cell service, schools and driving in albemarle county (Virginia Beach, Forest: neighborhoods, high schools)

[BomTek]

i will be moving to the charlottesville area in the spring. i will be working near the airport and my wife will be working at a hospital in charlottesville. i was hoping to find out about cell phone coverage and some advice on high schools and traffic.

1. we currently have verizon but would like to switch to sprint. how are these two out there?

2. my son will be starting high school next fall so any advice on school choice would be great. we're looking at albemarle high right now since we prefer to live somewhere between the airport and c'ville.

3. finally, how is the traffic out there? we're from virginia beach and it's pretty miserable. any relief in sight? i would love to live in crozet so i could send my son to West Albemarle High, but it seems like it would be a pretty long commute to the airport area for me. worth it? other suggestions?

[emsman]

I have Sprint and have never had a problem anywhere in the state, you get dropped sometimes at the base of mountains but in cities it works fine. Don't know much about the schools. The commute to the airport area for you won't be bad from Crozet, the morning traffic is going south on US29 from that area, going north in the morning is easy except for the 20 or so traffic lights but they are timed with the speed limit so if you hit the first one right you catch almost all of them. On average it will take 30 minutes to get to the airport area.

[BomTek]

Thanks for your response! I'm surprised it would only take a half hour to get to the airport from Crozet! Is that during morning rush hour? If so, that would be awesome!

[Green Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by BomTek

Thanks for your response! I'm surprised it would only take a half hour to get to the airport from Crozet! Is that during morning rush hour? If so, that would be awesome!

I haven't driven it, but it sounds optimistic. True, you're travelling against traffic on 29, but you'd be WITH the flow of traffic heading from Crozet towards town, and lots of folks commute from that area.

[maynardbp]

30 minutes sounds about right..school information are available online..Monticello High Schools is great as well.

[cville35]

My 2 cents: consider Forest Lakes and/or Hollymead as a place to live. It's perfect for you and your wife's drive to the hospital wouldn't be too bad. Driving west out of Cville on 250 to Crozet can be a PITA. I think I once heard someone call it the "Crozet Crawl"....there's good reason that title came about. Still, I suppose it all depends on what you're looking for and where in Crozet you live (getting there using I-64 is possible).

Having lived in Virginia Beach and Northern Virginia, I can say with confidence you have nothing to worry about in terms of "traffic". Compared to those two places, this place is a dream. Sure, you get knots (e.g., where 29 meets the 250 bypass), but overall, it's a cake walk. And there's plenty of back roads if you learn them.

I have Verizon; when i moved here a few years ago, they were up & coming. But now they're everywhere and have never had a problem. Stick with them and save yourself the transition hassle.

Can't comment about the High School, but your chances for a good experience are greater in Albemarle than in the surrounding counties (speaking very generally of course). Good luck!

[BomTek]

Thank you all for your input. We have been looking more and more at the area just north of C'ville and up around Hollymead. Lots of newer neighborhoods and we like the academic structure and academy programs offered at Albemarle High. Hope everybody is having a great holiday season!