Chicago to McPherson KS on 1.2.18

[Maxy]

Hi,

Planning to travel from Chicago to McPherson on the 2nd January, staying on the interstates, I-55S and I-72W to Hannibal, I-35S in Cameron, to Emporia to McPherson.

Query does anyone think there might be a problem with snow or roads closed because of snow?? Or is that region relatively free of road closures during early January??

Also anyone know any must do take away restaurants along the way??

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

You're talking about a winter trip, so you've certainly got the chance of seeing snow or ice. There's almost no place in the country that's immune from the seeing snow and ice at this time of year (just look at how the deep south was hit with a winter storm this weekend!) It generally would take a rather extreme storm before they will close the interstates, but you'll have to keep an eye on the forecasts.

Keep in mind, US-36 across Missouri isn't quite Interstate quality - still a good road, but it might be a slight step down in terms of priority when it comes to road clearing. In any case, you should be open to using I-80 to Des Moines and then cutting south or going all the way down to St. Louis before turning west, based on what the weather tells you. The couple hundred mile difference between I-80, I-72/US-36, and I-70 could be the difference between seeing snow and ice and seeing clear conditions.

You're looking at a trip that's more than 700 miles - which is more than we generally recommend in a day, and more than professional drivers are allowed to do. As a one day sprint, you can probably pull this off safely, but you're going to need plenty of rest before you leave and you'll need perfect road conditions on the day of your trip. You should be prepared to add an overnight stop if you see any kind of weather issue. You're already looking at 13-14 hours on the road (even if online maps claim you can do this in 10-11), adding any extra time to that - much less the extra stress of driving in snow and ice, and fatigue will make it impossible to safely operate a motor vehicle.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You most certainly will have problems driving from Chicago to McPherson on January 2nd, but winter weather only ranks about third on the list. First and foremost, it's 700 miles! That's nearly 20% farther than professional long-haul truckers are allowed to drive by law due to the deterioration of driving skills with fatigue (similar to drunken driving) and the rate at which accidents occur with such diminished capacity. Secondly, you'd need to be on the road for at least three and a half hours in total darkness at that time of year if you try to do this in a single 'day'. Just those two facts alone are a recipe for disaster. Any weather or construction related delays just compound problems you already have. You need to plan an overnight stop in order to make this trip safely.

AZBuck

[glc]

The route you have chosen is the fastest route, but as Buck and Michael have said, do not try to do this in 1 day. I doubt you will encounter any closed roads, but there's a good chance you may have to deal with snow and ice, which makes it even more risky to try to do this in one day. PLAN on at least one overnight stop, more if you have to wait out a storm.

[Maxy]

The route you have chosen is the fastest route, but as Buck and Michael have said, do not try to do this in 1 day. I doubt you will encounter any closed roads, but there's a good chance you may have to deal with snow and ice, which makes it even more risky to try to do this in one day. PLAN on at least one overnight stop, more if you have to wait out a storm.

Thanks everyone as I had no clue with the weather. I am from Hobart, Tasmania so clueless with the weather. I was going to do it in one run but on the above info will look to stay overnight about 500 miles along. Driving because I had to travel on the 2nd which is apparently a real busy day at the airports.

[DonnaR57]

If this were my trip, I'd stay on the southwest side of Kansas City (perhaps Olathe), then go into McPherson the next day. That would be about 530 miles (depending on where you start in Chicago....O'Hare?), then another 170 miles the next day. Another thought would be to stay in Cameron, MO (460 mi) overnight, and depart the next morning for another 240 mile drive. You could stop on the northeast side of Kansas City for breakfast if the traffic is bad (that's what hubby and I do when we leave mid-MO in the early morning hours). If it has snowed or sleeted the night before, have a sleep-in and wait for the salt trucks (or whatever they're using these days) to prep the roads for you.


Donna

[Maxy]

Hi,

My wish would be to have a GPS unit available for download to iPhone which ALSO provided alerts for road closure due to snow or ice etc. I am advised that Tom Tom drive only does a 50mile radius. I am travelling from Chicago to Kansas and have three route options and hope to go on the one with the least traffic & holdups.

I was wondering if there was any consensus as to which is the easiest to use.

While I am here is there any site which shows closures of interstate highways?

Cheers
Many

Please keep all posts about the same trip in a single place. Thanks - Mod.

[glc]

Safetravelusa.com has links to each state's road conditions site.

I don't know about an iPhone but I use Google Maps on my Android, it shows reasonably up to date traffic issues.

[Midwest Michael]

You're kind of talking about 2 different things.

1 - weather related closures. First, it takes a pretty massive storm before they'll close an interstate, particularly in the low elevation areas where you'll be traveling. However, closures really aren't the only thing you need to worry about - it's far more likely that you'd be seeing enough snow/ice where it wouldn't be wise to continue traveling, even though the highways are still "open." In any case, you're far better off paying attention to the weather forecasts than hoping a GPS will tell you if a road is closed. Weather, for the most part, is something you should also be able to get a pretty good idea of before you on even on the road/as you are selecting your route to start. You won't know exactly where and when the bad weather will hit, but forecasts just before you leave should tell you which areas - if any - are most likely to be seeing bad weather.

2 Traffic - First, you're pretty unlikely to see much in the way of significant traffic issues. Really the only places that are likely to be a problem at all are St. Louis and Kansas City - and even there, particularly while using the appropriate bypasses, your odds aren't that high. In any case, you don't really need more than about a 50 mile alert for traffic, because most of the time traffic related backups will change pretty significantly over the hour from when you first might get an alert until you actually arrive there.