West side commuters (Phoenix: 2015, buying a house, buying)

[jaredC]

Hello all. Who here commutes from the west side? This last week has been hell. I live right off of 75th ave and Lower Buckey rd. On my way into work in the mornings I drop my daughter off on 35th ave and Baseline. Last week a couple of roads got washed out (91st ave between Broadway and Baseline and 67th ave. between Broadway and Southern). This funnels traffic down Broadway, Lower Buckey and Buckey road. My commute at 6:30 am went from 15 minutes to over an hour just to get from my place on 75th ave to 35th ave and Baseline. Anyways, I'm just curious as to who else was effected by this? Also, I'm venting now because I get to look forward to another week or two of this frustrating commute.

[quaide78]

I have been commuting from the West Side now for 9 years. Camelback & ElMirage. Headed to downtown PHX. Yuuuup! It sucks! The I10 is a crawling parking lot from about the 101 now. I don't even take it. I take Camelback mostly. Still takes about an hour to get to work and home going the other way.

It won't get any better anytime soon either. More homes are going up and people are still moving out further West for affordable housing.

Spring Stick and Ball traffic is putting more people on the roads as well. Summer is coming, snow birds go home and Teachers and Students are out of school but it will be hot as hell so, yup still miserable.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by quaide78

I have been commuting from the West Side now for 9 years. Camelback & ElMirage. Headed to downtown PHX. Yuuuup! It sucks! The I10 is a crawling parking lot from about the 101 now. I don't even take it. I take Camelback mostly. Still takes about an hour to get to work and home going the other way.

It won't get any better anytime soon either. More homes are going up and people are still moving out further West for affordable housing.

Spring Stick and Ball traffic is putting more people on the roads as well. Summer is coming, snow birds go home and Teachers and Students are out of school but it will be hot as hell so, yup still miserable.

I don't envy you at all, I see the 10 backed up on the traffic report every morning and can't help but think why does the west side not have any alternate routes into downtown. It seems that some type of I-10 reliever should have been built by now and the public transit options also feel limited compared to the East side. I suppose it's just catching up since the west side is growing now like the east side was 20-30 years ago?

[LagunaMom]

We've lived for decades a couple of miles from Desert Sky Mall. The traffic has become much worse over the past couple of years. LA, Jr.

[Prickly Pear]

The I-10 is really bad. I'm lucky enough to be in West Valley but not have to take that for my commute because I'm too far north. I take the I-17, which was a disaster this winter but I have noticed my commute in the mornings, and afternoons, cut down by nearly 30 minutes now that the weather is getting warmer. When I first started working in Uptown, it would take me somewhere around 50-55 minutes to go thirteen miles, half of which on the freeway. Now it's taking me 30-35 minutes.

[AZ_Rookie]

Takes the same amount of time to travel 31 miles east from West valley as it does 18 miles north/west from OC (SoCal)...

AZ, stop complaining. It's great here (for now).

Or - Keep complaining (maybe it will stay great )

[phenomenon]

Solo drivers cheating the traffic by driving in the HOV lane.
Elderly retirees driving to Dennys during the morning rush hours.
Clueless snowbirds from Minnesota doing 50mph in the left lane.
Parents driving their precious angels to school rather than making them get the bus or cycle as we did at their age.
The daily crash every single day causing tailbacks for miles.

Driving in Phoenix is hell. Only Los Angeles is worse.

[outsideliving]

The problem is that most of the cheap housing is in the west valley and most of the jobs are in the East. There is still alot of land to build in the west valley as well, so it will only get worse. What is needed is some major employers in the west valley. Hopefully the south mountain freeway will improve this though.

The commutes going west to east in the morning and east to west after work are horrible. I honestly would not look at buying in the west valley if I worked eastward. When buying a house a commute should be a high consideration, not just distance but time. Use google maps and plot your destination during the times you would drive.

I also would rather have a slightly longer commute than be in stop and go traffic. I think people need to really think this out before home buying. As you can see from the comments above it gets very taxing.

[new2colo]

Originally Posted by phenomenon

Solo drivers cheating the traffic by driving in the HOV lane.
Elderly retirees driving to Dennys during the morning rush hours.
Clueless snowbirds from Minnesota doing 50mph in the left lane.
Parents driving their precious angels to school rather than making them get the bus or cycle as we did at their age.
The daily crash every single day causing tailbacks for miles.

Driving in Phoenix is hell. Only Los Angeles is worse.

The HOV lane is backed up with or without solo drivers. There should be a dual HOV lane on the 10 with limited access so people can't just jump in and out wherever they want to. There should also be a fleet of highway patrol in unmarked cars daily to deter single occupancy drivers from using the carpool lane.

There is no need for anyone to use the 10 for an extensive distance to get to Denny's. 90 percent of auto drivers I see driving during the rush hour have an Arizona plate. You'll have the stray driver from Southern California who has hit Phoenix at an inopportune time and the occasional snowbird state/province plate, but mostly it's Arizonans. The real issue is the amount of truck traffic and how they're free to use any lane on the freeway, even the HOV lane. In stop and go traffic, it is impossible for them to adjust to the speed of traffic and they end up leaving huge gaps in front of them. Hopefully the 202 South Mountain will take most of them off the 10.

With the way many drivers are here, I'm surprised anyone bikes or walks anywhere.

I agree about the daily crash. However, it seems like there are fewer crashes on the 10 than say the 202 or the 60. I think the heavier volume of cars doesn't allow people to pull as many stupid maneuvers that usually result in accidents.

[stevek64]

Originally Posted by phenomenon

Solo drivers cheating the traffic by driving in the HOV lane.
Elderly retirees driving to Dennys during the morning rush hours.
Clueless snowbirds from Minnesota doing 50mph in the left lane.
Parents driving their precious angels to school rather than making them get the bus or cycle as we did at their age.
The daily crash every single day causing tailbacks for miles.

Driving in Phoenix is hell. Only Los Angeles is worse.

Nah, we got it pretty good here in comparison. Really good actually in comparison:

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/b...ts-a-good.html

"The Phoenix metro ranks 127th and 154th out of the 356 worst U.S. metropolitan commutes when it comes to hours delayed in traffic, according to the 2015 Inrix Traffic Scorecard."

And when the new 202 loop is opened in a few years, that will make a huge difference in traffic flow.

Regardless, no matter where I worked, east/west/in between, I'd want the commute to be within 30 minutes at most on average, one way. There are many people who live in the west valley and commute everyday to downtown/the east valley and take a lot of time doing so but people should know what they are in for in regards to commute time.