I-90 West: Gary IN, to the Chicago Skyway

[@idriveastationwagon1534]

I found out that the Chicago skyway, Indiana toll road, Ohio turnpike, PA turnpike, and the NJ turnpike extension (I-95, formerly I-276), are all one long toll road.

[@scottstark2286]

In the 70’s this was an incredible drive through the steel industrial landscape.

[@Mchenrygames]

brings back memories of my time in Indiana. Maybe I was in Chitown that day

[@tperk]

Used to drive the Skyway to Chicago often, 20 years ago. Exciting drive for a novice driver just out of high school. Thanks for bringing back memories.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you, I think it's a pretty interesting and exciting drive as well.

[@eddieabbott370]

​@@Freewayjim Hello Mr Jim. We tourists coming from WashingtonDC. Driving car..Need your help. Fear of Huge Bridges sir. How can we drive from WashingtonDC to Chicago and miss that huge SKYWAY BRIDGE and more BRIDGES. Should we take 90 from Indiana or should we come in from Michigan. Seems Indiana closer buy may be HUGE BRIDGES there also. WE WANT TO AVOID ALL BRIDGES IF POSSIBLE MR. JIM. PLEASE HELP US IF YOU CAN. THANKS SIR..April 21,2023. Fear of Huge Bridges and can't READ a MAP

[@eddieabbott370]

​@@Freewayjim Mr Jim..This Eddie Abbott. Please read my post I just sent you sir please. April 21,2023. Eddie Abbott

[@eddieabbott370]

​@@Freewayjim MR JIM . PLEASE READ MY POST..EDDIE ABBOTT. THANKS SIR

[@Freewayjim]

​@@eddieabbott370 To avoid the skyway, take I-80/90 West from Ohio to I-80/I-94 West in Indiana (Exit 21) , stay on I-94 West and that will take you straight into downtown Chicago without crossing any tall bridges, it's a little longer but not a bad ride, no need to go through Michigan. I would strongly recommend looking at a map to be comfortable with what you are doing before you do it.

[@darrenkrock736]

The song title Torture perfectly describes I-90 in northwest Indiana. No shoulder. Narrow lanes. Narrow freeway. Congestion. Old signs. I've driven that stretch of road many times. Needs a major upgrade!

[@elevatorfan125]

My family and I drove this way to and from Chicago 2 weeks ago from this last Wednesday and it costed $10.80 both ways for tolls. All together, tolls costed $21.60

[@djmario79]

Ahh....you saved the best for last...a McDonalds before the toll plaza! I'm loving it!

[@Jesuis-qe8ql]

este vídeo es legendario y con su música es muy activa This video is legendary and with its music it is very active

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you very much, Jesus!

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@kdizzle79]

Awesome video. It makes sense to put The Jacksons' music in this video since they are from Gary

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@califgirl101]

Wow! What a fun video this is! The Jacksons was just the right ticket to go with this awesome ride along! Thank you so much for this sweet post! :)

[@Freewayjim]

It is a royalty free loop called "Chelsea Loft" you can hear the full 30+ second version here on You Tube, just type Chelsea Loft in the search bar.

[@garagers6667]

I used love driving this exact route during the week at night. Plenty of open road, city lights and no traffic.

[@Fanik10]

I-90 Starts from the east in Boston, MA. to west in Seattle, WA. 3,082.5mi, 44hrs., 12min.

[@matthew7330ify]

Where is the "welcome to Illinois" sign. I don't want to miss it when coming to Chicago!

[@chitownbearsfan34]

Matthew Merritt there isn't one on the Skyway, only a welcome to Chicago sign

[@dave11686]

I've never been on this stretch of freeway but my sister lives not too far from this area now, not in Gary of course! :-P

[@charleskesner1302]

Took that road many times. Good memories.

[@Freewayjim]

@Bryant5493 Thanks, that's from the album where the brothers tried to ride Micheal's coattails after Thriller :)

[@daRegionRat]

As an added factoid for you Jim, President Obama was a community organizer in the South Chicago neighborhood trying to help those laid off from now closed U.S. Steel South Works as well as the other poor would have replaced people that used to live and work in the neighborhood. You can see the empty area much on fill along the lakefront to the east (to the right of the camera) off of the bridge over the Calumet "River" actually a cut made through to Lake Michigan from Lake Calumet to the west.

