Commute to Downtown Minneapolis (Plymouth, Coon Rapids: home builder, neighborhood, school district)

[golfgal]

I think traffic in the northern suburbs is far worse then anything in the southern suburbs. There are just too many major roads converging at the same spot and it causes major back-ups no matter what road you are on. 35W in the south metro is the only road that is really bad coming from the southern suburbs. I have friends that live in Apple Valley and take the express bus to Minneapolis. It is 40 minutes from their house to their desk. We live in Rosemount and love it here. It takes me about 30 minutes to get into Minneapolis on the tail end of rush hour-leaving my house around 8:00-going up Cedar to the Crosstown and 35-not including snow storms or major accidents.

Eagan in the 196 district would be another place to consider. It gets you a little closer to Minneapolis, great community, nice parks, biking/running trails, etc. You will find great biking, running, walking trails all over Eagan, Apple Valley and Rosemount.

[tim444]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I think traffic in the northern suburbs is far worse then anything in the southern suburbs. There are just too many major roads converging at the same spot and it causes major back-ups no matter what road you are on. 35W in the south metro is the only road that is really bad coming from the southern suburbs. I have friends that live in Apple Valley and take the express bus to Minneapolis. It is 40 minutes from their house to their desk. We live in Rosemount and love it here. It takes me about 30 minutes to get into Minneapolis on the tail end of rush hour-leaving my house around 8:00-going up Cedar to the Crosstown and 35-not including snow storms or major accidents.

Good to know, and we are considering Apple Valley in our search. It seems that I will have some flexibility with my work hours, so I may be able to avoid the bulk of rush hour from either the North or the South.

Eagan in the 196 district would be another place to consider. It gets you a little closer to Minneapolis, great community, nice parks, biking/running trails, etc. You will find great biking, running, walking trails all over Eagan, Apple Valley and Rosemount.

Hmm. Had not looked into Eagan or Rosemount. Will look into those areas as well. I will most likely have several months to really find an area that offers the best balance for my family.

[Slig]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I think traffic in the northern suburbs is far worse then anything in the southern suburbs. There are just too many major roads converging at the same spot and it causes major back-ups no matter what road you are on. 35W in the south metro is the only road that is really bad coming from the southern suburbs.

I've lived in both the northern and southern suburbs and there is no way northern suburb traffic is worse. I find traffic from both ways equally sucky. Pick your poison, get jammed up on 35W, 10, 65, 610, 252, 94, 100, 169 or 35E from the north or get jammed on 35W, 494, 62, 77, 169, 100, or 35E from the south. Given a choice between the two I'd probably take Northern suburb traffic because it's a little less populated there, hence less cars.

[Aylalou]

Originally Posted by tim444

Good to know, and we are considering Apple Valley in our search. It seems that I will have some flexibility with my work hours, so I may be able to avoid the bulk of rush hour from either the North or the South.


Hmm. Had not looked into Eagan or Rosemount. Will look into those areas as well. I will most likely have several months to really find an area that offers the best balance for my family.

Eagan, Rosemount, Farmington - you can find less expensive housing than in St. Louis Park, Plymouth, etc. Eagan has varying areas as to visual appeal. Some are beautiful with old trees.

[tim444]

Well, I talked to someone in HR at the company I am looking at and they told me one of their co-workers in the office lives in Maple Grove and told them the commute was typically 30-35 minutes (barring an accident or bad weather).

I can definitely handle that. My wife and I live in a small community in the metro Salt Lake area (lots of horse property) and, to be honest, it is a pain when it comes to shopping. Most general stores are 15 minutes away, but decent restaurants and specialty stores are a hike (for instance there is no Best Buy within 20 miles of my house).

So that is really the balance for us and one of the reasons why Maple Grove stood out to my wife (a Costco close by is a must)

But I will ensure that I work with a good realtor and really take our time. We have to sell our house in Utah first (which is scary right now) before we can buy another house and it will allow us plenty of time to get the lay of the land.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Slig

I've lived in both the northern and southern suburbs and there is no way northern suburb traffic is worse. I find traffic from both ways equally sucky. Pick your poison, get jammed up on 35W, 10, 65, 610, 252, 94, 100, 169 or 35E from the north or get jammed on 35W, 494, 62, 77, 169, 100, or 35E from the south. Given a choice between the two I'd probably take Northern suburb traffic because it's a little less populated there, hence less cars.

And having never commuted from the southern suburbs into Minneapolis you are an expert. Sorry, the traffic on the southern roads other then 35W is no where near as congested as it is in the northern suburbs.

[Slig]

I go opposite traffic every day on the way to and from work, but I suppose it's impossible to see oncoming traffic right? I see traffic jams every day on 494, 62, 77/Cedar Ave and Hiawatha coming out of downtown. The traffic on these roads is worse than the traffic I've seen on HWY 10, 94 W, 694, 35W, 252/610 and 169 in the northern suburbs. Those roads still aren't great, but a little bit better than the jams I see on a daily basis on the southern suburbs. Even smaller roads like Pilot Knob are a nightmare in the morning. I remember taking similar northern suburb roads like 7th Ave in Anoka, Coon Rapids Blvd, St. Francis Blvd/Ferry Street and traffic wasn't as bad as it is during rush hour on Pilot Knob.

