Commute - Westford, MA to Framingham, MA (Marlborough, Wellesley: living in, malls)

[Radhika Rasne]

I am living in Westford, MA. I got new job in Framingham, MA.
How is commute in peak hours?
I am thinking take Rt. 2 & Rt.126. Please suggest me if somebody is traveling on that direction. How long it takes?

[CaseyB]

Why not take 495?

[Parsec]

Agree with Casey, take I-495 to Rt-9. It will take 45 min during heavier traffic in rush hour, but I would budget an hour because that's how long it will take if there's an accident (good chance on 495 on any given day). There are back roads through Marlborough and Southboro if there's an accident on Rt-9. Using Waze on your daily commute will re-route you to the fastest route if there's an accident.

[LivingBeyond495]

oof -- tough commute any way you go. If you are considering 126, don't use Rt. 2 east of Acton -- cut south before the rotary on the back roads to join up with it in Wayland Center. (Many options.) I say that with some warning, though -- you'll probably have to do some of it on Rt. 27, and that's horrible at rush hour -- lots of traffic in Sudbury Center and Wayland Center. And it is a long ride. If your Framingham location is near the west side, you can skip Sudbury Center and Rt.27 altogether and do the back roads through East Marlborough (passing by Wayside Inn) and come out near the Bose "mountain" building on Rt. 9. (Edgell Road is another option, but more crowded.) All these options involve windy, two lane roads, annoying lights, and can be slow if one person decides to drive them at 20 mph. Their only saving grace is they can be quite pretty.

495 would be faster than these options if you avoid the worst of the rush hour, which is fortunately quite condensed. Warning though -- come Christmas time, Rt. 9 near the Malls is just horrible all the time.

Good luck!

[KKay9]

I don't know if anything has changed, but I commuted from Westford to Wellesley (rt 9 near 95) for a while about 10 years ago. It is a bad commute, there's really no way around it. It took me about an hour in the morning and 1.5 hours in the afternoon, most days.

After you've worked there for a while and have the lay of the land, see if there is a way to negotiate a slightly off schedule, like 7:00am to 3:00pm or 10:00am to 6:00pm, that will improve the commute quite a bit.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by KKay9

I don't know if anything has changed, but I commuted from Westford to Wellesley (rt 9 near 95) for a while about 10 years ago. It is a bad commute, there's really no way around it. It took me about an hour in the morning and 1.5 hours in the afternoon, most days.

After you've worked there for a while and have the lay of the land, see if there is a way to negotiate a slightly off schedule, like 7:00am to 3:00pm or 10:00am to 6:00pm, that will improve the commute quite a bit.

That's a completely different commute since you probably took Rt-3 to I-95 right? The OP would be taking I-495.

Originally Posted by LivingBeyond495

oof -- tough commute any way you go. If you are considering 126, don't use Rt. 2 east of Acton -- cut south before the rotary on the back roads to join up with it in Wayland Center. (Many options.) I say that with some warning, though -- you'll probably have to do some of it on Rt. 27, and that's horrible at rush hour -- lots of traffic in Sudbury Center and Wayland Center. And it is a long ride. If your Framingham location is near the west side, you can skip Sudbury Center and Rt.27 altogether and do the back roads through East Marlborough (passing by Wayside Inn) and come out near the Bose "mountain" building on Rt. 9. (Edgell Road is another option, but more crowded.) All these options involve windy, two lane roads, annoying lights, and can be slow if one person decides to drive them at 20 mph. Their only saving grace is they can be quite pretty.

495 would be faster than these options if you avoid the worst of the rush hour, which is fortunately quite condensed. Warning though -- come Christmas time, Rt. 9 near the Malls is just horrible all the time.

Good luck!

I drive through Sudbury and Wayland center everyday. There's no traffic going South in the mornings. It's only going East (Rt-20 E in Wayland and Hudson Rd in Sudbury) that you see traffic in the morning. There's a bit of a backup going North at Wayland Center and going West (up Rt-27-N) at Sudbury center in the evenings though. Like you said it all depends on where the OP works in Framingham. She hasn't chimed in so we can't really give her the best route.

[LivingBeyond495]

Originally Posted by Parsec

That's a completely different commute since you probably took Rt-3 to I-95 right? The OP would be taking I-495.



I drive through Sudbury and Wayland center everyday. There's no traffic going South in the mornings. It's only going East (Rt-20 E in Wayland and Hudson Rd in Sudbury) that you see traffic in the morning. There's a bit of a backup going North at Wayland Center and going West (up Rt-27-N) at Sudbury center in the evenings though. Like you said it all depends on where the OP works in Framingham. She hasn't chimed in so we can't really give her the best route.

Good point! I forgot that south was easier -- especially on the non-Rt.27 roads. (I drove south -- many years ago -- through Sudbury Center via the road from Nine Acre Corner years ago and never had traffic) Wayland Center should be okay going south, but the back up coming back north will be tough.

We also don't know which part of Westford OP is from. If she is considering 126, she might be from the Carlisle line section and it might be faster for her to go through Concord Center and pick up 126 where it starts at Rt.2.

In any case -- in answer to her original question -- the back roads are probably going to be at least 50 minutes to 1 hour, give or take exact route/traffic.