[@CalQL8]

Great choice of song. It looks like torture to drive that stretch of road...lol

[@jedendwatrzy]

the gary/chicago airport is nearby this point of the toll road, and there are several ramps and bridges nearby. there are airport runway guide lights on those street light poles.

[@sioul8485]

Its ironic that you drove through Gary w all that construction and im like last time i drove in that area thats what I remember ......and then i see this video was made in 2011 which is 1 of 3 instances I drove through there........u went through there round the same time i did lol

[@georgecrenshaw6309]

I'm sure Joe Jackson drove his sons on the this very highway to Chicago and back in their VW station wagon in their early days. Imagine what this trek would've been like back in late 60s.

[@Freewayjim]

@daRegionRat Thanks for the history lesson on the area, interesting stuff!

[@Freewayjim]

@FreewayTitan Thanks & good luck.

[@TheSolarcatcher]

That's the Cline Ave. exit. The Toll Road passes the Gary/Chicago Airport to the right. That's why you have the low-hanging lights.

[@markhowe5991]

I agree, this section of road just isn’t a lot of fun to drive. It seems to highlight the decay of the area over the last half-century. And I choose this road because it is quick, but it’s also surprisingly expensive: now it’s closer to $6 for a passenger car, plus the tolls on the Indiana side.

[@buddyclem7328]

At 4:59 you managed to capture the McDonald's in the middle of the highway before it was torn down! It reminds me of the McDonald's on both sides of the New York Thruway, also I-90, with a footbridge connecting both sides. That location had a snack bar on one side of the bridge, and a full restaurant complete with semi truck drive thru on the other side. The snack bar had items like McPopcorn, and McFranks (hot dogs). Great video Jim. I hope to make that drive myself.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you for watching!

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you, I felt obligated to use a Jacksons song going through their hometown :)

[@MissRobbiOKC]

I truly love your videos! Thank you!

[@Freewayjim]

@@MissRobbiOKC Much appreciated, thank you!

[@Freewayjim]

@rickhh1 Thank you :) I might do something with that particular clip down the road (no pun), you never know :)

[@viejos1000]

my fav bridge i live really close by it try going to calumet park and look at it it looks so awsome!

[@Freewayjim]

Yes, lol, I've gotten pretty good at it over the years. You should check some of my newer videos, they are even better.

[@Omegasunrise]

In Oklahoma there is a McDonalds over the road in Vinita off I-44 (Will Rogers Turnpike) Hey Jim wish you can do Tulsa in future videos..

[@Freewayjim]

No sir, there is some skill involved with these :)

[@Fantech0104]

This is actually the longest interstate highway in the US AKA I-90.

[@Idolmakercat]

I drove this just a couple days ago. it cost me $8.00 in toll fees.

[@Fanik10]

they have those in New Jersey on the Garden State Parkway too.

[@cherylfbrown2]

I enjoyed and to use torture as the song sounds right with the ridiculous price u pay to ride the skyway! Thanks again!!!

[@broadhurst04]

Wasn't there a much bigger Welcome to Chicago sign at one time, like a billboard sized color photo of the skyline with the welcome message and the name of the current mayor?

[@clevelandrocksgirl]

thanks for showing this...i am worried about driving that bridge

[@Freewayjim]

You'll be fine, it's nothing to be worried about, just stay in your lane and follow the road.

[@xo945gaming2]

Hey it's rusty sure nothing will happen of course somthing will its shakes and moves I feared my life crossing it I prayed it wouldn't collapse

[@8avexp]

+XO945 Gaming The Skyway was completely rebuilt just a few years ago. That section from just past the state line to where the high span begins was originally all elevated above Indianapolis Blvd. The Toll Road was dedicated two months before I was born; I'm from South Bend and we used to take the Toll Road to Chicago A LOT!

[@xo945gaming2]

it rusted rebuilt in 2 years and its back to what it was a mess

[@MDCSWildcats86]

@Freewayjim The best approach is westbound on Kilpatrick taking the exit to southbound SH-74 (Lake HefnerParkway). It's not 635-E to US-75N, but closely dangerous to it.

[@Freewayjim]

@rickhh1 Yes indeed, it does come up on you rather abruptly.

[@PrettyToez07]

Jim, you had a similar video to this where the music was something hip and I can't find it at all. In it, you were cut off in traffic by another vehicle. I think you were driving towards Chicago as well.

