How Do You Find Your Way Around Chicago?

Chicago is a big city. It's so big I won't even get into the suburbs! There are people who have been living here a month and are completely lost. Not to worry, there are some that were born and raised here and still don't know how to get around. In my opinion, Chicago has one of the best city grids of a major city in the United States of America. I've been to a few cities and some of these other grids are way too convoluted for my taste.
So let's start getting you in and around Chicago the easy way.

Step #1 - Learn the Grid

The Chicago grid is very easy to learn. There's nothing to really get a hang of. We have North, East, South, and West. Some cities have NW, SW, NE, SE; we don't have all of that in our grid. Even our diagonal streets adhere to one of the four main directions.

Most of our streets do follow the linear method. We do have a few streets that can play games with you by starting in one direction and then go in a perpendicular direction, or start linear and then become diagonal. Those are the exception and not the rule. In fact, I can tell you what those streets are - South Shore Drive, Sheridan Road, Marquette Road, Wacker Drive, and Grand Avenue. I feel like I'm missing one, but if so it's not coming to mind.
Overall, that's the Chicago grid.

Step #2 - Learn the Boundaries

On the north the boundary is Howard Street which is 7600 North. On the east is Lake Michigan. On the south is roughly 138th Street. On the West, it varies. At some points it's Western Ave (2400 West), at some points it's Cicero Avenue (4800 West), at other points it's Cumberland Ave (8000 West), at other points it's Austin Avenue (6000 West). Don't worry so much about the western coordinates since they vary so much. The others are fairly solid, though.

Another way to tell that you've left the boundary of Chicago is to look at how the street signs are designed. Chicago street signs are distinct - they're green and thin with light-colored text. The only exception to that is when you're downtown and they're thick, white text, and have an icon on the left-side. This was done when the Democratic National Convention came to town in 2001.

Step #3 - Learn the Neighborhoods

Go to http://neighborhoods.chicago.il.us/ to get an accurate list of Chicago neighborhoods. According to this page there are 84 neighborhoods in Chicago. There is no need to memorize them all, just keep this reference handy in case someone references an area you're not familiar with.

Step #4 - Learn the CTA bus and train routes

CTA stands for Chicago Transit Authority. It is our bus and train system here in Chicago. The reason I said to learn the CTA bus and train routes is because they usually follow the main streets. Once you learn and observe how the buses and trains run, you'll get a better feel for where the major streets are in Chicago. For example, on the North Side - some of the main streets are North Ave, Fullerton Ave, Belmont Ave, Sheridan Road, Howard Street, Foster Ave. On the South Side you have Roosevelt Road, Garfield Road, 79th Street, 87th Street, 95th Street, 111th Street, 63rd Street, etc. Heading west you have Halsted Ave, Ashland Ave, Western Ave, Kedzie Ave, Pulaski Road, Cicero Ave. Heading easy you have King Drive, Cottage Grove Ave, Stony Island Ave, Jeffery Ave, South Shore Drive.

Go to http://www.transitchicago.com to learn more about bus and train routes and to see where buses and trains intersect.

Step #5 - Learn the major expressways.

I'd say we have two major expressways, and about three extensions of expressways. Interstate 90 comes from the Northwest Suburbs, through O'Hare Airport and heads into Indiana via what we call the "Skyway." Interstate 94 comes from the Northern suburbs, into the North Side, goes just west of downtown Chicago, and covers most of the city. Those are the major expressways; they do intersect for a few miles.

Some of the extending expressways are Interstate 80 which runs in the southern suburbs of Chicago and intersects Interstate 94 at around 171st Street. Interstate 57 branches off from Interstate 94 at 95th Street and is one of the main ways to head to Memphis, Tennessee. Interstate 290 starts in the downtown area and heads towards the Northwest suburbs. Interstate 294 starts in the northern suburb of Deerfield and branches off toward the western suburbs and goes south and merges into Interstate 80.

I'd say those are the expressways that will get you through Chicago the best.

Step #6 - If all else fails, buy a map.

Most drugstores or grocery stores will have a map of Chicago available and it'll probably be under $5.00. If you've just moved here from another city this should probably be one of your first expenditures. Don't rely on your GPS device (if you have one). Learn the city for yourself!