Ft. Lauderdale to Coral Gables commute (Miami, Hollywood: house, transferring to, school)

[movingtoscsoon]

How long would a commute from Ft. Lauderdale to Coral Gables be? I hear bad things about it. I am moving to the area soon and my spouse will be working in Jupiter and I will be in Coral Gables so we are looking to live in Ft. Lauderdale. How is the tri-rail? Any input is appreciated.

[doggiebus]

Tri Rail will get you to the airport, from there then you'd either take a bus or you could take the metrorail depending on where in Coral Gables your office is? You'll most likely want to use your car. From Mid-May through November you won't want to walking outside int he elements unless you have a shower at work. Have you thought about living in Western Broward?

[tcard]

Short answer:

It depends on where in Ft Lauderdale to where in Coral Gables and at what time of day. Convenience to major highways and time of day make a huge difference.

Long answer:

I can do Broward Blvd exit on I-95 to UM in 35-40 mins at 6am or 10 pm.

But if you're talking somewhere not convenient to a highway in Ft Lauderdale, say Sunrise blvd and A1A, to somewhere not convenient to a highway in Coral Gables, say Miracle Mile, during rush hour, then you could be looking at a 1-1.5+ hr commute. Throw in an accident blocking at least two lanes (which happens about once per week) add another hour and another .5 hours per additional lane blocked. And if I-95 is shut down you might as well call in. For example, there was an accident this morning blocking 4 lanes that turned a 5 min section of highway into an 1.5 hours.

Also, this wasn't asked about but from my experience it's important: some people might recommend Turnpike but it's not the best way to go unless you live way out in west Broward. Turnpike ends at the golden glades interchange, a place even the devil avoids during rush hour. If you take I-95 you can take the express lane past that hell and cruise all the way to downtown Miami. (The express lane price circles back to time of day; at off hours it costs 25 cents but I've seen it as high as $7.25 during morning rush).

Tri-rail is great for those very few people who happen to have it conveniently located near their house and place of work. The closest tri-rail station to me is half an hour away, has limited parking, which fills up fast, and then to get to Coral Gables you have to transfer to Metro Rail (nothing against Metrorail, I ride it from UM all the time, but its an additional cost and additional time to transfer). So for my commute it costs about the same and takes less time to drive off hours so that's what I do. It all depends on your situation; location and commute time of day.

[Cubanchic]

I lived next to the turnpike (bird road and 117th) and had an assignment in delray beach. I chose my hours 9 am to three pm took me about sixty minutes on a good day.

If any earlier or later it would have been a two hour commute. Like others have stated depends on the location of each job and the hours to be able to say what commute times would be.

I now live further south and just getting to baptist hospital area in Kendall take me about forty mins unless I leave early. Today I have to go to the doral office and plan on leaving at 6:45 am trust to make it by eight.

Traffic in south Florida is just as bad as traffic in LA sometimes.

[hurricaneMan1992]

That Tri-rail-to-Metrorail transfer is so far out of the way, and besides Metrorail doesn't enter the heart of Coral Gables, so you'd be better off transferring to a #37 or #42 bus at the airport station--about 20 minutes to downtown CG...

... Except that the Tri-rail part of Airport Station is not yet open.

Actually, #42 stops at other Tri-rail stations, but it would add a lot of time on the bus. (Nevertheless, this commute does show how it would be useful to keep the existing Tri-rail line open when/if we get the FEC corridor line).

A potentially better option: 95 Express busses to downtown Miami from Broward Blvd, Sheriden St., Tri-rail, Hollywood Blvd., Miramar, or Pembroke Pines. (Broward and Sheriden are Miami-Dade busses, so it's cheaper to transfer.) station Also 95 express busses leave Golden Glades every 5 minutes during rush hour.

When I have to be on the main UM campus in the morning (8-9 am), I usually drive from Aventura to the Golden Glades park-and-ride (with school traffic and on ramp hassles, this alone takes 20 minutes...and I just want to be off the road at that point!), take 95-express, then Metrorail from downtown Miami, it takes about an hour--which is similar to driving all the way, and I get some reading in on the way.

This week we get the first cold front so the "sweat factor" will be less of an issue.