<p>I live in the western suburbs and drove down for the UIUC tour a couple of years ago via a “back route” using I55 (Stevenson) and Il Hwy 47. That second road is just two lanes at times but not busy and makes a nice alternative to 294 (Tristate) and I57 (the “recommended” route). We got that alternate route from a friend whose son went to UIUC and drove it all the time. It can be done in well under 3 hours. The northern suburbs could add up to an hour or more depending on the time of day. There’s a bus every weekend from UIUC to a local shopping center but I don’t know if your son would be able to use it.</p>
<p>Our town is on the commuter train route and the express trains take 22 minutes to the Loop; locals more like 40 minutes. If you work right in the loop you can generally walk to any office from the train station. Driving? Varies considerably. It can take as little as 25 minutes or as long as 1 1/2 hours. I would definitely take the train on weekdays but we drive into the city on weekends frequently for dinner etc. DH still gets his hair cut in the city!</p>
<p>FYI the northern suburbs are closer to the Cubs and the western suburbs are closer to the Sox, so that might affect your choice!</p>
<p>If you’re looking to live further out in the boonies (I learned them as burbs, superburbs, boonies, superboonies), I’ve read that Plainfield is becoming a very popular area but I don’t know the commute times.</p>
<p>Between our highly rated schools and the commuter location, prices are certainly inflated but coming from the NY suburbs you probably wouldn’t get sticker shock. Our high school is possibly high pressured due to the ambitious parents but our son was in the top 5% and I never got that feeling. The teacher and counselors were great. I don’t know about how they work with ADHD students but do know there’s a very active group of parents at the elementary school level in that area so presume it carries forth to higher grades. If you PM me I can send you more details.</p>
<p>In the meantime here’s the link to our commuter trains: [Metra</a> - Metra System Map](<a href=“http://metrarail.com/System_map/index.html]Metra”>http://metrarail.com/System_map/index.html) ; clicking on any station will take you to the schedule.</p>