Moving to Cincinnati - Questions about Traffic (Kent, Mason: houses, safe area)

[Arastiroth]

Hello,

My wife and I will be moving to Cincinnati soon, and we have narrowed our housing choices down to two locations: Fort Wright and Fort Thomas. We have no kids, so school district isn't an issue; we're just looking for a safe area with a reasonable commute (ideally no more than 30 minutes). She will be working near the VA Hospital in Cincinnati, so we're trying to figure out what the commute times would look for her. She would likely be starting work at 8 AM and leaving around 4:30 PM. When we look at Google Maps, it shows the commute each way for Fort Thomas as about 15 - 20 minutes during rush hour, but the Fort Wright commute coming home in the evening shows 24 to 50 minutes.

The Fort Thomas commute is obviously better, but we do like the Fort Wright house more. Our concern, however, is the large range in commute time. We're not sure if it is typically at the higher end, or if that is more of an abnormality. While a half hour commute is fine, doing close to an hour regularly would be pretty tough on her. Unfortunately, we won't have a chance to test the commute ourselves before making a decision, so any feedback or experience would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[SalamanderSmile]

Why move to KY? Is your job in KY? I am not sure your price point but Wyoming, Clifton and Norwood all have nice houses with reasonable commutes to the VA.

I would do Ft.Thomas over Ft.Wright as the Ft.Wright commute has you going over the "bridge that needs to be replaced" which will happen eventually and screw everything up for any bridge commutes.

I do not think the commute would ever be an hour but the time consuming part of any commute is actually getting out of the parking garage and TO the highway. Once the MLK exit/entrance to I71 opens (they must be close to being finished but I don't know) your wife's commute to Ft.Thomas should be a breeze as she can get right on 71 at the end of her street instead of going down Reading Rd.

[Fae31]

Fort Wright and Fort Thomas are not Cincinnati or even in Ohio, they are in Kentucky. As far as the traffic goes its a nightmare, especially if you have to cross the bridge either way and especially at rush hour times. Morning rush hour begins 6:00 am and last until 10:00am, evening rush hour starts about 3:00pm and last until about 7:00 pm give or take an hour either way and dependant upon contruction, events, etc. Do not trust google maps timing, it is way off.

[SalamanderSmile]

Originally Posted by Fae31

Fort Wright and Fort Thomas are not Cincinnati or even in Ohio, they are in Kentucky. As far as the traffic goes its a nightmare, especially if you have to cross the bridge either way and especially at rush hour times. Morning rush hour begins 6:00 am and last until 10:00am, evening rush hour starts about 3:00pm and last until about 7:00 pm give or take an hour either way and dependant upon contruction, events, etc. Do not trust google maps timing, it is way off.

This is totally not true, barring an accident or construction traffic is really not a deal. Evening "rush" hour doesn't even start noticeably until 5. Unless we are talking about the forever-under-construction I75 N through Cincinnati, which is just bad always and should be avoided.

[cincydave8]

Fort Thomas is a better commute. 471 gets crowded and slows down to speeds of about 30mph or less in the mornings but if you're getting on at Memorial Pkwy or Grand Ave you only have 3 to 4 miles to go to get to the bridge. For now she'd want to take the Reading Road or Liberty Street exits, but soon the Taft Exit further up on 71 will be perfect for her.

Fort Wright would probably be twice as long. There's just a ton more traffic on 71/75 plus trucks.

[Fae31]

Originally Posted by SalamanderSmile

This is totally not true, barring an accident or construction traffic is really not a deal. Evening "rush" hour doesn't even start noticeably until 5. Unless we are talking about the forever-under-construction I75 N through Cincinnati, which is just bad always and should be avoided.

I don't know what part of Cincinnati you travel to and from every day, but if your opinion is that traffic is not that bad than to each his own. I travelled all the way from Cincinnati to Florence and back again for over a year not to mention all of the driving I do now for work through Clifton, Downtown Cincinnati, Newport Ky, Florence Ky, Mason Oh, Westchester Oh, and I'm on the west side of Cincinnati, and traffic, especially during those times, and most especially when school is in, is awful. God forbid once again any construction is occurring.

However the best way for them to judge the traffic for themselves will be for them to get out and actually drive in it.

[home4frog]

We live in NKY. My husband works at Children's. When house-hunting, we only wanted something off of I-471, so my husband's commute wouldn't be more than 30 minutes. We are at Exit 1. So, from Exit 3 or 4, your wife's commute will be great. We usually take Liberty and go up Gilbert, which is a lower speed limit but a lot less congested than Reading or Burnet. You will also learn to use the bridges onto Newport to get over the river if 471 is backed up for some reason. If your wife worked downtown, then Ft Wright would be a better option than for the hospital area. But making your way north on I-75 any time of day is a nightmare. We've lived here a decade now. It seems like maybe the work on 75 will be finished someday. But, however far into the future, that's anybody's guess. Once you get here, you will see that to the native's, be they Ohioans or Kentuckians, the metaphysical barrier of the river is much bigger in their minds. For practical purposes, safety and traffic and budgets, you are picking a great place to live.

[CT1983]

I also work at the VA but live in warren county (I wouldn't live in Ky either) the guy above is right traffic is a nightmare during rush hour. it's much worse when school starts. if I were you I would live in Anderson, Hyde park, Norwood, mt lookout or Oakley