He's just offering an alternate route that may reduce travel time. Expressway traffic is also slow and heavy on Sunday evenings when Chicagoans return home from Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Traffic downtown grinds to a halt during off-peak traffic hours when bridges along the Chicago River are raised to accommodate pleasure boats and commercial barges. But because there are 50 city-owned movable bridges, it's tough to avoid them. Weather also affects travel time.
Good weather means more traffic and more road construction.
Fewer drivers venture out during snow storms but even a small amount of any precipitation can double normal trip times. The best bet for driving to and from northern Indiana is the Chicago Skyway toll bridge. Downtown drivers in the know use Lower Wacker and Lower Michigan to avoid Loop congestion. This is the quickest westbound route from Columbus Drive in the Streeterville neighborhood to the Eisenhower Expressway in the Loop's southwest corner. Lower Michigan goes north from Lower Wacker past the Billy Goat Tavern to Grand Avenue.