overpass, obviously taking radar, when I came to the next overpass that had an on-ramp I saw close to a dozen motorcycle cops parked along the side of the on-ramp on the opposite side. I thought it was odd for a Sunday afternoon. It looked to me like the cruiser was taking radar and it would radio information to the motorcycles of any speeders it found. With a dozen motorcycles waiting in the wings, it could make for a healthy haul. The cruiser wasn't easy to spot as it was very sunny and the shade under the overpass hid it fairly well, by the time you spotted it it would have been too late. Luckily no one in my pack of cars was speeding excessivly so no one got picked off. I've heard of this tactic being used on Illinois interstates mainly on I-55 closer to Springfield, but haven't seen it in action.