Schaumburg - Burbank route ?

[Northwestrider]

I'll be landing at Chicago on the 9th, and will be riding from my hotel located in Schaumburg to Burbank, IL. It looks to be a very busy area. Would anyone have a suggested route in mind? I have already google and yahoo mapped it, but I believe the provided route to be rather busy. So any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks

[wireless]

Is it going to be your daily commute? :eek:
Or just one time ride?
You can probably take Roselle Rd south all the way until it becomes Bloomingdale road and eventually hit Great Western Trail.

http://www.dupageco.org/bikeways/index.cfm

Stay on trail and go east. GWT will merge with Illinois Praire Path ( IPP). Ride it all way east till the end.

From there - I have no idea........

[Northwestrider]

Thanks wireless, this is something I'll be doing just once or twice. I'll start off on your suggested route, then improvise there after.

[RJBTrek]

Roselle Rd is not bike friendly from Schaumburg to Great western Trail (GWT). It is mostly 40/45mph with no shoulders and high curbs.

I live in Schaumburg and have riden to the GTW. The route I take has some tricky (you can get lost) spots but the roads are bike friendly for most of the way. You will have a couple of stretches that are 40/45mph with no shoulder. Schaumburg is large. What are the major cross streets for your starting location?

[RJBTrek]

First, if you don’t mind high speed roads or want to ride on the sidewalks to avoid busy streets, then Roselle Rd will work.

If you want to minimize the time on busy streets here is a route that I will take from Schaumburg to GWT. Also, I don’t mind the extra couple of miles. I’ll start the route on National Parkway. Take National Parkway south to Schaumburg Rd. Schaumburg Rd bike path west to Summit. Summit south to Monterey Ave. Monterey east to Nerge. Note that if you pass Monterey you will hit a T intersection which is Blackhawk. Take that east and it ends at Nerge as well. Monterey just shortens the time on Nerge (a busy street) but it is no big deal. Nerge east to Plum Grove Rd. South on Plum Grove road. Note that Plum Grove Rd south of Nerge is wide and 30mph so the above route kept you off the section of Plum Grove that is 45mph with no shoulders. You could take Plum Grove from Schaumburg Rd as well (on the road or side walk (they call it a bike path but it is a side walk)).

Take Plum Grove Rd south. It will end and curve west where it turns into Lawrence Ave. If you’re in a car you would have to take Lawrence to Irving Park Rd. then east to Ardmore. However, on a bike, you can cut through the Roselle train station. From Lawrence go south on Rose Dr. This is a big “U” and takes you into the train station. Go across the tracks and to the parking lot exit at Irving Park Rd. This is a stop light. There are two streets that you’ll see in front of you. One turns sharply west and the other goes south. Take Ardmore, the one to the east as you’re facing the two roads. Follow Ardmore south. This is where it gets tricky since the roads tend to curve around but it is nice residential area. Ardmore curves around until you’re going west. Take this to Rush street. South on Rush to Walnut. East on Walnut. Walnut will curve around until you’re heading south again and changes into Circle Ave. Continue on Circle Ave south, across Lake Street Rd (busy street) to Schick Rd. Schick Rd. east to Glen Ellyn Rd. You have just gone through the tricky parts. Glen Ellyn Rd south to the GWT. Glen Ellyn Rd becomes a busy 4 lane 45mph road after Army Trail Rd but you don’t have too long to get to the GWT. Go past North Ave and you’ll soon cross GWT.

This route keeps you on bike friendly roads.