Commute from Woodlands-Downtown (Houston, The Woodlands: homes, neighborhoods, moving to)

[ncole78]

I may be moving to Houston next year and am starting to look at neighborhoods. The Woodlands is very attractive but many posters here have raised the issue of the commute downtown. When is rush hour generally? My job has different hours than most, but some days I would have to go downtown in the morning and again in the evening. I would hate to spend 4 hours in the car... Yours from Chicago

[chris_ut]

Rush hour on I-45 is from midnight to 11:59 PM...

[ncole78]

I figured... in Chicago it's the same story! But really, some posts have made it seem like non-rush hour is much better. Is it ever just an easy half-hour ride?

[Johnny S]

It depends on where you are within The Woodlands. If you're in the far west part (Alden Bridge, Sterling Ridge, etc.), where the majority of the newer homes are, it's an additional 15-25 minutes to get to the freeway. But from I-45 in The Woodlands, to downtown - yes, it's often a 25-30 minute trip outside of rush hour. If you take the Hardy Toll Rd, it's really not that bad.

I commuted from the west side of The Woodlands to near downtown for most of 2007, and it was typically 45-60 minutes in the mid-late morning (9-10AM). On the way home is a bit worse, as the traffic starts around 3PM and lasts until 6:30PM.