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We are seriously considering a move from Clearwater, FL to the Raleigh area. I'm wondering how NC traffic compares to the garbage I sit in each day. Are there any former Pinellas county people who can tell me how NC traffic compares??
Will we really need to pay attention to where we live compared to where we work or does the traffic move during rush hours? What I really don't want is to sit on the highway - in park! - each day waiting for the traffic to clear.
Can I live south of Raleigh and work north of Raleigh without having a 2 hour commute? Since we don't have jobs yet, I can't give specifics but any idea of what we are getting into is better than none!!
Thanks for the information - this forum is awesome!!
We are seriously considering a move from Clearwater, FL to the Raleigh area. I'm wondering how NC traffic compares to the garbage I sit in each day. Are there any former Pinellas county people who can tell me how NC traffic compares??
Will we really need to pay attention to where we live compared to where we work or does the traffic move during rush hours? What I really don't want is to sit on the highway - in park! - each day waiting for the traffic to clear.
Can I live south of Raleigh and work north of Raleigh without having a 2 hour commute? Since we don't have jobs yet, I can't give specifics but any idea of what we are getting into is better than none!!
Thanks for the information - this forum is awesome!!
Why would you want to live South of Raliegh and work in the North of it? Why not live closer to where you work?
Yes, you could easily find a two hour commute with those distances depending on the exact areas, but it wouldn't have to be.
I have not lived in either Pinellas or Raleigh (yet) but we have family in the Pinellas area, and have visited Raleigh repeatedly-in my opinion, there is more traffic in Pinellas. I have not seen anything in Raleigh like 19-people complain about Capital Bvld (1) but it's nothing like 19 or 375.
NomoreFLA,
You can go to the WRAL website and check out the traffic cams they have all over Raleigh. I did that at all hours of the day to get an idea on traffic. I live in Miami and it's nothing like here. It's Triangle Traffic Cams :: WRAL.com.
There are many people that live very close to their work, schools, shops etc. These mixed use communities are appreciating and the quality of life is very desirable. If you want to live hours away from your job and have a lot of land and get in the car to get milk and bread, you can do that too. If you have kids, you can put them in the car and drive them to the park, to their friends, to soccer. Buy a nice car because you will be living in it. Chatham County has a lot of new construction and great new roads, low taxes. It is very quiet, private and peaceful. There are a lot of other places where you can have a pleasant commute - Apex, Holly Springs, North Raleigh etc.
What kind of lifestyle do you want? You can have smaller lots, with sidewalks and walkable communities, parks etc in mixed use neighborhoods. We have it all here.
Good Luck!
I used to live in Tampa so I know what you mean about the traffic. I find it less here, and generally the drivers are better here than down there. I remember I would see and accident daily on my way to work from Brandon to USF and I see maybe one a week here, if that. However, it will depend on where you live / work. Here, a lot of people work in research triangle park which is southeast Durham so the morning commute is busiest from Raleigh / Cary into RTP and evening commute going back to Cary / Raleigh. I work at Duke and live in NE Durham and have no problem with commute. My advice would be to find employment and plan around that if your commute is going to be a big issue for you.
I'm from Miami, and while I'm not sure what the Pinellas/Hillsborough traffic is like, Miami traffic is pretty awful compared to anything I've experienced here so far. There are some routes where you'll find some traffic because of so many people commuting to one area (RTP).
The way I see it, this area is doing nothing but growing, so a "reasonable" 45 minute commute now could be a nightmare in five years, depending on the locations of work and home. I would definitely keep that in mind and find out the location of your job as well as traffic patterns before you commit to a home. For me, getting away from the traffic is one of the reasons I am happy I relocated, so I'm going to do what I can to keep the growth from effecting me in that regard.
No comparison...Pinellas traffic was one of the reasons we left Palm Harbor ( 15 months ago) for Cary. I lived in NY, CT, OK< Tx, Fla and here, and Pinellas was the worst!!
Now, I don't drive to RTP to work, which I hear is rough , but I have driven in rush hour traffic up through Capital Blvd. It is annoying, as all traffic is, but Pinellas!!! UGH!!! And you know what, it is so pretty driving here, lots of trees...it's not so bad. We love it here! Good luck...
Clearwater vs Cary? Pinellas vs Raleigh? It will be a piece of cake for you to live in Raleigh. You won't have to experience the travel from Countryside Mall to what used to be Clearwater Mall in Raleigh. Sure there is traffic in NC but not like in Clearwater. And there are two things you will have to get used to in NC over FLA...there are these green things in NC called trees (Clearwater had them many a moon ago but decided to pave over them because it just wasn't hot enough) and the lack of billboards. It is the latter that you notice first and find most shocking once you realize how many signs there are (especially Palm Harbor, New Port Richey area).
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