Do potential newcomers realize how big the Phoenix metro area is? (Scottsdale: buying a home, neighborhoods)

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

Not a big city? Maybe not when compared to New York but it's plenty big for me.

Have you ever driven on the I-10 during the peak of the morning and evening crush times? Or the 202 Loop in and out of Tempe?

The major backups are at the stack and mini-stack, and they're not always because of accidents or blocked lanes, just normal crush hour congestion. I drive this route every weekday and it can be a major headache.

Add a monsoon storm in the mix and we're taking serious backups.

Where are you from? I guess if you're from here or some small town the congestion seems bad. I have lived in the New York area and visit family in the Miami area. You want to see congestion? Travel to either one of those cities and you will NEVER complain about Phoenix traffic again.

Yes, I have driven the 10, the 202, the 51, the 101 and other freeways during our rush hour. It is not that bad at all relative to many major metropolitan areas. Yes, you drag along and traffic can be stop and go. However, you are not dead stopped for a long time. Congestion here is just not much of an issue yet.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by ShampooBanana

Having lived in Chicago much of my life and been to many, many big cities througout the country, the "traffic" in Phoenix is child's play compared to most - ESPECIALLY for a city of it's size. Like Valley Native said, the infrastructure here is fantastic and actually overbuilt (to account for future population growth, I'm sure), so traffic flows smoothly 90% of the time. The backups you might experience during rush hour on I-10 from about the airport to US60 are about as bad as it gets for here and it's NOTHING compared to the any freeway in Chicago, DC, or LA during rush hour. I've experienced far worse traffic in places like Indianapolis, Detroit, Seattle, and Denver than I ever have here, and those are all much smaller metro areas than Phoenix. The quality of the roads here is about 5x better than any of those places, too (having no freeze/thaw cycle or road salts/snow plows certainly helps!). I think it took me all of about a month to figure out my way around most of Phoenix once I moved here.

Those are good points. Phoenix traffic isn't the best, but certainly not the worst. The larger metros like L.A., New York, and Chicago are the worst in my opinion, and a lot of that is due to the narrower roads and millions of drivers commuting all at the same time. Even the freeways of the L.A. area tend to be narrower and older styled compared to here, despite most of them having ten or more lanes.

And yes, weather definitely plays a part in traffic bottlenecks. No blizzards, ice, snow to contend with. Very little fog, and not a whole lot of heavy rain to flood the roads. The worst thing we have to deal with is the damn dust during a "haboob", which can be a hazard like fog can. Other than that, our weather isn't restrictive like it is in many other parts of the country, and our streets & freeways are generally in good shape. With all this in mind, I can't understand why there are a fair share of slow drivers here. Our climate & road system allows for faster travel most of the time while still being safe. Must be all the transplants being used to slower driving because of the inclement conditions where they came from.

[Stumblina]

Valley Native, you're so right! When I first thought about moving to AZ I DID NOT realize how widespread it was!!! The more I visited, the more it became apparent that there's just no such thing as a "hop, skip and a jump" to get from Point A to Point B. During one house hunting visit, I rented a house in Troon. I don't know what I was thinking!! To get to Buckeye or Maricopa I had to leave very early in the morning just to look at houses! Once realizing how widespread it truly was, it became very difficult to decide on an area to live. I narrowed it down to four areas I really liked: Scottsdale, Surprise, Buckeye and Maricopa. I absolutely love Scottsdale but if I bought there I would be "house poor." Surprise was my second choice, but I discovered I could build the same house in Buckeye for about $15,000 less. Maricopa was just too far from Phoenix. So, I decided on Buckeye. I know, it isn't really "centrally" located and is somewhat "rural" (which I like), but with everything Goodyear has to offer, including the new mall being built at Bullard and McDowell, I think it'll be perfect for me. But yes, if you're planning on moving to AZ, get on Google and map out some distances between places so you can see exactly how far it is!

[Java Jolt]

Originally Posted by miamiman

Where are you from? I guess if you're from here or some small town the congestion seems bad. I have lived in the New York area and visit family in the Miami area. You want to see congestion? Travel to either one of those cities and you will NEVER complain about Phoenix traffic again.

Yes, I have driven the 10, the 202, the 51, the 101 and other freeways during our rush hour. It is not that bad at all relative to many major metropolitan areas. Yes, you drag along and traffic can be stop and go. However, you are not dead stopped for a long time. Congestion here is just not much of an issue yet.

I'm from upper Michigan, yes a fairly small town.

