Shadyside to Monroeville commute (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: to live, area, distance)

[Zmaster588]

Sorry for posting yet another commute question, but my familiarity with Pittsburgh is limited to one visit and what I can see on a map.

I'm working in Monroeville, but trying to live with two others working downtown. We would like to live somewhere in the Shadyside area since it seems to be a good middle ground area (distance wise from our work places). I would expect since I will be heading east in the mornings and west in the afternoons that the traffic would be lighter, especially assuming I can avoid the squirrel hill tunnel.

Mapquest puts me at about 20 mins, but I would be expecting 30-40mins with traffic... does this sound about right?

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by Zmaster588

Sorry for posting yet another commute question, but my familiarity with Pittsburgh is limited to one visit and what I can see on a map.

I'm working in Monroeville, but trying to live with two others working downtown. We would like to live somewhere in the Shadyside area since it seems to be a good middle ground area (distance wise from our work places). I would expect since I will be heading east in the mornings and west in the afternoons that the traffic would be lighter, especially assuming I can avoid the squirrel hill tunnel.

Mapquest puts me at about 20 mins, but I would be expecting 30-40mins with traffic... does this sound about right?

I think you could do it in less than 30-40 mins since you are going away from traffic. Taking Penn all the way to Churchill and hopping on the Parkway from there should get you to the western edge of Monroeville in roughly 20 minutes.

[BrianTH]

It really isn't far and you are right about the reverse traffic being much better. I'd say 20-30 minutes depending on exactly where in Monroeville.

[squarian]

20 mins sounds about right. Just a point though - you'd shave 5-10 mins off the trip if you lived close to a parkway exit: both Sq Hill and Regent Square have good access to the parkway going either direction and to public transit if your friends go downtown by bus.

[Zmaster588]

Thank you everyone for the responses!

[I_Like_Spam]

The key to a Shadyside to Monroeville commute is to go through Wilkinsburg and get on I376 there.

If you can avoid the bottleneck at the Squirrel Hill tunnel, it should be a breeze most days.