Mansfield to woburn??? To far??? (Boston, Burlington: apartment, to live, safe)

[liketheshoe]

I'm taking a job in Woburn and a friend has offered his apartment in Mansfield which is obviously very generous. However, I'm really concerned about the commute which, with traffic, looks really far. Can anyone tell me how bad a commute it will be and if I'm worrying about nothing? Thanks!

[holden125]

Originally Posted by liketheshoe

Can anyone tell me how bad a commute it will be and if I'm worrying about nothing? Thanks!

You are not worrying about nothing. That commute would be quite tough.

It's at least about 45 minutes without any traffic, but well more during the rush hours. 95 North and 128 are both pretty bad traffic-wise in the AM and PM rushes. Once you get past the Mass Pike on 128, the worst of the traffic is going the other way, but it would still take a long time just to get that far.

[liketheshoe]

Is it safe to say that with traffic it would take betwee 1.5 and 2 hours?

[vter]

I have a friend who does a similar commute (Easton to Burlington) and it takes him 1.5 hours. He's sick of it!

[rek992001]

Well, if the apartment is free, then I say go for it, at least for a little while. But if you're paying rent, find someplace closer. Unless you're working second shift, that commute is going to be a killer. Rt 128/95 is pretty much the most direct route and it blows during regular working hours.

[ogre]

Agree with Rek. It might be good not to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth, and to take the offer of a free apartment . . . for a little while. Once you're settled in, and it's time to look for your own place, you may want to look closer to Woburn.

I think you posted a similar question about commuting from another town south of Boston. The answer about whether this commute is reasonable will pretty much be the same for commuting to Woburn from any town south of Boston, the answer being that it's likely to be a tough commute. The general rule is that if you work in a town either north or south of Boston and want to have a reasonable commute, you want to live on the same side of Boston as where you work. Commuting either through Boston from one side to the other or around Boston on 128 will usually be tough. Even though Woburn is more like northwest rather than north, it's still far enough around toward the north that you'd have to go through Boston or around via 128 to get there from any town to the south, so that's not good.

Depending on the specific locations involved, commuting from towns west of Boston to either north or south could work, but you have to look at that on a case-by-case basis. From some western suburbs to some northern or southern 'burbs might be an okay commute, but with other towns it could be rough. But it's pretty much always best to avoid crossing from south to north or vice versa.