Just past noon Thursday, Loop ad agency employee Beverly Pegelow pulled her Daewoo sedan into an Amoco station at LaSalle and Ontario Streets and topped off her tank to the tune of $10.07.
“This is officially the start of my holiday,” said Pegelow, who drove to the downtown station during her lunch hour for the competitive $1.56 per gallon prices, which will help her get to Cleveland to visit her daughter.
“It’s a lot cheaper than it was,” Pegelow said. “When it was over $2 a gallon? Forget it. I wouldn’t be taking off.”
Chicago area fuel prices might be higher than they were last Labor Day, but after dropping from budget-busting peaks early this summer, economically confident citizens were hitting the roads Thursday in greater numbers than in 1999.
Nationwide, an estimated 33.7 million people will be driving more than 100 miles from home over the long weekend, according to the AAA Chicago Motor Club, a 5 percent increase over last year. Around the five-state Great Lakes region, including Illinois, 4.3 million people will be burning up the asphalt, 3 percent more than last year.
All that wanderlust despite an average metro-area gas price of $1.45 per gallon, or 15 cents higher than at this time in 1999. But drivers welcome that price more than the average $2.16 per gallon in late June.
“And the economy is still strong,” which gives consumers the confidence to splurge, said AAA spokesman Steve Nolan.
Chicago’s Aviation Department is also bracing for 1.4 million travelers to pass through terminals over a holiday that is among the five busiest for both airports. On Thursday, an estimated 240,000 people went through O’Hare and 50,000 through Midway, a significant spike from their respective Thursday averages of 200,000 and 30,000, respectively.
Passengers are being asked to take public transportation to the airports and leave plenty of time for traffic, check-in and baggage handling. From Friday through Tuesday, Midway is offering a special two-hour $2 short-term parking rate to help drivers deal with construction congestion.
O’Hare is trying to keep the good times rolling with music from Grant Park Jazz Fest performers and table tennis in Terminal 2’s upper level, compliments of Chicago Ping Pong Festival 2000.
Because of the weekend crush expected on roadways, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced it will halt construction to reopen as many lanes as possible. All lanes will be open on the Eisenhower Expressway, the Dan Ryan Expressway, the Bishop Ford Freeway, the Kennedy Expressway, the Edens and Interstates 57, 80/94, 80 and 290. Chicago-area projects with lane restrictions include the Stevenson Expressway, the Hillside bottleneck with one lane open in each direction, and Interstate Highway 55 south of the Stevenson Expressway in Will County, with one lane open in each direction over the Des Plaines River.
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority will suspend all temporary lane closures on construction projects from noon Friday until 9 a.m. Tuesday. Drivers should continue to expect delays at areas under construction.
