Living in Fort Lauderdale and Working in West Palm Beach Possible??? (Coral Springs: day care, home)

[chadeaux]

I am currently considering accepting a position within my current company that would relocate my wife and I, along with our 10 month old daughter, to South Florida. We work for the same company, however the new situation would require her to work in Fort Lauderdale and I would be working in West Palm Beach. The new job would be a major promotion for me, but we have been trying to decide if this is possible, especially with a young child. Right now we are leaning towards living in Fort Lauderdale so she can be close to home and I would commute to West Palm Beach... is this possible? We are used to a lot of driving and VERY heavy traffic since we currently live in Houston, TX. Any advice?

We are currently looking at the Coral Springs area since it would be easy for me to get on the highway to get to West Palm Beach.

[ruski]

Why not live in Boca or Delray?

[SierraDog]

I agree that Coral Springs, Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach or south Boca Raton would be about the closest you can be to Fort Lauderdale while having a somewhat reasonable commute to WPB. Coral Springs to WPB will still be a tough drive though, around an hour depending on traffic.

If your wife will be the one primarily handling day care/school pickup and dropoff, then I do agree that it makes sense to find a place that is closest to her job, also for those times when your child gets sick and she has to leave the office.

The good news is that traffic is still much better than Houston!

Also, depending on where in WPB you work, the Tri Rail train could be an option for your commute. I have had friends who lived in WPB and commuted to work in Fort Lauderdale via the Tri Rail train; you'd be able to reverse that. Tri Rail is continuing to improve and it's a nice option to have.

In what area of Fort Lauderdale would your wife work?

[chadeaux]

@SierraDog:

I visited the city for 4 days and I definitely agree that the traffic is better than Houston. It takes me 45 minutes to travel 8 miles to work every day. My wife would be the main one handling the pick-up and drop-off from school so I want her to be close by and not have to drive much (I don't mind driving).

She would be working near Sawgrass & W. Commercial, and I would be near I-95 & 45th Street. I did look at the Tri-Rail and thought it would be great to give me time to catch up on the way to work instead of fighting traffic, however I asked a few locals and and said it was "a joke". I'm still thinking it's possible though.

[Nolefan34]

Delray Beach is the best area you should look in. It is exactly halfway between Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm, and you could easily take either I-95 or the Turnpike to both cities. Delray to Ft. Lauderale is only about 20 minutes in 95, although with morning traffic it will increase to 40 minutes. Not too bad at all. The worst traffic is on 95 between Ft. Lauderdale and Boca. Once you go north of Boca, it opens up a lot. West Palm Beach doesn't have any traffic on 95 unless there's an accident.

[jhlcomp]

Parkland could also be an option. It is a huge family area with good access to the Sawgrass for both you and your wife.

Good luck!!

[chadeaux]

Thanks for the replies. I will definitely check out Delray Beach, we didn't have time to check it out when we were visiting but we heard good things about the area. We drove through Parkland and, shall we say, it looked to be a little out of our price range... lol.

[rootzdread]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Delray Beach is the best area you should look in. It is exactly halfway between Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm, and you could easily take either I-95 or the Turnpike to both cities. Delray to Ft. Lauderale is only about 20 minutes in 95, although with morning traffic it will increase to 40 minutes. Not too bad at all. The worst traffic is on 95 between Ft. Lauderdale and Boca. Once you go north of Boca, it opens up a lot. West Palm Beach doesn't have any traffic on 95 unless there's an accident.

Nah, I've experienced traffic in and around the WPB airport/downtown area on 95 during rush hr.

[Nolefan34]

Originally Posted by rootzdread

Nah, I've experienced traffic in and around the WPB airport/downtown area on 95 during rush hr.

It depends what you mean by traffic. There is nothing in WPB on 95 that compares to 95 in Fort Lauderdale. When I drive through WPB during rush hour, there can be some minor slowdowns, but traffic rarely comes to a crawl or a stop. 95 is 6 lanes wide each direction now that they completed the construction. It flows pretty good these days. Once you get south of Forest Hill, it opens wide up.

Traffic on 95 in WPB used to be horrible before they widened it though. Remember when it was 3 lanes each direction? Ouch.

[rootzdread]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

It depends what you mean by traffic. There is nothing in WPB on 95 that compares to 95 in Fort Lauderdale. When I drive through WPB during rush hour, there can be some minor slowdowns, but traffic rarely comes to a crawl or a stop. 95 is 6 lanes wide each direction now that they completed the construction. It flows pretty good these days. Once you get south of Forest Hill, it opens wide up.

Traffic on 95 in WPB used to be horrible before they widened it though. Remember when it was 3 lanes each direction? Ouch.

Oh that's why!!! I'm writing from an outdated perspective because I haven't been up there since the construction was going on. Thanks for the info man! Cause I am planning to drive up there soon to go to Lion Country Safari.