Lancaster <--> Media (Harrisburg, Columbia: moving to, commuting, best)

[TomboGo]

I was wondering if anyone here commutes between Lancaster & Media on a regular basis. My wife and I currently reside in Northeast Philly and I work in Media, PA. We would like to move out towards Lancaster, PA yet still retain my job in Media.

Currently my drive to work through rush hour traffic is about an hour and looking at the maps the trip from Media to Lancaster area (depending on what part) is anywhere from 1-1.5 hours.

Has anyone made the trek between Media and any of these towns during rush hour?

On the west side of Lancaster: Manheim, Millersville, Columbia
On the east side of Lancaster: Strasburg, New Holland, Paradise

If so could you tell me what the traffic is like, what the actual drive times were and if there are any lesser beaten ways to get to and from any faster.

Any help would be appreciated.

[lititzman2003]

Originally Posted by TomboGo

I was wondering if anyone here commutes between Lancaster & Media on a regular basis. My wife and I currently reside in Northeast Philly and I work in Media, PA. We would like to move out towards Lancaster, PA yet still retain my job in Media.

Currently my drive to work through rush hour traffic is about an hour and looking at the maps the trip from Media to Lancaster area (depending on what part) is anywhere from 1-1.5 hours.

Has anyone made the trek between Media and any of these towns during rush hour?

On the west side of Lancaster: Manheim, Millersville, Columbia
On the east side of Lancaster: Strasburg, New Holland, Paradise

If so could you tell me what the traffic is like, what the actual drive times were and if there are any lesser beaten ways to get to and from any faster.

Any help would be appreciated.

You may want to add Blue Ball and Intercourse on the East side. The commute can be tough, especially when it snows. Both the PA Turnpike and Route 30 bypass jam up pretty quickly and I don't think PENNDOT does a great job removing the snow from either highway. Maybe consider the southern part of the county, towards Quarryville. Not as big of an Amish community but more rural and less traffic. You could take Route 1 into Media from there but I've never driven it during rush hour so I don't know how long the ride will take you. If you decide to look for work in Harrisburg forget about moving to Columbia. The northern part of Manheim may have the property you're seeking. Most of the large Amish communities are in the eastern part of the county so you may not be able to have the best of both worlds. Millersville is a nice town but a long ride to either Media or Harrisburg.

Good luck with your search.

[kone]

Consider Morgantown or the towns from there running out 23 towards Lancaster. Commuting from the areas you mention to Media would be brutal IMHO. Denver and Adamstown maybe have the "feel" of what you're looking for and are right off the PA TP exit. Still, it wouldn't be a "nice" drive, again IMHO. Commenting on commutes is tough because it's all relative to what you do now. My drive from north of Morgantown takes 40-45 minutes on mostly rural roads = my limit.