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It is about 3 hours with traffic. With that said Hampton Roads is within an 8 hour drive of several major cities along the east coast. You can drive as far northwest as Cleveland, northeast as NYC and south as Atlanta in around 8 hours or less. It might not be a huge selling point for you but it is for many.
This is simply not true. I take the drive about 3 times a year. RICHMOND to DC is basically 3 hours in traffic, these days.
I will not argue that having lots of cities within an 8 hour drive is a plus, I don't think it's meaningful enough to warrant living in a lesser city. Anything more than 2 hours severely limits the number of times most people are willing to take a drive.
If the only thing you are after is beaches, then I would say Tampa Bay. Tampa also has more big city amenities immediately around it. But, Hampton Roads is likely cheaper, closer to DC which is more dynamic as an overall city in terms of offerings than anything in FL, and also reasonable day/weekend trip distance from 4,000 ft. peaks. Also, traffic probably isn't quite as bad there, and some of those coastal VA/MD towns offer an ambiance/charm that isn't quite found in many Coastal towns in FL.
Right, you're comparing VA - Mid Atlantic ambiance with FL(subtropical-tropical)? Really?
DC offers more in terms of jobs due to gov presence but it's a rat race. TB is more laid back, has better quality of life overall and the area has more natural beauty.
This is simply not true. I take the drive about 3 times a year. RICHMOND to DC is basically 3 hours in traffic, these days.
I will not argue that having lots of cities within an 8 hour drive is a plus, I don't think it's meaningful enough to warrant living in a lesser city. Anything more than 2 hours severely limits the number of times most people are willing to take a drive.
I drive from Chesapeake to DC twice a week and I make it within 3 hours. Chesapeake is in Hampton Roads whereas Richmond is not.
I drive from Chesapeake to DC twice a week and I make it within 3 hours. Chesapeake is in Hampton Roads whereas Richmond is not.
I take the ride from Hampton, which is in Hampton Roads, as well. It's the drive from my wife's parents house, to my wife's sister's house. I do not believe you make that drive in three hours. Sorry.
I take the ride from Hampton, which is in Hampton Roads, as well. It's the drive from my wife's parents house, to my wife's sister's house. I do not believe you make that drive in three hours. Sorry.
Sorry you don't believe me but it is true. I'm leaving the Western Branch area of Chesapeake. I go to D.C. twice a week to visit my granddaughter who attends Howard and my brother who lives in Fort Washington and sister who lives in Clinton. The last 40 years of my life has been living or traveling between the D.C. area and Hampton Roads. D.C. is approximately 189 miles from my house.
DC is about an hour and 45 minutes from Richmond (downtown to downtown). I can see making it to DC from HR in about three hours.
Smithfield, Mathews, Urbana, Cape Charles, Yorktown...and since another poster said town within a few hours of HR... Annapolis, Alexandria, Middleburg, Culpepper, Saint Marys, New Bern...
DC offers more in terms of jobs due to gov presence but it's a rat race. TB is more laid back, has better quality of life overall and the area has more natural beauty.
Well I suppose it's true that it's a different type of ambiance, but while that photo you posted from the air looks incredible, I personally feel there's something to be said for the historic town along the coastline type thing. Florida certainly wins the whole beach (itself) thing, but if there wasn't something special about places like Coastal VA/MD, NJ, MA, MN, etc., people wouldn't romanticize them the way they do.
As for the DC comment, I could see where someone would like TB better due to the slower pace, cheaper, beaches etc. But DC offers many more things than just jobs as an alpha city in terms of culture/history/shopping/transit/urbanity/etc that I think in fairness, TB can't offer, at least on the scale that DC can. It's all in what you're after.
As for the natural beauty comment, I think that again depends on what you're after. Many people like a tropical landscape better, but I know personally that many people love the changing seasons and the feel of a deciduous forest. Also, perhaps more of a determining factor than proximity to cities for some would be proximity to terrain. While I'm not that aware of Hampton Roads and it's offerings, the fact that I could take a weekend whenever I wanted there, and just drive 3 hours and be at some of the most breathtaking spots in the Shenandoah's is a BIG selling point for me, moreso than having DC and it's cultural attractions/streetscape/etc. would be, though that also is a plus.
I have a very specific question. Although these two areas are climactically and culturally different, I'm curious about the similarity in makeup as multi-nodal regions...
1) What is Tampa's relationship like with the rest of the region, and what does the rest of the region think about Tampa?
2) What does Tampa offer as the anchor city of a large region that Norfolk can learn from or maybe aspire to? What is in Tampa that isn't in Norfolk in terms of amenities?
2) What does Tampa offer as the anchor city of a large region that Norfolk can learn from or maybe aspire to? What is in Tampa that isn't in Norfolk in terms of amenities?
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