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I rented in Bedford for several years and agree with the cons mentioned here. If you're looking for anything urban, Bedford isn't it. Think "bed" as in sleeping community. But it's nice. I loved it there, but I got in and out of more urban areas often. Traffic is definitely an issue. It's a one main road town, as in literally, "Great Road," so even when you get there, you're stuck in traffic for a bit. I didn't have much of an issue coming from Lowell, though. The airport is close. But the planes don't fly after a certain time because it's military. But if you're close, you're close and you know it by the glasses of water (or whatever) moving. After awhile, you don't even hear the planes but that's kind of scary in and of itself.
I think Arlington is more of what you're after...at least, it sounds it to me.
Best wishes!
Actually, military flight operations are under 1% of the air traffic at Hanscom. It's mostly private planes and corporate jets along with the flight schools. Commercial operations are limited to 7AM to 11PM. Military flights are not restricted but there are few military planes stationed there if any.
i'm not sure how much the noise from Hanscom would bother me. Growing up in Milton we frequently heard plan noise from Logan. I also lived practically on a military base in Coronado, CA for a year and that didnt bother me either. It was actually pretty cool.
Some years back (seems like many years ago now) when we moved from Chicago, my wife was working in Waltham (Trapelo Road) and I was working in Wilmington (Rte 62). Bedford and Chelmsford were two towns on our list to look at.
One thing I remember about Bedford was one house we looked at. Garage under the house. One garage door but 2-3 cars deep. Owner said they "jockeyed" cars about but it worked.
We came down to Lexington and Andover and we chose Andover. It was a bit of a commute for her but not as tough as her Chicago commute. In Chicago she would drive to the train stop (Naperville), train ride of about 50 minutes, 2 block walk to her office. She said sitting in her car drinking coffee while driving from Andover to Waltham was much easier. it ended up working out well as two years later she was working in Lowell and the commute was much easier.
I once commuted from Andover to Providence RI but as I was in sales, I did not have to go to the company headquarters but once or twice a week. Talk about a commute.....LOL
I live not too far from Hanscom and rarely hear the planes. Its not like I just got used to it as I've only been here a few years. Never been a problem. I'd say most people in Bedford are not impacted by Hanscom.
It is sleepy tho. I'm a Manhattan girl at heart so I resisted moving here but the people and schools are so great that I can deal with it. I get into Boston 3x a week in under 30 minutes, however I never travel at rush hours. I'm lucky that way.
Oh, yea the Great Road sucks during rush hours, but it can be avoided.
You can't really call Bedford "walkable" in the sense that you can sell your car, but many people live close enough to town center that kids can walk to school, you can walk to the library, park, town Common, the pizza place near the common, etc.
Like many of the newcomers, I ended up here because my husband's commute from Boston to Lexington was awful and our buying power was limited in Lexington. My husband also wanted a good excuse lawn tractor. Ha!
Enjoy your search. It sounds like Bedford is not for your family, but I wanted to chime in about the positives of the town.
What about Waltham itself? It's relatively urban and has the commuter rail for a downtown commute (wouldn't work for a Cambridge commute though, unlike Arlington which is beside the Red line for both).
We would consider Waltham although we also want to keep Cambridge open as a possible commute. My husband's industry has a lot of employers in Cambridge, so even though he's in Lexington/Waltham (which will soon be just Lexington), he wants to keep Cambridge as a good option, commute-wise, should he ever end up working there. Really, we are seeking not to move until after we retire, so assuming all goes well that's not going to be for 20+ years, most likely.
Actually I don't know what I was thinking when I typed that, Waltham doesn't rule out a Cambridge commute either. In that "greater Cambridge" area I would say Arlington sounds like your best option if you can find something there, Waltham would be an option, Belmont would be convenient but it's in the same boat as Lexington - $$.
Commute to Cambridge from Waltham is ~45min on commuter rail -> T. If you lived on Waltham southside, the bike ride is very nice (almost completely traffic separated path). The rail goes into South Station or you have the choice of several bus lines that go into Boston. I think the most highly rated schools are near Hardy Pond or Warrendale neighborhoods.
We would consider Waltham although we also want to keep Cambridge open as a possible commute. My husband's industry has a lot of employers in Cambridge, so even though he's in Lexington/Waltham (which will soon be just Lexington), he wants to keep Cambridge as a good option, commute-wise, should he ever end up working there. Really, we are seeking not to move until after we retire, so assuming all goes well that's not going to be for 20+ years, most likely.
My wife and I bought a house in Arlington about three years ago. We both work in industries that are huddled around the areas of Waltham, Lexington, Burlington, and Cambridge and were looking for a long term home (20+ years). It takes 15-20 minutes to get to Waltham, Lexington and Burlington from Arlington Heights. The commute to the red line and Cambridge is easy with the bike trail through town (only 3 road crossings between us and Alewife), or a 12 minute bus ride to Alewife. We have 3 bus lines that will get us to Cambridge. It's good flexibility. Median single home price is about 675-700k, $380/sqft. 800k would get you a nice place.
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