Mount Lebanon commute too long to CMU? (Pittsburgh, Whitehall: house, neighborhoods)

[city or suburb]

My husband and I are relocating to the Pittsburgh area this summer and are torn regarding which neighborhood/suburb to move to. He will be working at CMU and I, at least for now, will be staying at home with the kids. If I do go back to work, chances are good that it will be downtown.

While we love Shadyside and Squirrel Hill, and possibly some of the other downtown neighborhoods like Point Breeze and Oakmont, we just don't think we can afford private schools, which takes us to Mount Lebanon. From what we can tell, though, the commute would be horrible...does anyone know just how bad it really is? He would probably leave around 8am and come back leaving CMU around 6. What is the best time scenario (say not during rush hour), and what is the worst? The last time we came to visit Pittsburgh was on the 23rd of December and it was raining and really a miserable drive from downtown Pittsburgh to Mt Lebanon, but the school system and nice downtown area keeps us going back to it. We'll be back in town soon to try to test this out for ourselves, but any feedback would really be appreciated.

[trlstreet]

The commute is a rough one either way, but at least you would not be dealing w/ the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. I'd say at the peak of rush hour you might be looking at 45 mins or so, someone will correct me if I am wrong. To beat the worst of rush hour, I'd say your husband would need to hit the road by 6:15-6:30 am and return after 6 pm.

You might want to give another look at homes in the Squirrel Hill area. The public schools there are pretty good, especially at the younger grades. We just bought a house one block from Minadeo w/ the idea that we do not want to send our children to private school. Mt Lebanon school district is second to none, but we were drawn to the easy access of Squirrel Hill.

[trlstreet]

By the way, I believe you meant Oakland, not Oakmont. Oakmont might not be a bad option to/from CMU, probably a 20 min drive, 30 min during rush hour.

[Hopes]

Go to Aspinwall or Fox Chapel. The school district is very good and the commute is only 15 to 20 minutes tops in rush hour traffic.

[stevo6]

Mt. Lebo to CMU is a solid hour during rush hour - 30 minutes otherwise. Its not much more than going into downtown , since the stretch from Pittsburgh to Oakland is pretty quick. Quite a few people do it.

[5stones]

Seriously, not bad at all. Many Many MANy people commute from the South hills to Downtown everyday and like the above poster mentioned...Oakland is a pretty quick shot from Downtown.
The are of Mt Lebo is great, EXCELLENT schools, great resturants and fantastic family neighborhoods.

[stasia]

I work in Oakland and commute from Whitehall (South Hills). It's a 30-minute drive during rush hour, but only because I know the back roads! I have a few coworkers who commute from Mt. Lebo ... during rush hour, it's usually a 45-minute drive for them.

ETA: CMU is in Oakland ... I just assumed you knew that, but maybe shouldn't have.

[TRO Z]

I personally make the commute from Mt.Lebo to Town daily, 45 minutes to town..If you leave at 8 am..add 15 more min to cmu..

[morefromcali]

Doesn't the T go to CMU from Mt Lebanon? Would that be a viable option?

[Hopes]

The T only goes into downtown. There is no subway going from downtown to Oakland.

Heck, there is no subway going anywhere. It just loops around the immediate downtown area.