Dallas to Commerce, TX commute (Austin, Plano: rent, condo, university)

[davis30]

I have been offered a great job at Texas A&M-Commerce and I would like to live in Downtown Dallas. Is that crazy? I am 30 and single and the thought of living in Rockwall/Rowlett is depressing to me.

Can anyone offer advice on A) what the estimated commute time from downtown Dallas to Commerce would be, and B) if a commute that long would become impossible after a while?

There is a possibility that I could work a flex schedule and only commute four days a week. And from my one driving experience to Commerce I found that traffic lightened significantly after passing Rockwall.

[hamiltonpl]

I don't know anyone who has done that before. So, yes, it does sound a little crazy! However, I admire you for wanting to live in Downtown Dallas and share your pain that living in the suburbs would be depressing. Whatever GoogleMaps tells you is usually a decent estimate.

[jennifw]

That is far! I would think you would add 3 hours a day to your commute (1.5 each way). That is a lot of time, not to count the excessive miles you would be putting on your vehicle.

Good luck.

[Big G]

Yeah, that would be completely nuts. Not that people don't do it, though. My neighbor commutes from Paris, TX to Plano twice a week.

If I were you, though, I'd consider biting the bullet, embracing the area, and just living in Commerce or Greenville. That's kinda your role as an employee of the local college - help keep the hometown afloat. Come into the city on the weekends and live it up then.

[codytravers]

I had a professor in Waco that would commute from Austin a few times a week. I think if you could work the flex schedule and limit your time on campus to 4 days a week, you would be able to enjoy living in Dallas.

[FalconheadWest]

That commute is unrealistic unless you could do a flex schedule of twice a week. You would never have extra time to enjoy the living of downtown Dallas. You could live in Commerce and commute to Dallas for weekend visits to the restaurants and bars if that's the scene you're looking for. Even going just to Rowlett or Rockwall wouldn't make sense to me. THat's still an hour-ish each way.

[etjaipleure]

Four days a week? Wow. Well what hours because I can tell you from Commerce to Dallas, with very little traffic, is probably over an hr drive. Anytime from 6-9 in the morning, stand still traffice, same for 4-7 at night. Rockwall is actually a very nice town but still, that would be pretty far. My parents lived in Greenville (outside Rockwall) and I worked in Quinlan and I had friends who would drive to Quinlan from Commerce and I couldn't believe that did that! That's at least a 40 minute drive. That sounds nuts. It would probably take your hours to get home...2-3. How badly do you really want to live in Downtown anyway? And gas and rent and mileage and wear and tear on your car? I don't know, I'd suck it up and move to Greenville, Commerce, or Royse City. All these cities are very near Dallas and you could still go to do things in downtown and you would actually have TIME to do these things. With all that commuting, you probably wouldn't have time or money.

[dallas90210]

I would not even consider it.

I have family who live out there in Commerce, and it is a LONG way from Dallas. If you have a Kia Rio that gets 50mpg - I still would not do it. Driving 12-18 hours a week is not fun!

Rockwall is a beautiful city. And Greenville is nice too - just a little more country.

[rantanamo]

I do this every week as a grad student from East Dallas. I imagine its a little quicker from downtown since access to freeways is better. Its 1 hr each way. If you're involved with grad students, you'll find that lots of them make this drive. Its an easy, stress free drive. I was spending that same hour going across LBJ in traffic and it was much worse than this.

[k_s]

One of my friends owns a condo in Dallas and works in Greenville. He rarely uses the condo because he always ends up staying in Greenville or Commerce.

Aside from the traffic, what happens when/if you have to stay late to help with a university function? Could you see yourself driving through the country at, say, 9pm after a long day's work?

As others have said, Greenville and Commerce aren't terrible places. Unless you can work out some kind of flex schedule, it wouldn't make sense to make that commute.