Realistic drive time/best routes from Longfellow/Seward to Brooklyn Center (Osseo: homes, neighborhood)

[kcitti]

How long is it honestly going to take during rush hour times and what would be the best route?

[Slig]

Hiawatha Ave to 94 East or Hiawatha Ave to 35W North to 694 West. 94 would be the most direct route but you have to go through the Lowry Tunnel which always gets tied up. It's probably still going to be your best option though. I didn't realize you were working in Brooklyn Center, it might make more sense for you to look NE or Camden just from a commute convenience standpoint. That way you'd avoid the tunnel and probably cut at least 10 minutes from your commute.

[kcitti]

I won't be, but the GF has a strong lead there. I am working Downtown, hence the desire to be on the LRT

[Slig]

Gotcha. I suppose there is no perfect solution then unless you wanted to live in NE or N and take the bus instead of the light rail. For a daily commute there'd be little difference for you but the light rail passes more often during non-rush hours than most bus routes.

[kcitti]

How about commute in minutes then for her to BCenter?

[Slig]

It looks like depending where you are you could avoid Hiawatha and take the 94 on ramp before that which would help. Google says about 15 minutes but I would guess at least 20-25 with traffic.

[Camden Northsider]

I thought you were going to be at the University which I think is why most of us recommended Longfellow/ Seward (in addition to the various features/ "vibe" you were looking for). The difference between light rail and bus travel times/ regularity from places close to downtown like Seward neighborhood is pretty negligible, but if you're going to be around Lake Street or farther south it would have a positive impact.

I guess it depends on where at in Brooklyn Center she will be. She could take 94W to 394W to 100N but these can get pretty jam-packed during rush hour so taking 94W all the way there is probably a better option. Another possibility (to B.C.) would be taking Dowling Ave exit from 94W, heading west, going North on Penn (which will bring you to my neighborhood), and then connecting to Osseo Road which will take you over the bridge into Brooklyn Center, but I doubt that would be faster, and for the most part, whatever she takes she'll somewhat be doing a reverse commute which will be helpful for driving times (although the intersection of 100 and 394 seems crazy from all directions around rush hour). But considering that I live in a neighborhood that borders Brooklyn Center, and work in Cedar Riverside, and it generally only takes me 10-15 minutes driving (20 in worst case scenarios), I would think she could generally keep it in the 20-25 minute range depending on where at in Longfellow and/or B.C. I might also recommend seeing if taking Cedar Ave (turns into Washington) to 35W S to 94W (or coming back, 94E to 35WN to Washington ave exit to Cedar Ave) might be faster than Hiawatha route, I think it can be less congested at times but can't say for sure.

If you were to take other people's suggestions and look at North or NE, if I remember right, I think my neighborhood is one that I thought you might be OK with and/or like (Victory) so you might want to just drive around it and check it out- we're between B.C. and DT (actually just over the bridge from Brooklyn Center so it's less than 5 min drive any time of day). Downside for you would be the bus ride to get DT is probably 20-30 minutes (and about 10 minutes driving). We do have a lot of Downtown workers that commute via bus, however, and I work in the West Bank area and it usually takes me only 10-15 minutes driving to work (although for whatever reason public transit is about 35-40 minutes to get to my office). I really don't think Longfellow has anything that Victory doesn't have in any case- it seems a lot of people that purchase homes in Victory were also targeting Longfellow during their search and vice-versa so I think there are similar feels, demographics, and price ranges to an extent. Seward, however, would be closer in to DT, have more of an immigrant community as well as mix of urban/residential areas (and likely more n'hood businesses/ better walkability as well, albeit not as much as one might think) so if you're looking for more of an "urban" trendster granola feeling with close access to a lot of ethnic restaurants, you might want to check it out and parts of Northeast Mpls. Although NE can be a little hit and miss at times in the sense that it's more industrial and sometimes downright ugly in neighborhood appearance, Northeast will have pretty easy access to downtown, the university, and better commute times to B.C.

Good luck-

[kurls]

I rarely experience problems with the Lowry tunnel, and even when I do once we get out 94 west flows better than any other freeway in the Metro. Period. If I was travelling that route I would just take 94 west right to BC, forget taking 35w to 694. That makes no sense.