Acton to Needham Commute Time? (Boston, Natick: travel, work, housing)

[BigShadow]

We keep hearing a lot of good things about Acton as a place for a family to settle. The major downside for us would be the commute time into Needham. We are still in the UK, so difficult to judge the impact of morning traffic. Can anyone give an informed estimate of the Acton-Needham summer/winter commute time if leaving at 7am.

Many thanks
Andy

[wheelz]

Commuting from Acton to Needham I would recommend packing a lunch and possibly a late afternoon snack as well. It would be horrible making that particular commute. The traffic here in MA is an absolute nightmare most days. WBZ radio has something called traffic on the 3's which they give a traffic report at say 7:03, 7:13, 7:23 and so on and so on.... It may as well be a recording because it is pretty much the same every weekday. Also, we have pot hole's that could be considered sink hole's and the worst bridges in the entire country. I commute in and out of Boston quite frequently and there are day's coming home that I have almost died of old age on the way home. A couple of weeks ago I could have sworn I felt a little rigor mortis setting in in my right leg.

[BigShadow]

Ouch! Thats a real shame. Acton was really starting to appeal to us. Looks like its back to looking at Natick, Wayland etc.

Thanks for the reply.

[Parsec]

Have you considered just living in Needham? Many families live there and they have a top school system too. If you can afford Acton, then you can afford Needham too, especially w/the lower tax rates due to their large commercial base.

[brightdoglover]

Acton is a great place to live, but as others have pointed out, there's no particularly useful way to commute from Acton to Needham. There are certainly fine towns/suburbs closer to Needham, as nice as Acton. I think you'd want something where you could get to Route 9 or Mass Pike easily.

[smarty]

I agree with Parsec.

If you think the price is too high in Needham. Look into Westborough and Shrewsbury.

[BigShadow]

We have considered Needham, but we get the impression that it is a little more urban than we are looking for...and your $$$ don't buy so much. We originally started looking at Ashland...then Medfield, Westwood, Wayland and Natick.

All of these appear to be perfectly acceptable places to raise a family, but for some reason Acton just appears to offer a great package - our kids are just starting out in school, so schools are important as are town facilities and the ability to buy a home with approx 2000sqft for $500k.

I have been told that the commute from Ashland to Needham is about 40 mins in morning traffic. I have also been told that the commute from Acton to Needham in morning traffic is about 45mins even though it is more miles. If this were true then for the sake of 5 mins I would probably opt for Acton.

Hence I asked the question here to get more opinions on the commute time from Acton. From your responses, I am assuming that it is not a commute you would want to do.

[wheelz]

Going to Needham from Acton you would need to take route 2 to route 128 which both roads,pretty much on a daily basis are just awful. Winter time they are even worse than in the Summer. I personally would not be able to handle that drive on a daily basis. Acton IS a nice town but depending on where you live in Acton, just getting to route 2 can be a real hassle. I don't know what the traffic is like where you reside now but when people tell you 45 minute's from Acton to Needham I would think you would need a helicopter to make it in that timeframe during the morning and/or afternoon commute. I live 14 miles from one of my work locations and sometimes it takes me 45 minute's to travel 9 miles of it. The last 5 are usually pretty smooth and that's when I really open it up. LOL!

There are reasons as to why we all flip each other off, read the morning news, watch women put their makeup on and we eat breakfast in our automobiles, There's nothing else to do and it's not as if you are multi tasking by having to drive at the same time. LOL!

There are day's when the traffic isn't horrible, Christmas isn't bad and evacuation day for our state government usually makes for an easier commute. I had a day last month that I just couldn't believe how bad the traffic was. It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to go from Boston on the Mass Pike to route 495!

It seems like the evening commute is usually worse than the morning but that could just be because I just want to get home. Route 2 in the evenings coming off of 128 is sooo depressing some days. There are traffic light's all the way to Acton when travelling on route 2 and no matter how you slice it, it takes a while to get through them and get home.

[wheelz]

Ashland is a pretty decent town, I don't think the schools are as good as they are in Acton but Acton has an above average school system. For the most part, Massachusetts schools are pretty decent. Of course they all aren't great but even the bad one's are probably better than a lot of other states. Some of the school systems down on the Cape I have heard aren't all that great and of course if you are dealing with a school system in a high crime area, I wouldn't expect the greatest education.

Wayland is extremely expensive but is a pretty decent town overall IF you can afford it. I personally don't want to afford it and have no desire to buy a house there especially now that our housing market is really slowing down.

Medfield is a decent town and Natick has some decent area's as well. Natick has some nice neighborhoods but there are times especially during Christmas shopping season you will be pulling your hair out on route 9.

Route 9 is not designed for the amount of traffic that is on it and it seems like it has been under construction for the past 40 years which nothing they ever do will help the traffic flow unless they tear down the stop light's and change it from 2 lanes to 6.

Route 2 that I warned you about is in the same boat as route 9, route 2 was designed as a trucking route and is only 2 lanes and there's no way they will ever get it up to speed to handle the amount of traffic that uses it. It's a dangerous road especially when you get past 495 going west bound. The posted speed limit is 55 but if you try to do 55 you will be run over almost immediately. I lost a really good friend on that road who was simply riding along minding her own business and next thing you know, it was light's out.

[wheelz]

Sherborn MA is a nice little town, I haven't ever really checked out the cost of homes there but I've driven through there quite a few times and it definitely has some New England charm,,, whatever that means. LOL!