I did the drive 7 times, the two times I took the US route it actually took longer, I tried to time it to get threw Chicago early morning and both times I got screwed by problems, once was a 20 car pile-up in Minneapolis and another was an apparently a shooting outside of Gary Indiana at a toll booth
Chicago and even Minneapolis can be absolute nightmares to get threw if you hit them at the wrong time.
On paper the US route is faster and shorter but I said to myself.."never again" I actually liked the northern route drive better anyway,plan the Winnipeg to Sault st Marie drive at night (have a radar detector and animal whistles) and you can fly with very little traffic.
I did Toronto to Calgary in 37 hours by myself once
