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We are still in the process of looking at moving to Charlotte. If things work out, we will want to live in Dilworth or Myers Park. My wife is looking at a job in Davidson, but is worried about the commute. Is this manageable? I know it's against traffic, but it still seems like a hike. Has anyone here experienced this commute? We are not interested in spending a lots of time in the car. We considered looking at living in Davidson, but thought my commute to Charlotte would be a deal breaker. What do you guys think?
We are still in the process of looking at moving to Charlotte. If things work out, we will want to live in Dilworth or Myers Park. My wife is looking at a job in Davidson, but is worried about the commute. Is this manageable? I know it's against traffic, but it still seems like a hike. Has anyone here experienced this commute? We are not interested in spending a lots of time in the car. We considered looking at living in Davidson, but thought my commute to Charlotte would be a deal breaker. What do you guys think?
It's a long drive, made worse by the traffic. It's really the worse traffic in the city from between Huntersville to Mooresville. You might have less traffic going north on 77 in the morning, but both sides of 77 pretty much grind to a halt between 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays (and anytime there is an accident).
If you are working relatively standard hours near the uptown Charlotte area, I would recommend living in Davidson and taking the express bus (77X) for your commute.
There really isn't such a thing as a reverse commute on I-77 N. anymore. There are a lot of people heading from Charlotte to work in Iredell County and N. Meck. I-77 is badly overloaded N. of Exit 23 and it might be years before it's addressed. The commute won't be an easy one from Dilworth or Myers Park. During school months you should count on it taking up to an hour each way. It will be a little easier in the summer. It's not getting any better anytime soon.
There is a proposed commuter rail line from a yet unbuilt train station on Graham St. in downtown CLT to Davidson and possibly points further north. The plan unfortunately does not have funding and prospects for it are slim.
I think an hour is really stretching it. A commute from Davidson to Charlotte will be easier than a commute from Charlotte to Davidson, but it is also worth discussing who you guys would rather have make the longer commute if you haven't already. Yes there is some traffic going south on 77 in the evenings, but in my experience it usually eases up after exit 28.
The traffic heading up I-77 NB is pretty free flowing in the morning, but you would need to add the surface street time of Dilworth/MP to the highway travel time. I would estimate that a typical day would take about 25 min of highway time. The surface street time getting to the highway I would estimate adds 10-15 minutes because of stoplights and traffic. Davidson (assume exit 30) to Charlotte in the AM is going to be a minimum of 45 minutes, get really lucky and it will be 25, but those lucky days are fading it seems. I scoot out of the office no later than 4:30 and usually get to exit 25 in 25 minutes, so add 7-8 minutes. Without flexibility of telecommuting or flex hours, I definitely think the North to South commute is more time consuming. I also would never pay city per square foot prices or city taxes for that matter... why buy a tiny bungalow for half a million, pay $5,000+ in annual property taxes, when you can get 3 times more for the money in the suburbs, but as they say different strokes, different folks.
You'll be retired by the time I-485 is finished. As for the OP, split the difference and live in Huntersville.
2015 isn't that far off. But I don't think 485 will do much to lessen traffic on 77 in its worst spots. If anything, it might hurt businesses on Harris Blvd.
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