Commute Time to Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham: apartment, chapel, credit)

[rockyhillgal]

What communities have the shortest commute to the RTP? My husband's current commute in New England is such a burden that he's had it with commuting in general. I know from living in a region in the 90s that experienced explosive growth that as new developments go in, infrastructure never keeps up. What should be a 20 minute drive can be come an 60 minute drive at the wrong time of day.

Any suggestions?

[RaleighRob]

It's widely known that Durham has the easiest commute into RTP...they're in the same county for one, and two, there's already a huge number of people commuting from east of RTP (raleigh, cary, apex, etc etc etc) that those coming from west of RTP (durham, chapel hill) are way less, so traffic is much less of an issue.

[DebbieF]

Are you another CT. person wanting a change. I am guessing your from Rocky Hill CT. I moved here over 20 years ago,and love it here, especially the weather.

[MikeJaquish]

Durham.

Morrisville. Kitts Creek. Breckenridge. Providence Place. Hamlet in the Park. Many et ceteras.

[NewUser]

It depends.

RTP is a big place. It's over 7000 acres and covers an 8 mile long by 2 mile wide area. It is bisected by I40. It's entirely located in Durham county, but the southern end is located near Morrisville. If your husband is going to work at the south end of "The Park", then maybe Morrisville would be best. If he works at the middle or north end, then a place in Durham would be closer.

I work near the south end of RTP and live in an apartment in Morrisville. If I took a direct route, my commute distance would be about 5 1/2 miles. However, due to traffic, I go a little out of the way and average about 7 miles. I also stagger my commute time to avoid rush hour. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to go to work in the morning (arrive at work by 7:15) and about 15-20 minutes to drive home at night (leave work by 4:45).

[willrusso]

There's a small part of RTP located in Wake County. Sony Ericsson, Cisco Systems, Credit Suisse and a few others are located in that part. I work at Credit Suisse and live in Raleigh. The commute in the evening rush on really bad days can take upwards to an hour or more. And if there's an accident, you can forget it. I remember one day last year, there was an accident during the evening rush that backed up traffic from S. Saunders St. in Raleigh all the way to the Durham Freeway. That's easily a good 15 miles or so. I highly reccomend living somewhere in Durham County since you'll be going in the opposite direction away from most of the traffic.

[nydeb]

As others have said, the RTP covers a very large area - It depends where the company is. For us, we commute to the south/southwest part of the RTP and live in the West Cary area, very near Morrisville. We never have to venture onto expressways to go to work. It still gets congested at times, but you just time your departure wisely, and it never takes us more than 20 minutes.

[nydeb]

P.S. You didn't mention if schools are a consideration. If that's an important factor, it might change the responses you get.

[rockyhillgal]

Thanks, nydeb, for the tip. Schools aren't a consideration, which is why I didn't mention it. For us, the neighborhood will be the driver, rather than the need or desire for a large house. After years of exhaustion and little to no life due to commuting, my husband would dearly love a short commute.

[Bull City Rising]

As several people have said on here, Durham County could be a very good commute in your situation. If you're looking for more modern subdivisions with single-family homes/townhomes, you'll find many of those in southern Durham along I-40, or in the Hope Valley area just north of there; this area is very close to restaurants, shopping (including the Streets at Southpoint, which with Crabtree Valley Mall is probably one of the two "best" malls in the area), parks, walking/biking trails, and Jordan Lake (great for boating, etc.) It can be as little as a 10-15 minute commute depending on your traffic pattern.

If you'd prefer an older, historic neighborhood, there are lots of those in Durham as well, close to Duke University and downtown. It's about 15-20 minutes' commute from neighborhoods like Watts-Hillandale or Forest Hills via the Durham Freeway, which connects downtown to RTP.

Chapel Hill is also very popular (in part thanks to its schools, which are perceived by some to be the "best" in the region, though that's always a personal choice and call) and is just to the south/west of Durham.

Good luck!