Average Commute Time from Westside to Eastside

[gouldnm]

Originally Posted by madamesosostris

@TheProf thank you so much for your suggestion regarding E 55th! You have been so helpful.

@gouldnm I'm sure D.C does have challenging traffic. I lived in Los Angeles for nearly a decade, so I am trying to avoid it here as much as I can. For me, I have always felt that a traffic jam can feel really similar no matter what city I am in.

@madameosostris:
If you've lived in LA then you know what heavy traffic is. I've had a lot of travel to Southern Ca.--not fun!

One key difference, though, is that rush hour on the coasts lasts a lot longer than rush hour in most Midwestern cities. In D.C. the roads are pretty much impassable between 3:00 and 7:00 P.M. As long as you have some flexibility in your schedule, you should be fine. But even during rush hour, it's never taken us more than a half hour to get from Beechwood, which is further East than Shaker Heights, to downtown.

The other thing is that what people consider an unacceptable commute is very different in the Midwest than it is on the coasts. When I first moved to the East Coast from Ohio, I was floored to learn that most people thought nothing of an hour long commute. When I lived in Ohio, anything longer than a half hour commute was considered long.

I don't know if you've lived in the Midwest before, but let's just say that people in the Midwest have a very different sense of time and space than people on the coasts. When this Midwestern native originally moved to the East Coast, that was one of the hardest adjustments I had to make.

Hope this helps!

[OhioNative]

Originally Posted by gouldnm

As a person who lives near Washington, D.C., I'm finding this discussion highly amusing. You people have no idea what heavy traffic is!

I also find it laughable that people worry about the snow. If D.C gets 2 inches the whole city, including the federal government, completely shuts down. Last time I visited Cleveland, they got 6 inches of snow, and it was business as usual. Nobody even commented on it.

LMAO!

Yeah, when we visit our family NE Ohio we get a kick out of the traffic reports and what the news anchors consider "heavy traffic." I always joke that 2am traffic in Atlanta is worse than Cleveland's rush hour!