Madison Traffic (Sun Prairie, Middleton, Verona: professionals, moving, suburbs)

[HRinMadison]

I am relocating to Sun Prairie from Northern VA/DC area b/c my husband got a job working for Trek (in Waterloo). We are 10 miles from the east side and I have found that many of the employers are on the west side of town. What is the commute like to Middleton, Verona, and surronding areas? How long does "rush hour" last? Here is starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m. in the morning, then starts back up at 3:00 p.m. and goes until about 8:00 p.m. One reason I am oh so glad to be moving out of the DC area.

Also does anyone have any connections with employers hiring HR professionals? Any good sites to check out for job listings?

[Drover]

First of all, there is absolutely no comparison between DC metro traffic and Madison-area traffic. It's the difference between crawling on your knees and flying in a jet.

Madison is not congestion-free though. If you look at a map of the area, you'll notice that downtown Madison sits between two lakes on a strip of land about 10 blocks wide. The thoroughfares through downtown do get clogged up during rush hour. The good news is that there's a bypass around perimeter of the city that will mostly smooth sailing to the west side of town or the west suburbs like Middleton. From Sun Prairie, you just hop on I-39/90, take that to the Beltline (aka U.S. 12/18) and take it to the west side or the west suburbs. While traffic can get thick on the Beltline, I have never seen a bona fidetraffic jam on it. The slowest I've ever driven on it is 50mph. Taking the I-39/90-to-Beltline route, you can get from Sun Prairie to the West side in about half an hour. If you end up working in Middleton, you'd probably be better off going around the other side by taking State Highway 19 west to River Road to County Highway M and taking M into Middleton; that's about a 35 minute trip.

[Chelito23]

I think the commute from Sun Prairie to the far west side would be closer to 45 minutes. Traffic on the beltline certainly does back up, and there are bonna finde traffic jams, albeit not nearly as bad as a major city. The area is growing fast, and there is a lot of NIMBYism and people are generally anti-growth and anti-expansion of roads here. I think the previous poster was right, that you would be going against traffic. I think rush hour would be from 7-9 and 4-6 more or less. Do a dry run of your commute at non peak hours and at rush hour. If you go against traffic that will make a big distance.

[LML]

I would take Hwy 19 west from Sun Prairie and then take 113 to Cnty M into Middleton. To get to Verona, just stay on M to the beltline, take the Old Sauk Rd exit, go right to get back on M, and take it right into Verona. Believe me, it is a LOT faster during rush hour.