Commute from Bozeman 2 Butte? (Helena, Deer Lodge: real estate, house prices, college)

[kj22166]

I've accepted a job in the town of Butte but would much rather live in Bozeman. Is it possible to commute like this? How long would it take?

[Desertrose34]

An hour and a half in good weather. What job did you get? have you checked out Whitehall?

[MTSilvertip]

You may wish to check out Cardwell, Deer Lodge and Anaconda as well. All are closer to Butte with decent roads, and no passes. House prices are much more reasonable too.

Boulder is about 1/2 way between Butte and Helena, more snow and ice than the others, but good 4 lane highway so if you take it slow, you can make it. There can be some pretty good storms coming across Elk Park, so the road may not be safe for travel sometimes.

The trip from Bozeman to Butte is 90 miles, but the worst part is going over Homestake Pass. Very steep, very bad weather with accumulations of snow and ice.

Runaway Semi tractor-trailers can make it even more exciting.

When I was working in Bozeman one female on the crew drove from Whitehall every day. it is only about 60 miles. She didn't have any passes to cross and didn't usually have any problems.

With gas prices the way they are now and real estate prices in Bozeman, I doubt it would be cost effective to drive every day.

However, Bozeman is close enough so you can easily drive there for supper or shopping whenever you want.

Good Luck, Hope that helps.

[organick]

in two words....hell no, you will not want to do that twice a day everyday.

[mtn_viking]

I'm with Silvertip and Organick. I think you'd have to be nuts to drive that road twice a day in the winter. Whatever quality of life you might think you'd be gaining by living in Bozeman would be shot by the years that trip would take off you're life. Besides, it's beautiful around Butte. The Pintlar Mountains are spectacular. Butte has a great history and a real local flavor. Unlike Bozeman which has managed to transform itself into "any mountain town, USA"

[sky1949]

only if you want to drive in horrible conditions about 50 days a year, each way

[Reziac]

I think anyone who uses the word "commute" in the same sentence with "Montana" probably does not know what they are getting into.

Bozeman to Butte is 1.5 hours on a good day with light traffic, 2 to 3 hours in bad weather. There are actually two passes, Homestake and the Whitehall grade. While in all the years I lived near Bozeman and travelled to Butte several times a year, I never saw either closed or badly iced up, I often found myself driving in storm or whiteout conditions, where you really had to take it easy. And there was a LOT of slow and truck traffic going up Homestake, especially westbound, and that alone adds significantly to travel time -- I imagine that's only gotten worse.

So.. hell no, what are you thinking, do you need new meds?

BTW I've seen ice on the ponds at Elk Park in July, so I imagine that grade can ice up any time it rains, year round. I never had the misfortune to go that way in bad weather.

[cedar_bluff_tree_farm]

Are you working at Resodyn in Butte?

If so, you may not have to worry about your commute for very long based on how quickly they seem to lose employees there. Ever since my college days they have been hiring continuously, and since they're not expanding, that means they've been firing continuously as well.

[Redraven]

You can make that commute if you want to, but I would NOT do it.

[roadfamily6now]

Originally Posted by organick

in two words....hell no, you will not want to do that twice a day everyday.

I agree, there is no freaking way I would drive the butte pass everyday, in the winter!