Alternative routes from Heritage to Fort Worth (Haltom City, Keller: home, construction)

[jcamber]

Hopefully someone already does this drive and can shed some light....

I'm considering a new job really close to Alcon, which is right off of 35W and Altamesa boulevard (south of downtown Fort Worth). I'm aware of the traffic going south on 35W and into 820, etc. Which is really the reason I'm giving this a hard thought... I currently work off of 35 W and Western Center which is really where traffic gets bad so my commute is maybe 15 minutes max coming from Heritage. My questions are:

1. What's a realistic expectation going to and from this location on a typical leaving day at 7:30am and returning home at 5-5:30pm?
2. What alternate routes are there that may be better than going down on 35W?
3. Anybody have an idea for how long the construction will last and what benefits we will see when done? will the bottleneck at 35W and 820 be expanded to multiple lanes so we're not crawling all the way up to Western Center boulevard?

Thanks!

[ChristieP]

There is no alternate route to 35W unless you want to take surface streets with stoplights, school zones and railroad crossings.

A couple weeks ago, it took me over an hour to drive from downtown FW to the US Mint at 4 pm on a Friday.

[RockyJoe817]

Please note 35 W is the direct and most likely the quickest way to get to the southside of I-20 or south of
downtown Fort Worth

The 820/35 W construction is supposed to go several years now and is in the infancy stages.
Although 35W is the straight shot to downtown fort Worth your choices on the surface streets are as follows.:

1.) Western Center to Blue mound road to 820 go west to Main Street 287 (Saginaw) go south to downtown Fort Worth
to I-30.

2.) If you go to Lake worth Hwy 199 south bound will take you to the west side of downtown Forth Worth all the way down to I-30 somewhere by the Pier 1 Building which is just north of I-30 on Henderson. (please view a map for correctness)


3.) Southbound on Beach street to Belknap or (Haltom City southbound 121). This is a mile or or two east of downtown Forth Worth.
Catch 35 W southbound at Belknap and 35W.

4.) Hwy 377 Southbound to Belknap and go west towards downtown Fort Worth to 35W. Then southbound to Alcon


5.)
If your choice is to take the east bound side.
I take the 820 to Northeast Mall southbound 820 stay in the left lane. Take 121 through Haltom City to Belknap exit southbound on 35W.

[hypocore]

The most likely alternate route I'd personally consider would be Beach to 30, then south on 35 from 30. Or you could follow Beach on to Rosedale and then cut across to 35, just be aware of the area you are in there as it isn't the best part of town. I know there will be somewhat of a bottleneck at Beach and 820, so that might make it not work as easily as it would otherwise.

I'd suggest driving it one day when you have time and see what it looks like with lights and if there are any school zones.

377 is about the same lanes as most of Beach, you have to cross the train tracks to get on it and it ends up meeting up with Beach once you merge onto Belknap with it. So that would knock it out for me.

I would probably not consider anywhere west of 35 unless I was planning on taking 820 west all the way around that way until you end up back at 35.

[jcamber]

Originally Posted by RockyJoe817

Please note 35 W is the direct and most likely the quickest way to get to the southside of I-20 or south of
downtown Fort Worth

The 820/35 W construction is supposed to go several years now and is in the infancy stages.
Although 35W is the straight shot to downtown fort Worth your choices on the surface streets are as follows.:

1.) Western Center to Blue mound road to 820 go west to Main Street 287 (Saginaw) go south to downtown Fort Worth
to I-30.

2.) If you go to Lake worth Hwy 199 south bound will take you to the west side of downtown Forth Worth all the way down to I-30 somewhere by the Pier 1 Building which is just north of I-30 on Henderson. (please view a map for correctness)


3.) Southbound on Beach street to Belknap or (Haltom City southbound 121). This is a mile or or two east of downtown Forth Worth.
Catch 35 W southbound at Belknap and 35W.

4.) Hwy 377 Southbound to Belknap and go west towards downtown Fort Worth to 35W. Then southbound to Alcon


5.)
If your choice is to take the east bound side.
I take the 820 to Northeast Mall southbound 820 stay in the left lane. Take 121 through Haltom City to Belknap exit southbound on 35W.

option 3 looks pretty good! I'll probably be trying all these options at one point in time... it's weird though because some days (like today) 35w is empty and is a breeze! some others it crawls. And there doesn't seem to be any particular reason other than the fact that more people are on it.

Thanks all for your responses!

[babs7907]

I made a similar trip for almost 3 years, from Everman which is close to Alcon Labs to Alliance Airport. So I passed Heritage on my way to and from work, and here's the deal, all the options suggested are good, and I've tried them all, in the end, it's all about luck.

On some days, traffic is light, but the majority of the time, whichever route you take, expect a 40+min drive either way, when schools start, expect traffic to be slower, when it rains or in the winter, traffic does slow down too.

Weigh up your pro and cons before you take the new job, I've done it for 3 years before I moved to Keller, the time you spend driving, as well as the cost of gas and maintenance on your car.

[calien]

How is the drive from Keller to Everman?

[jcamber]

yeah so now I've been 3 weeks on the job and overall I'd say it's not too bad. Hands down the best route is (from Heritage anyway) to go down on beach to 121, then 35w to Altamesa. You're right, some days it's lighter and some not. I average about 30-45 mintues depending on traffic. On the way back it's the same deal, 35w to 121 then beach to heritage trace pkwy. I also have a friend that moved to Keller proper and he takes Davis down to 820 south, goes around to 20 and 35w. Also around 30-45 minutes.

I am waiting to see how the commute changes when school starts, wish me luck!

[hypocore]

Originally Posted by jcamber

yeah so now I've been 3 weeks on the job and overall I'd say it's not too bad. Hands down the best route is (from Heritage anyway) to go down on beach to 121, then 35w to Altamesa. You're right, some days it's lighter and some not. I average about 30-45 mintues depending on traffic. On the way back it's the same deal, 35w to 121 then beach to heritage trace pkwy. I also have a friend that moved to Keller proper and he takes Davis down to 820 south, goes around to 20 and 35w. Also around 30-45 minutes.

I am waiting to see how the commute changes when school starts, wish me luck!

Good to hear it's not too horrible. Are there schools zones you pass on the way? If not, it won't affect you too much other than maybe having a few extra cars on the road at the same time as you once school starts.

[ChristieP]

I don't know why, but everyone's commutes slow down during the school year. It usually adds 20 minutes to mine...