East Columbia & commuting to Florence? (Clemson, Hartsville: subdivisions, living, shop)

[pinkpocketbooks]

How doable is a daily commute to Forence? My husband is looking at a job there, but I REALLY don't want to live IN Florence. I'm not crazy about it and would like to be living closer to a city. We're coming from Charlotte and I think Columbia would be a little more my style.

Are there any nice places on the east side of Columbia that would give my husband a not so crappy commute?

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by pinkpocketbooks

How doable is a daily commute to Forence? My husband is looking at a job there, but I REALLY don't want to live IN Florence. I'm not crazy about it and would like to be living closer to a city. We're coming from Charlotte and I think Columbia would be a little more my style.

Are there any nice places on the east side of Columbia that would give my husband a not so crappy commute?

You could live in NE Columbia headed towards Camden, but you'd still be about an hour or so from Florence, not much else in the middle of the two.

[Columbiadata]

Elgin has some nice subdivisions. I have to drive to Florence for work a couple of times per month from downtown Columbia. It's a good ways out to get to Elgin, but then it's a long haul through nothing but farmland the rest of the way to Florence. If your husband likes books on tape or NPR, or the radio in general, and if he doesn't tend to get real drowsy on monotonous drives, I guess it wouldn't be that bad, except for his gas bill. I get reimbursed for gas and wear and tear.

[jlboney]

Northeast Columbia, Elgin, Lugoff, and Camden will all be closer to Florence. Camden and Lugoff are just outside Northeast Columbia and are smaller towns. Elgin is on the edge of Northeast Columbia and a little closer to the shopping and dinning here. Northeast Columbia itself has a lot going on and is within 20 minute to downtown Columbia depending on traffic and time of day.

[Joe the Photog]

Florence would be about 75 to 80 iles from NE Columbia, maybe a little closer if you're on Clemson Road on I-20. That's a lot of miles on car. Say he's 75 miles from work. He might could get there in an hour and fifteen minutes depending on traffic. That's two and a half hours drive time every day, 150 miles on the car every day. I'd ask him to reconsider the job or either if I were you, I would reconsider wanting to live in Colubia and having him drive back and forth.

On the other hand, if you'd like a small town, consider Hartsville. He'd be close to his job and you wouldn't be that far from Columbia, Charlotte or the beach for a day out here and there.