Best commute to Denton...? (Dallas, Carrollton: apartment, lease, homes)

[phxgirl1009]

Hello all, my husband was accepted into a PhD program at UNT, and we will be relocating to the area in August...our question is this: Which cities will have the best possible commute into Denton with the least amount of hassle?

We are open to living in either the Ft Worth area OR the Dallas area, but need to be relatively close to one of those cities as that is likely where I will find the greatest job prospects rather than Denton...I have lived in both Ft Worth and also Dallas, and loved them, although I might be a tiny bit partial to Ft Worth...Lewisville and Keller have been suggested to me, but I would like to hear additional suggestions...

Thanks in advance!

[nsumner]

It would also depend on your budget and lifestyle. I can think of Little Elm, Flower Mound, The Colony would be nice too. If you like more rural, there is Argyle, Ponder, Justin... Why not Denton itself?

Naima

[phxgirl1009]

Thanks for your feedback, we are possibly interested in The Colony if the commute isn't too bad...I have visited Denton a number of times and preferred the amenities of Dallas/Ft Worth as opposed to Denton or the more rural areas...my husband and I are in our late 20's/early 30's, no children...although we aren't really into the nightclub scene, we do enjoy museums, dining out, concerts, etc...we currently live in north Phoenix, are within five miles of our jobs, doctors/dentists, shopping, dining, etc, and love being so close to everything we need...are we spoiled??? Probably.

[nsumner]

From The Colony, you can have easy access to the amenities of Frisco for dining and the commute to downtown Dallas for venues, theater, bars, etc... You don't even have to go all the way downtown, Addison has some clubbing and nice dining areas too.

I have 2 friends (husband/wife) that finished their PhD program at UNT and they both were very happy with it. They left for China on another project now... just an FYI.

Naima

[loves2read]

fort worth's sundance sq has wonder atmosphere, good restaurants, with Bass Hall and couple of other places for live entertainment--it is reachable from Keller or Flower Mound

just remember that it sound like both of you are going to be commuting--gas is getting more and more expensive and there is no public transportation TO Denton or FTW--there is however--the bus system in Denton for ferrying students to campus and it is certainly feasible to bike to school if you lived in Denton...

My DIL lives in Carrollton--fairly close to Vista Ridge and goes into Denton each day via
I-35 --some days are worse than others--
my son works in Addison but his office may move towards Frisco soon--so they go further north when their apt lease is up

Are you planning to rent? to buy? to get an apt?
Denton is really growing and has some newer retail construction as well has residential and apartment construction--some parts of it are really old though and while there are some areas that are attractive, I find the area around the U pretty grungy--of course that is popular to certain style of college student--but they are getting bumped out by the tear down/new construction for area around the drag--but traffic is the pits because of the new construction and price of homes has gone up when lot of the market is slack...

I35 W commute into FTW is the pits--once you get past Roanoak it gets pretty crowded and inside the loop it is just bad--
so good luck with that--I would say try to get job around Frisco which is getting more businesses to use it for office sites just because it is closer than FTW--

and get a car with really good gas mileage...

[honu1]

Given a preference between Ft worth and Dallas, I'd take Ft worth (I've commuted back and forth from both). Southlake is about 30 min from Denton and has lots of new chain retail shops (container store, crate and barrel, etc) and a central market grocery. I know several faculty members at UNT who commute from there to Denton. Of course, this will also mean a commute for you to Ft. Worth. I also know people who commute to Denton regularly from Keller and feel the drive is not bad at all. That location would also put you close to Ft. Worth. Another alternative is Lewisville, which is about 1/2 way between Denton and Dallas.

[phxgirl1009]

Thanks again for all of your insight! So if we decided to buy in either Ft Worth or Keller, would hubby be driving against AM rush hour traffic since he would be driving north on I-35 away from the city and into Denton?

[honu1]

Originally Posted by phxgirl1009

Thanks again for all of your insight! So if we decided to buy in either Ft Worth or Keller, would hubby be driving against AM rush hour traffic since he would be driving north on I-35 away from the city and into Denton?

Yep.

Oh, There are a couple of times a year when he would hit traffic...when NASCAR is in town as the motor speedway is on I-35 to Ft. Worth I've commuted through it though and its very manageable. In my experience, just a minor slowdown a few Fridays a year. And depending upon his class schedule, it may not even be an issue for him.

[loves2read]

there is always a goodly amount of traffic on I35 going to and from Denton from fTW--there are plenty of people who commute to college for one thing---but YES--he would usually be going aginst the majority of traffic flow---
another route to consider is 377 -- going N to Denton NOT into FTW--there is lot of construction at the moment which will last for a year or more probably but north of Roanoak it is pretty good...we have son who used to live in Denton finishing his MA and he used 377/114 or Mid-Cities to come in the back way to Bedford....