commute times/distance to Redstone (Huntsville, Decatur: houses, college, live in)

[jjm901]

My wife and I are looking at relocating to Huntsville area. I would be working on base and was wondering what cities are with in a 30 minute commute during rush hours to and from the base. Thanks.

[Keeper]

How big a city are you looking for? Small town or med. town? What type of amenities do you require?

[Southlander]

Decatur, for sure. It's quicker to get to most of Decatur from Redstone than to some parts of Huntsville, thanks to traffic.

[jjm901]

I currently live in a town of 4,000 people and I am about 1/2 hour away from everything and I am ok with that. I also have lived in a metro area of 300,000+ people (Grand Rapids, MI) and a college town of 120,000+ (Ann Arbor, MI). All of these places have been fine, as long as shopping and restaurants are with in a 1/2 hour I will be good.

[Keeper]

If you want the bigger city - Huntsville
Medium city - Decatur
Medium small - Madison
Small town - Arab

Check the cities here..although the stats may be old
Alabama Bigger Cities (over 6000 residents)

To check on Housing in NE AL
Valleymls.com

[jjm901]

Thanks... We saw a few houses on valleymls in Toney and harvest that looked like something we would really like.... Do you know how those areas are? or about how long of a drive could I expect to get to the base?

[NicoleC]

Well, Redstone Arsenal is a big place and takes up a sizable chunk of south Huntsville. If you no more about which gate would be the

Harvest and Toney are going to be in the 30-45 minute range to the northern section of Redstone off 565 at rush hour. If they ever finish widening 53, you might shave some time off that commute. The southern parts of Harvest could usually do 30 minutes.

But if you are working near Gate 3, for example, Arab, New Hope, Owens Crossroads and the communities in that region there will be a very quick shot.

Redstone gates:
Redstone Arsenal, AL • Gate Schedules

No, the base is not that huge but my step dad tell me traffic across the base can be troublesome at times. Better than going all the way around, though.

[jjm901]

Most likely it will be somewhere along Martin Rd. so probabally Gate 1 or Gate 7. Do you know about how long it would take to get from Arab to Gate 1. So far from what I gather Decatur wouldn't be too bad coming from the west, places north of Madison/Hunstville would be pushing the 30 minutes, places around SE Huntsville and some of those surrounding cities would be within the 30 minutes. It sounds like Arab would be in the commute window, how about a city like Guntersville.... how long of a drive is that? Thanks for your input.

[Keeper]

Arab is about 20-25 minutes to the first gate off of 231 or the parkway. Guntersville would be about 30 - 40 minutes depending on where in G'ville you live.
I live in Arab and there are a lot of ppl who work on the arsenal that live here. Guntersville is about 15 minutes from Arab but if you are going to Huntsville to work there is a shortcut of sorts that will save some time.

I can tell you about Arab and Guntersville. What do you want to know?

[jjm901]

So what times of the day is traffic the heaviest? When are the morning and afternoon "rush hours"?