[@Freewayjim]

Sorry, I'm drawing a blank there, all the Chicago area videos are in one playlist so that's where it would be if it's still up. kzbin.info/aero/PL036D8D8DE3EBC88D

[@LIRR175]

That bridge reminds me: you should do the Pulaski Skyway!

[@daRegionRat]

Great job, Jim! One comment on the statement that Gary's population decline from 175,000 to 80,000 was because of a decline of the steel industry or specifically NAFTA. Neither is true. Specifically the steel industry and the largest and original mill in the City of Gary produces more steel than ever before. Steel production takes less people to manufacture even lower previous tonnage totals.

[@EphemeralProductions]

Ah!! Some of the eastern end of I-90! I live on the western end, in Spokane WA. :):):)

[@Cody-hw3bt]

I live on the Dan Ryan Expressway :)

[@spicywater5967]

Baron 1999 So you actually live on the highway? You sleep on the highway? Just kidding. You live in the Chicago area.

[@rjmcallister1888]

Actually, I-90 ends in Boston.

[@EphemeralProductions]

As I said in the comment, i'm on the WESTERN end of I-90. I realize that 90 ends in Boston. lol

[@CAPRICES4LYFE]

this the shortcut into chitown less traffic than 94 and worth the toll

[@sc4portugal]

You drove very near to where a great great aunt or something like that of mine lives

[@Freewayjim]

Thanks, I use a Sony HDR-HC9, I list my gear in the closing credits.

[@ATP2555ify]

1:09 to the left the train poles remind me of the Amtrak poles

[@Freewayjim]

@willubhave2 Thanks!

[@Freewayjim]

@Omegasunrise Never been to Tulsa before, I'd probably film it and OKC if I'm out that way.

[@mgk920]

@dave11686 Remember that this is the upper midwest - here, you *NEVER* *EVER* refer to a highway that you must pay a direct toll to use as a 'freeway'. It's a 'tollway' or, if in Indiana, a 'toll road' ('Indiana Toll Road'). :-)

[@Freewayjim]

@dj20k Thanks, it's not the most exciting or interesting stretch of road you'll ever see.

[@CowboyBob531]

Wow! All that road construction looks just like Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas!

[@mbolden26]

I live in Memphis w.memphis just finnished construction bout a 3wks ago in memphis the i40/ 240 interchange will take another year and 1 half to complete

[@rjmcallister1888]

AHTD has been working on something on I-40/I-55 between the West Memphis interchanges and the Mississippi River since just after the invention of the internal combustion engine. Too bad TennDot never got I-40 done through central Memphis.

[@CowboyBob531]

Yeah, tell me about it! I've been living in West Memphis all of my life (55 years) and I've never seen the interstate system without barrels, barricades, etc.

[@Freewayjim]

@MDCSWildcats86 Cool, I did not know there was a 4-Stack anywhere in Oklahoma.

[@Freewayjim]

@prfsnlwannabe Huh, I did not know somebody covered "Torture", just as well, lol.

[@Freewayjim]

@eluko79 Oh my, of all places to get lost! thank you!

[@daRegionRat]

The type of steel made in the U.S. has changed. U.S. Steel Gary Works and the original and still by far largest mill in the City of Gary and the former U.S. Steel South Works in the South Chicago neighborhood on the Far South Side of the City of Chicago made all of the structural steel for the John Hancock Center in the Near North Side neighborhood and Sears Tower in the Loop neighborhood.

[@mungojerry311]

At highway speed? That's just amazing!

[@Freewayjim]

@LIRR175 I'd like to, hopefully the next time I'm up that way.

[@Chalupas45]

That area is very prone to dense fog.

[@EuropeanRoads]

what's up with the street light extravaganza at 2:10 ?

[@RicksTravelogue]

@djmario79 - I'm hoping that he catches one of the overpass oasis's during this Chicagoland run of videos.

[@Freewayjim]

I don't make them, the shields are from wikipedia and the big signs are taken from photographs.

[@MDCSWildcats86]

@Freewayjim If you do OKC, DO try to get the 4-stacker at Lake Hefner Parkway and the Kilpatrick Turnpike.

[@Freewayjim]

@eluko79 Is Gary anything like the KC West Bottoms? worth exploring?

[@Freewayjim]

@rickhh1 I did but decided not to use the footage, it was not good enough overall to make in to anything.