[Clifford63]

Traffic can be bad many places. I lived in Dakota county long enough to know that every road going across the river towards Minneapolis is a bad situation during peak traffic times. 35W is really bad, but extra lanes and 62/35W commons project should help a bunch. 169 and Cedar are not much better. I was leaving around 7:00 and it took about an hour to get downtown parked and in my office from Cliff and Cedar prior to the ramp meter adjustments. If you can wait until 8:15, you will see a lot of improvement, but not everyone can do that as I suspect they most likely would. The other option would be to leave by 6:15, but that is not real attractive for me personally as I deal with west coast every day, but plenty of people do this. I did also commute to St. Paul from the same location using 35E as the crossing and it was much better than getting to Minneapolis. I would consider Dakota county if I worked south of the river or St. Paul, and potentially if had more flexibity on schedule. If I had to commute to Minneapolis during peak traffic, I would just say no thanks to Dakota county. It is a nice area overall, but the traffic situtation is a deal breaker for me and my situation. I might feel different if I had ties to the area though.

In the northern burbs, it is the same deal, different river with a few more crossing options. I94 towards Maple Grove is one road that seems to move better than most. Maple Grove is also a bit closer to downtown Minneapolis than many of the areas in Dakota county. 35W south of 694 to downtown is not nearly as bad as traffic coming from the south, but you do get some tangles if you have to come through the section where 694 and 35W run together (further north like Blaine). The unweave the weave project with 35E and 694 seems to have helped a lot with east west traffic on 694, but 35E to St. Paul is still bad.

252 to 610 to 10 is as brutal as any route I have seen and those lights are enough to make you loose hair. The 10 hook to 35 has improved it some. Ferry Street to 169 to 394 is also a tough route. I would consider Anoka, Andover, Coon Rapids to be on par with commute from Apple Valley, Burnsiville, Lakeville areas based on what I have seen, perhaps slightly better. I would say Maple Grove is better than all the above and Plymouth would be even better in terms of commute.

I believe some of this is why you see Plymouth and Maple Grove growing fast and more established areas like Minnetonka, Golden Valley, Wayzata, St. Louis Park commanding a bit more money for similar housing in the north and south.

Ironically, I ended up in the east metro with a commute that is around 18 miles and 25-35 minutes door to desk. 36 is decent, but has delays on what seems to be a random basis. Getting across the river on 35W from the north is a cake walk though. I like a little less commute, but feel like it could be a lot worse too. I94 East of Minnapolis is not a good situation eitther.

The commute is all about getting across the rivers. Choose your crossing wisely and you will be glad you did. That said, commute time is one of many factors that should be considered. I would highly recommend doing the commute to work at the normal time you will do it for any place you are seriously considering. Opinions vary too much to take others advice blindly. It is a hassle, but one thing that might save you many headaches or confirm that an areas is right for you. I actually did this because I had serious concerns with my current location and was leaning to west metro which I was more familiar with. Loved the lot, the area, and after doing the commute, I was able to move forward know it was a good choice.

There is a costco near maple grove in Coon Rapids just south of 10 and main st. Probably 15 minutes or less from Maple Grove.

I did consulting all over the metro for a dozen years, and have seen what traffic is like in many places. I ended up living right in Minneapolis because it was a central place and it helped me out because I ended up going against the grain on traffic most days.

If you like older homes, there are some pretty cool homes in the area with great craftsmanship, wood moldings and floors, built ins etc. Harder to find in most burbs, but some will have them. You will tend to find more of these in areas that were once stand alone cities but have grown to be suburbs. Anoka is one example. White Bear Lake is another. Hastings, Stillwater, Hudson, Lake Elmo, Delano, Rockford are some more. Minneapolis and St. Paul are stacked with homes like this. Many areas are very good and homes have been maintained very well. I recently moved out of an area of Minneapolis where we had a home built in 1924. Lot of work, but there is a certian charm in these type of homes. Closer in, there is some stuff near lake minnetonka that is older that might appeal. Problem you will run into is much of it is smaller and you see more knock downs as a result. Deephaven is an example of this.

Not all the new constrcution is going to be vinly siding cheapo box housing. We did a new home with open floor plan with a lot of ties to craftsman sytle with builtins crown molding, hardwoods on the entire main level and hardiplank exterior. You pay for this stuff, but now is great time to pick one of these type homes up as prices are down a good bit. A few areas where you might see some of this include Liberty on the Lake, Waterstone, Fabel Hills, Victor Gardens and Inspiron. None of those are in Maple Grove, but I am sure there are many more, that are similar. We ended up in a very small develpment of 12 homes.

[opifan]

Regarding commute - the Metro Transit here is pretty good, and riding the bus is an attractive alternative to driving on the messy winter days. I am considering a job opportunity in the downtown area and I live in the SW suburbs...but I've always worked closer to home and have been closer to my kids after-school high school sports, so I'm still wrangling around in my head about it.

I wish you luck on your relocation efforts!

[StilltheSame]

[quote=Slig;10078862]I take a different point of view on house age. From my experience there are alot of older homes that have a great foundation and less major problems than alot of the newer homes that were built. One example is my house in the city was built in 1900 and thus far has only required some very minor enhancements and repairs. Meanwhile, my buddy's house in the suburbs was built in the 1980's and he's spending nearly 30k on it this summer to get the exterior and roof redone. My house had both of those freshly done right before it went on the market so I won't have to worry about them for 10+ years.

So true. Our friend has an amazing home in Maple Grove - less than 5 years old - just gorgeous - except his foundation has a split down the middle. Ouch!