Commute--Midlothian to Downtown Dallas (Plano, Richardson: houses, buying, costs)

[MJ1996]

Is traffic lighter heading north vs south (Plano, Richardson, etc) to downtown? How long would it take to get from Midlothian to downtown Dallas during rush hour? It is approximately 29-32 miles. Thanks in advance.

[ChristieP]

Traffic heading INTO downtown Dallas, regardless of direction, is usually heavier than traffic heading AWAY from downtown. With all of the growth in the southern areas, traffic from these places into Dallas is VERY heavy.

The only places I have seen lighter traffic heading into downtown Dallas is from 114. More people head north/west to work in Las COlinas and at DFW than south/east into Dallas.

The good thing about the Plano/Richardson area would be that DART light rail would be an alternative. LOTS of people from these areas park at the stations and ride the train. Consider it only costs $2-4 a day to ride the train, and parking in a garage downtown is about $10 a day, plus gas!

[FarNorthDallas]

I had co-workers coming from every direction when I worked near SMU. The folks coming from Midlothian, Waxahachie and Ennis had a faster commute than those coming in from Collin and Denton County even though the distance was further. It was still a long haul and took an hour from those southern places, but Collin County was *over* an hour.

There is a train coming from the south, too. Sometimes the southern people took it, but usually not. They said it took too long to drive to the end of the line and get on the train and then they had to go through downtown and on into North Dallas. Maybe getting off at a downtown stop would make it worthwhile.

So, I would say an hour each way, but before buying a place, I would do test runs in both directions during rush hour from houses you are interested in.