[@Freewayjim]

@Fanik10 Not that I'm aware of, what you see in the video is what I drove.

[@exit322]

To respond to your 2:05 or so comment - road ain't much fun to drive east of there, either. Though price-wise, their western 3 service plazas are about as good as you'll get from a toll road service plaza.

[@willubhave2]

Nice Lil Toll, Jim

[@Freewayjim]

@jcrockett001 Thanks for the info, sorry, this is the only Indiana video I did.

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

4:19 That sign is out of date.

[@ashiateve]

SALUDOS DESDE MEXICO

[@RicksTravelogue]

A McDonald's right in the median just before the toll booths? Looks like that could be an accident hazard the way the turnoffs are short.

[@oamost]

Good! As it always!

[@KokoEd]

I've done this drive often going to robotics competitions in the area. My friends who live in the Chicago area strongly advise me from ever driving through Chicago via i-90 at ANY time due to traffic. 294 is a better bet.

[@filip-i-9156]

Great video.

[@Freewayjim]

Thank you!

[@JonnyD4667]

What kind of camera do you use? I'm from Vermont and we actually went that way a month before you and the roads were AWFUL when it came to construction. Love the song!

[@sokalove42]

Omg this construction isn't ever going to be done!

[@Fanik10]

Freeway Jim. Did you drive past the Jackson's house?

[@GLOPLUG666]

question?...what is the intro flute song the instrumental in the beginning of your video.... i have been looking for it for ever. thank you in advance... bz

[@Jesuis-qe8ql]

la canción se llama "the Jackson - it torture"

[@Freewayjim]

I take them along the way.

[@atlan61]

@FreewayTitan well from what I remember it used to run on stell manufacturing but was declining in the 60's then nafta came in and killed it,or what was left due to it being cheaper to make things in mexico or overseas. However that was just part of it other factors were at play of course "racial diversity", crime, etc, etc.

[@Freewayjim]

@ScrewdUPClickV2 Thanks bro!

[@daRegionRat]

The 175,000 population includes a working class white area annexed into the City of Gary in 1976. Otherwise the City would have already shown a decline from 1970 two years after Gary's first black mayor was elected. The largest reason Gary has had so high of a population decline is due to white flight due to the rising black population. Gary has has blacks residing as the mills heavily recruited from the South both black and white. But has never had good race relations.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

I heard the consortium that bought the toll road went bust and the highway reverted to the state. Is that true?

[@jcrockett001]

That lease that your referring to is called 'Major Moves'. It accelerated many construction projects around the state. Good vid, are you planning on doing any more from Indiana?

[@RicksTravelogue]

Yeah, but it's a little easier getting in and out of them than it is here. This looks like an accident waiting to happen.

[@daRegionRat]

Blacks and even Southern whites never integrated into the "melting pot" culture that makes up my native Calumet Region stretching from Far South Side neighborhood like South Chicago and around the southern shores of Lake Michigan. Still these people are in identifiable communities that all other ethic groups in "da Region" avoid. More recently the exodus from Gary had been black as the lower school performance and much higher crime reached a tipping point.

[@RicksTravelogue]

I thought you just screengrabbed it from your video once you were in post-production.

[@Jesuis-qe8ql]

este video me gusta mucho y mas la canción de Michael Jackson

[@RicksTravelogue]

@Freewayjim - A single landmark need not make a whole video. Good directoring skills. ;)

[@daRegionRat]

Back before another "rat", Frank Sinatra, had a concert in Gary to help smooth relations, blacks have been singled out. First the mill owners Carnegie-Illinois today's United States Steel, hired from many ethic backgrounds to break up solidarity among the workers so that they would not form unions. This tactic was used nearby including the Stockyards and other mills including Republic Steel in the South Deering neighborhood on the Far South Side of Chicago where workers died to unionize.

[@mungojerry311]

How do u make the highway signs?

[@mungojerry311]

Just where do u get these photographs?

[@johnwauters8576]

I put steel in

[@thevultrantransituniverse1487]

Gary is a sad looking town.

[@bonk4769]

It is extremely. Almost half or more of the original buildings in downtown have been demolished.

[@KokoEd]

Gary is Silent Hill.

[@Jesuis-qe8ql]

hola que pasa saludos desde mexico

[@dave11686]

@mgk920 Ok, tollway. This channel though is "Freeway"Jim :-P