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I drive it every day. I live in NW Chapel Hill and work near Crabtree Valley Mall.
Generally, that commute on I-40 is against the major rush-hour flows morning and evening. So for the most part, traffic moves along and you can reasonably judge time based on distance (or a Google maps route). Obviously it depends on where at each end you're commuting to/from.
Two other observations:
First, if I-40 is fouled up, you're screwed. It happens every once in a while that there is an accident that significantly slows traffic, and once or twice a year there's a major accident that shuts down many lanes and brings traffic to a standstill. In those situations, a 30-minute commute can turn into two hours! Thankfully that's infrequent.
Second, be aware of local traffic patterns within Chapel Hill. For example, you might not want to make that commute from Southern Village in Chapel Hill as you'll have to drive through some heavy university/health system traffic locally on your way to the highway.
Generally you will be going against the heaviest flow of traffic on I-40 which is (strangely enough) west from Raleigh in the morning, and east towards Raleigh in the evening. Due to the polycentric nature of the Triangle, traffic is really pretty heavy in both directions during rush hour, but thankfully our rush hour is short and mild compared to most bigger cities.
Carrboro is nice and generally less expensive than Chapel Hill and belongs to the same school system, but will add a good bit of time onto your commmute since it can definitely take a while to cross Chapel Hill. If you find you love Southern Village it might actually make sense to take the southern route on Farrington Road and US 64. Otherwise your best option would be to live closer to I-40, eg. the Weaver Dairy Road area.
BoSoxFanNC
we are moving from MD. We have not found a place yet in Chapel Hill. I just wanted to get an idea about the traffic condition. Also, are there local routes (which might be faster) that I can take to get to Raleigh, other than the highway?
Generally you will be going against the heaviest flow of traffic on I-40 which is (strangely enough) west from Raleigh in the morning, and east towards Raleigh in the evening. Due to the polycentric nature of the Triangle, traffic is really pretty heavy in both directions during rush hour, but thankfully our rush hour is short and mild compared to most bigger cities.
Carrboro is nice and generally less expensive than Chapel Hill and belongs to the same school system, but will add a good bit of time onto your commmute since it can definitely take a while to cross Chapel Hill. If you find you love Southern Village it might actually make sense to take the southern route on Farrington Road and US 64. Otherwise your best option would be to live closer to I-40, eg. the Weaver Dairy Road area.
Agree with this. I am living in temp housing in Southern Village and doing the commute to RTP. Most days 2/3 of my commute is getting to 40. So if you lived in the area near Meadowmont or Weaver Dairy Road as orulz says, I think you'd keep your sanity longer. If I lived in SV long term (we ended up deciding on NW Cary and close in June) I'd have to take the back roads or go in and leave early to avoid traffic. The first week I did the commute, I ran into two of those random days of accidents/traffic on 40 as previously mentioned. Two days of hour plus commutes had me cursing the decision but it (knock on wood) hasn't been bad since.
One way to think about it: Chapel Hill has 3 exits off I-40. The closest to Raleigh is the exit for NC54 (actually in Durham but as you proceed west you cross into Chapel Hill). The Meadowmont development someone referenced above is off NC54. Generally, that area is going to offer the shortest commutes. Do be aware that much of that area - even some north of I-40 - is labelled as Chapel Hill by the Post Office, but it's actually part of Durham County, which will have school implications.
Someone above also referenced the Weaver Dairy Road area (Homestead Road is another one in this area) for commuting. That's actually off the last of the 3 exits, but it does offer some housing options that are relatively close to I-40, both in Chapel Hill and northern Carrboro.
Thank you CHTransplant. Looks like the area that you mentioned at the end is good to be considered, since we want to stick to Chapel Hill School district.
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