I guess you're right, I think of Phoenix as pretty bustling and heavy traffic since I come from a much smaller town but someone from New York would probably think of Phoenix as no big deal.

[tulani]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

I'm from upper Michigan, yes a fairly small town.

I guess you're right, I think of Phoenix as pretty bustling and heavy traffic since I come from a much smaller town but someone from New York would probably think of Phoenix as no big deal.

I live in a really small town in central Oregon. A traffic jam here is three cars waiting to make a turn.

I lived in Phoenix for 30 years. Just going to the doctor's was a 45 minute ride... from west valley to central valley. That was just the way it was.

Here it is a 30 - 45 minute drive to the nearest big city. The drive is up and down a beautiful mountain road... no winding turns, no u-turns... just a nice drive. People here constantly complain about the LONG drive. I don't drive, but I love this ride way more than that 45 minute drive through Phoenix.

[_Charles_]

Big not only in population, but area. Something very common I see on this forum is how people post they are moving to Phoenix, and want advice on housing, commutes, shopping, etc., but they often don't say what PART of Phoenix they are moving to. The city itself consists of over 500 square miles. Not only that, but there are vast differences between areas like Moon Valley, Maryvale, Desert Ridge, and Arcadia. Many newbies also don't realize that Phoenix has a distinct division between east & west, and north & south sides. Numbered avenues, drives, and lanes are west of Central Avenue, and numbered streets, places, and ways are east of Central ... and there are often huge differences. For example, 24th Street & Camelback is a LOT different than 24th Avenue & Camelback.

Many don't give any information and ask questions a thousand miles wide. It gets absurd.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by _Charles_

Many don't give any information and ask questions a thousand miles wide. It gets absurd.

No kidding! It especially becomes monotonously absurd when you see threads about moving to Arizona in the Phoenix forum. Arizona topics that are referring to the state in general belong in the Arizona forum. And I wish that more Phoenix specific threads would be more thorough about what areas of Phoenix they are interested in ... not just the city as a whole since it covers such a huge area. That's why I started this thread ... I don't think the majority of potential newcomers realize how large of an area this metro area covers. Even some of the larger suburbs take up a pretty extensive amount of land area, such as Scottsdale, Peoria, and Mesa.

[seattlecoming]

The Phoenix area is huge area-wise and it's 1 of the most populated cities in America but it's not a true big city when you compare it to San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, DFW, Houston, Chicago, or most eastern metros. I live near Seattle and traffic here isn't anything to brag about but Phoenix traffic is no bowl of cherries either. The highways are pretty well maintained but the sprawl is insane. Honestly when I lived in Phoenix I spent so much time driving back and forth to work because what few large companies exist there are scattered all about- not everything is downtown like most normal cities. People drive like maniacs- tailgating, speeding, lots of road rage. Major cross streets and intersections are even more of a joy. People sit idle at green lights but race through red lights. It isn't so much Phoenix traffic is heavy, it's the long commutes to get anywhere and the stupidity of the drivers that cause so much stress.

[Java Jolt]

Originally Posted by seattlecoming

The Phoenix area is huge area-wise and it's 1 of the most populated cities in America but it's not a true big city when you compare it to San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, DFW, Houston, Chicago, or most eastern metros. I live near Seattle and traffic here isn't anything to brag about but Phoenix traffic is no bowl of cherries either. The highways are pretty well maintained but the sprawl is insane. Honestly when I lived in Phoenix I spent so much time driving back and forth to work because what few large companies exist there are scattered all about- not everything is downtown like most normal cities. People drive like maniacs- tailgating, speeding, lots of road rage. Major cross streets and intersections are even more of a joy. People sit idle at green lights but race through red lights. It isn't so much Phoenix traffic is heavy, it's the long commutes to get anywhere and the stupidity of the drivers that cause so much stress.

Long commutes, traffic tie-ups, and bad drivers are common with any large city, this includes Phoenix and all those other places you mentioned.

Traffic hassles are one of the downsides to living in a large metropolitan area, it's a matter of taking the bitter with the sweet.

[Valley Native]

As we move into fall & winter, we're going to see the traffic get even worse here. Kids are back in school, people are returning home from summer vacations ... and then there will be the annual snowbird migration & more people arriving for events like Fiesta Bowl, New Years Eve block parties, spring training, etc. I've noticed more traffic already. Early in the morning at 5:30 the 51 freeway southbound was slow moving with the increase in traffic, and afternoon/evening rush hour seems to be more intense than it was during the peak of the summer. The one good thing about our heat is less people on the streets & freeways, which translates to easier commutes ... but that is coming to an end.