Commute times from Edina to St. Paul (Minneapolis, Bloomington: apartments, school)

[edinawannabe]

Currently we are looking at apartments in Edina, and Eden Prairie and put a deposit down on one in Edina, BEFORE my husband clarified the mistake that he is working at Prometric on Energy Park Dr. in St. Paul (hes a contractor and gets told last minute about client detail) and Not St. Louis Park. SO now we need to know if its worth the driving or just lose the deposit and move into St. Paul. Whats the traffic like and approx. Drive times. We lived next to MOA in Bloomington, and he worked off of Normandale Blvd. That drive was CRAZY it was an hour commute at 5pm on 494W and a 30 minute on American Blvd. We dont want to have to do that all the time anymore if possible.

[edinawannabe]

also if anyone has a suggestion of a safe, clean suburb of St. Paul thats a closer commute... please feel free to comment. I can handle losing the deposit if we can cut drive time down a LOT...

[Isaysos]

The commute from Edina to St. Paul is kind of a hassle, but dooable. Energy Park is on the west side of St. Paul so its just a matter of getting through Minneapolis either crosstown to 35W or Hwy 100 to 395. It might be just as quick to go from where you live in Bloomington to energy park, maybe even quicker. Just take Hwy 5 up to Cleveland or Snelling.
There are many decent areas within the city of St. Paul that you should look at (its even nicer than the east side of Bloomington IMO).

[sonoronos]

From top down - Riverview, West St. Paul, Lilydale, Sunfish Lake, and Inver Grove Heights are close to St. Paul. Anything just off of HWY 52 and south of the river will get you into St. Paul for your commute very, very quickly.

Not sure about the commute from Edina in, but to my knowledge you are going with the flow of rush hour traffic (eastbound AM, westbound PM.)

Generally speaking however, people choose to live in Edina for a specific reason and that is for the school system. It is therefore largely a bedroom community and your social life might be less than stellar if you don't have children. Just remember that there should be a few more considerations above commute when considering a place to live.

Warning: South St. Paul suburbs are intensely boring places and if you are a young couple, I do recommend looking for a place in the city.

[Slig]

I made the commute yesterday from Eagan to Minnetonka at 4:30pm. I took HWY 62 westbound and traffic was heavy. It took me a solid half hour to get from the Mendota Bridge in Eagan to Excelsior Ave in Minnetonka. Just from that experience I do not recommend making Edina to St. Paul your daily commute.