One of the best amenities of going to school at Illinois Tech is that you’re living in the wonderful City of Chicago! I highly recommend you get out and about in your city and explore all that our city has to offer. It can be overwhelming at first, if you’re not used to city life, but it can be very rewarding. One of the most important things to consider with this is how you’re getting around. Through this article, I aim to impart some of the knowledge I’ve picked up over the past three years of living in Chicago and exploring our wonderful city.
The Chicago Grid
Chicago is arranged according to the Chicago Grid System. This grid system starts at the intersection of State Street and Madison Street in the Loop. Street location relative to this intersection is included in every street name, such as “S State Street” or “W 35th Street”. As you go away from this intersection, every 8 blocks is one mile (see below for details on a few exceptions to this on the south side). Each street has a north-south or east-west position and each block represents a hundred street addresses. For example, 3245 S Halsted St is on the 3200 block of South Halsted Street (which is numbered 800 W). So we can assume that it’s roughly near Halsted and 32nd Street on the south side of the street (as it’s further from Madison).
On the South Side, east-west streets are usually numbered streets (such as 31st, 33rd, and 35th), while north-south streets are unique names (such as State, Dearborn, Halsted, and Wallace). On most intersections with traffic lights, there are signs showing the street name and position number. Use this to your advantage!
In general, if you’re in Chicago, something useful to remember is that Lake Michigan is always to your east (unless you’re actually on the lake) and it’s helpful to learn where you are relative to the Chicago River, especially if you’re downtown.
Exceptions to block sizes on the south side: Between Madison and 31st, block numbering is different to the rest of the city. Between Madison (0 N/S) and Roosevelt (1200S), there are 12 blocks to a mile. Between Roosevelt (1200 S) and Cermak (2200 S), there are 10 blocks to a mile. Between Cermak (2200 S) and 31st (3100 S), there are 9 blocks to a mile.
Using Public Transit with the CTA
Being in Chicago gives you the great privilege of access to our world-class public transit system, the CTA! (Elevated or ‘L’) trains can get you to most parts of the city in under an hour, and buses can add to the number of places you can get to.
You should sign up for the CTA U-Pass, which gets you unlimited rides on the CTA during the school year for only around $150 per semester. You can sign up for it before and during the start of the semester by filling out a form on the Campus Business Services Center’s website! Make sure to download the Ventra mobile app so you can manage your card online and add funds for use outside of the semester! Likewise, the Transit App is very useful for planning trips within the city, I recommend you download it.
The closest ‘L’ lines to campus are the Green Line at 35th-Bronzeville-IIT station, with an entrance next to Rowe Village South, and the Red Line at Sox-35th station, with an entrance on 33rd Street east of campus on the bridge over the Dan Ryan expressway. The Red and Green Lines can get you to most places you could need in the city, but if you to go somewhere else, you can transfer between the eight ‘L’ lines at many ‘L’ stations around the city served by multiple lines.
All trains and buses have their line and the station they’re heading to on their vehicles, you can use this to make sure you’re going the right direction on the right line. Something important about this is that the Green Line has two destinations on the southern end, so if you see a train with a green “Ashland/63rd” or white “Cottage Grove” sign, they will both stop at Illinois Tech. If you are trying to go south of Garfield on the Green Line, you should double check which Green Line train you’re getting on.
As ‘L’ stations are named based on their streets, there are some stations that have identical names (Like Western Pink Line, Western Brown Line, Western Orange Line, Western Blue Line, and the other Western Blue Line). If you’re navigating to a station, double check you’re going to the right one.
Many of the CTA’s bus routes follow a particular street, such as the 29 State Street bus, which runs north-south through campus. These routes form somewhat of a grid throughout the city, so if you’re looking to get somewhere, there’s likely a bus that will get you pretty close. However, there are some buses that don’t run frequently, so check Transit App or the Ventra app to check when the next bus is.
In downtown, six of the ‘L’ lines form a loop, with the Green Line as the only line that goes in two directions. At Adams/Wabash and Clark/Lake, you can use bridges above the tracks to transfer between lines. Beware that all Green Line platforms in the loop also have other lines that stop at them, so double check the train before you board.
I hope these tips will help you feel more confident in your travels exploring the city. Now go out and explore all that our gorgeous city has to offer!