Transportation to UIUC

[Anonymous]

DD really likes UIUC but my only concern is how to travel there as it is quite far to drive and far from Chicago and Indianapolis. Parents with kids at UIUC, how does your DC travel? For context, we are based in the DC area

[Anonymous]

So my parents live there.

You can catch a connecting flight in Chicago to a small airport there. You can take the El.to.Union Station and then take an Amtrak train down.

Driving from Chicago/Indianapolis is about 2 hours. It's a lot easier to find a bus from Chicago.

If you can get a flight to Bloomington IL it's about an hour from Champaign. There are also busses.

Not going to lie, location is inconvenient.

[Anonymous]

My DC went to Purdue and they took a shuttle to Indianapolis usually. Sometimes they took the shuttle to O’Hare. We usually drove out in the fall and picked up in the spring. I would think there would be a similar shuttle for UIUC.

[Anonymous]

The university owns the airport, symbol CMI. There are direct flights on American to either O'Hare or DFW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC went to Purdue and they took a shuttle to Indianapolis usually. Sometimes they took the shuttle to O’Hare. We usually drove out in the fall and picked up in the spring. I would think there would be a similar shuttle for UIUC.

This.

I'm pretty sure there is a shuttle service on weekends. I don't have a kid attending school there, but live in a Chicago suburb and have heard other parents talk about a shuttle service from UIUC to Chicago suburbs and can't imagine it wouldn't also go to O'Hare.

[Anonymous]

There used to be excellent, reliable, clean bus service through a private company or two between Champaign and Chicago.

IIRC, the Amtrak stopped outside of Urbana-Champaign proper, though there was talk of fixing that. Just make sure you are clear on the drop-off points.

It's a two hour drive -- a straight shot up I-57. Chicago traffic is fine once you get used to the route, unless it's brutal winter. (Take the train if the weather is bad and you need to get to Chicago -- when it's really bad, the trains are the last thing still running. They light the tracks on fire at the switch points to keep them from freezing locked, and they just keep running.)

[Anonymous]

It is the hardest aspect of UIUC - transportation. Getting there.

[Anonymous]

My inlaws live there.
We’ll occasionally fly into Bloomington, but it’s expensive. Usually we get a cheap flight into Indianapolis and then it’s an easy drive.
Chicago is obviously an option too but we just find Indy a little
Closer and easier.

[Anonymous]

Another my parents live nearby.

Most of the Chicago kids who go there take a bus that runs pretty regularly or take Amtrak which heads down two or three times a day.

I mention this as you can fly to CMI, but you have to go through Chicago to get there (which can be delays and connections and all that). Also kind of pricey. Sometimes it's faster to go to Chicago and then make your way down some other way (i.e. carpool with classmates)

You can fly to Indy which is actually a nice little airport. It's on the west side of the city so a tad closer. But from there it's basically a drive. Not as many options (bus / train / friends) as you get from Chicago.

To drive from the DC area to CMI is about 12-14 hours counting stops and gas and whatnot. Have done it in a day. A long day.

[Anonymous]

Do no college students drive a damn car anymore?

[Anonymous]

It must be hard in bad weather. Chicago is brutally cold and then to be so far away.

[Anonymous]

There are busses between campus and ORD, but the kid needs to reserve ahead of time for breaks because they fill up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do no college students drive a damn car anymore?

No, every student doesn’t have a car. I didn’t have one until my third year in college.
Some schools don’t allow freshman to have cars on campus (not sure about UIUC).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There used to be excellent, reliable, clean bus service through a private company or two between Champaign and Chicago.

IIRC, the Amtrak stopped outside of Urbana-Champaign proper, though there was talk of fixing that. Just make sure you are clear on the drop-off points.

It's a two hour drive -- a straight shot up I-57. Chicago traffic is fine once you get used to the route, unless it's brutal winter. (Take the train if the weather is bad and you need to get to Chicago -- when it's really bad, the trains are the last thing still running. They light the tracks on fire at the switch points to keep them from freezing locked, and they just keep running.)

I am from there and went to UIUC. The Amtrak station is in downtown Champaign. It is not "walkable" but it's not at all far. There also buses to/from airport that have various pickup locations specifically for students. The local airport is also accessible, though expensive, and many of the connections go through O'Hare so you don't avoid that hassle.

The drive to O'Hare is fine. It takes about 2.5 hours if there is "normal" but not "heavy" traffic. My best friend prefers to fly out of Indianapolis for some reason, which is about the same distance. IME it's about the same time but Indianapolis traffic is a lot chiller than Chicago traffic so you don't have to account for that as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It must be hard in bad weather. Chicago is brutally cold and then to be so far away.

Chicago is extra cold because of the lake effect. Down state does not have that specific problem. I grew up there and it was pretty normal winter for us. I lived in Chicago for a while as a young adult and it's a completely different winter. More like New England whereas downstate is more like DC with more snow.