Driving Shortcuts in Dallas (Houston, Fort Worth: apartments, university, live)

[Walter Benjamin]

Anyone who spends time commuting in a car must have a list of the best ways to get from A to B. Often these are not what a map or GPS would tell you.

At the risk of letting the cat out of the bag, what are the best driving shortcuts in Dallas that you're willing to share?

These are mine:

• I-30 is often backed up through downtown, so a good alternative is Elm St (west) or Commerce St (east) going through the canyons and Deep Ellum. Canton is a lesser-known alternative to Commerce.

• The ramp from 75 south to 30 west is always backed up, all day. If you need to get to 30 west, take Woodall, or if that's slow, exit 75 at Live Oak, take Elm west through downtown, then get back on 35E going south.

• To get from 75 to the Lakewood area, best to exit Lovers and take Skillman or Abrams down. No matter what GPS tells you, do not exit Henderson.

• Mockingbird around 75 can be a nightmare at rush hour. To get southeast from Snider Plaza or SMU, consider Hillcrest south, then east on Monticello, which is more pleasant if not necessarily a lot faster in the end.

• If you need to go east-west through the Park Cities, Beverly will take you all the way from the Katy Trail across the tollway -- much less traffic than Mockingbird.

• Live Oak is a much better way to go northeast from downtown than Gaston or Ross, not that any mapping software knows this. More lanes and less traffic.

• From Oak Cliff, when 35E and the Mixmaster are backed up, as is frequently the case, the beautiful Houston/Jefferson viaducts (to downtown) and Sylvan (to I-30 and all the way to the Design District) are fine ways to get north.

• Depending on how bad eastbound I-30 is coming into downtown, it can be much less stressful to get on Fort Worth Ave east to Commerce, or stick it out in the left lane of I-30 and get directly onto Commerce.

• Preston at Northwest Highway is a black hole from which none emerge alive. If your destination is in Preston Center, consider circling around to approach from the same side as your destination, to avoid having to get through the intersection itself.

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

Nice work! We haven't moved there yet, but have visited the city several times, and recently spent a long weekend poking around the city/metro. From my (admittedly limited) knowledge of the layout of the city and studying maps online looking at property, these seem very useful tips!

[Lakewooder]

If you are trying to get to Lakewood and use the tollway:

Exit Northwest Highway but cut down to one of the UP streets such as Southwestern or Caruth Haven - or heck take a different street every time, then turn south on Airline down near SMU and then go east on University to Skillman or Abrams and turn right...gets you out of the NW Highway nightmare.

You can also exit on Mockingbird and go right (or south) to Beverly Drive or Armstrong - you cut through over to Hillcrest (go to Monticello) or Abbott (Knox to Henderson - or you can get on Vickery or some such cut through).

Today I had to go north on the tollway (yuck) so I cut through Fitzhugh/Wycliff - was not bad at all - haven't done that in a long time...

Hillcrest is always a good street to go north -- I cut through the Village apartments to Boedeker by North Park by Neiman's. If Northwest Highway is bad, I can visit a few relatives in Hillcrest Cemetery as a short cut.

[Pete53FR]

To go downtown during rush hour I go south on Abrams which turns into Columbia and than into Canton.