Commute time from Middleton (Madison, Waunakee: real estate, home, school district)

[titantickitty]

Hi - like a lot of the posts, my family and I are relocating to the Madison area. My husband got a job in Middleton and we are working on figuring out where to live. There has been a lot of useful information on this site, but one thing I need help with is commute time. It's one thing to put in the locations in Google maps and see what that says - it's another to be actually driving it.
What I'm wondering is how long is the commute to Sauk City, Waunakee, Mezomanie, Verona, Mt. Horeb, Black Earth? The estimates I have found online seem to be about 20-25 minutes for most of the towns and about 15 for Black Earth? Is this realistic?
We are hoping to find a good school district and a commute time of no more than 20-25 minutes. If there are other areas that you recommend I am happy to hear suggestions. We are looking closer too (Middleton, Cross Plains) but obviously I'm not as concerned about commute time from those.
I know the best way to find out is driving it ourselves, but I can't get out there until May and my husband has no car until then.
Also any other information people can give me about the area is welcome. Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Dairylander]

Those google times are pretty accurate because those highways are usually smooth sailing.
I get from the west side of Madison to the Shoe Box (world famous shoe store in Black Earth) in about 20 minutes.
I'd actually recommend you live in Middleton. Great community, good schools, reasonable real estate.

[cheesehead1]

+1 for Middleton. I used to teach in a public school there and lived in Madison near downtown. Fabulous schools and proximity to Madison are great reasons to check out Middleton. The places you mention are great, but it may not be necessary to live further out to be in a really nice place.

[titantickitty]

Thanks for the info. Middleton is one of our top picks for sure. My hubby is there now and loves it. The home prices are a little more than some of the further towns and that was why I was wondering about commute time.
I will take Google maps for it's word and go from there. This is a great forum to find out lots of good information and I really appreciate the input.

[ranger17]

some of those areas mentioned would be good solid choices. But there can be some traffic issues to deal with at peak times ( Sauk in and out is an example ). We lived in Madison area for 25yrs, and traveled those roads many a time. Only thing I'd put out there for discussion ( or for research by OP ), is how far onto the rural roads you'd want to move out to. Drive time in the summer will be different then in the winter. Too far off the beaten path will save you a few $$ and get you perhaps a bit more privacy ( for lack of a better term ), but driving some of those twisty roads when not yet plowed can be a treat. But if he works in Middleton, I'd say start the search there, and then move slowly outward until you find the right spot.
Good Luck up there

[Harpoon]

Middleton may cost a bit more to live than the outlying towns, but you can't beat the commute time. I'd rather spend more time with my family then spend a bunch of time in the car. I live in Middleton and work about 2 miles away on the west side of Madison. It takes me about 5 minutes to get to work, and that is sweet.

[cheesehead1]

If you want to be close to Middleton, Cross Plains may be a good fit. It's in the Middleton school district, but housing is a bit cheaper there (at least it was 4 years ago when I moved away). I know you mentioned it earlier, I just wanted to recommend it as well. Good luck!

[titantickitty]

The winter commute is what I am worried about and I appreciate the input about thinking about the back roads. We are in PA right now, but I've lived most of my life in New England so I know what it can be like on snowy winter backroads. That is something we do want to avoid as much as we can.
Of course we would love to be as close to his work as possible and believe me my hubby would rather be home than in a car (us too) no matter how low the price of a home. But we can only spend as much as we can afford.
It does look like Cross Plains would be a good fit or perhaps even Black Earth (or if can find something, Middleton of course). I think anything too much further away from his work would be too much of a commute. And we would rather go a little more rural instead of urban.
How about Waunakee as far as driving is concerned? In the winter and otherwise? I'm just curious because the schools there seem to be pretty outstanding (although that seems to be the case in most of the areas we are looking at). The DOT in PA is notoriously terrible (a couple years ago people were stranded on the PA Turnpike for DAYS! because they couldn't get their act together during a winter storm ) so even what is considered a fairly major road here (nevermind Turnpike!) is not always cleared very well in a winter storm.
I know if we do go further out we will have to deal with snow on the backroads, but I am just wondering how well the more major roads in and out of Madison are cleared in the winter? My guess would be pretty well, because like in New England, I'm sure WI DOT knows how to handle snow, but I also don't want to assume anything.
Thanks again to everyone, I really appreciate all the input and advice.

[MidwesternBookWorm]

My daughter and her boyfriend live in Marshall, about 15 miles east of Madison, both commute into Madison to go to school, and they said that the state and county highways were cleared of snow quite promptly this past winter. They moved out there in November, and both were a little leery about winter driving, but were quite pleasantly surprised. And we have had a snowier-than-usual winter this year, too; not like 07-08, when we had over 100" of snow, but we're at about 70" for the winter so far, which is a bit less than twice the average annual snowfall for Madison.

One of the people on my staff lives in Waunakee and commutes to the southwest side of Madison each day to work. She doesn't seem to find the commute a problem at all.

And my spouse is on the road to various locations around the state for his job usually one or two days a week, and he usually reports that the highways are cleared well also.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should add that there was an incident during a blizzard in February 2008 like the one you describe in Pennsylvania, where a truck jack-knifed on the Interstate south of Madison and created a 20-mile-long traffic jam that took almost a full day to clear. The state police really got blasted over their slow response to the situation, and they have since been installing cameras on the Interstates to better monitor traffic flow for problems like that. We haven't really had the kind of blizzard that would put them to the test, but they are at least somewhat better prepared when it does.

Good luck in your move, and I hope you find a place that fits your family well.

[ranger17]

I would add the worst traffic areas for work time commuting is the beltline ( hwy 12/18 south of Madison, connects east/west sides ); but as your husband would work in Middleton and you are loking to live on that side as well, in general you would be avoiding most headaches.