Commute length from Temple Terrace to downtown Tampa? (Orlando: real estate, rentals)

[EdgeCity]

I am back from a rental house -hunting trip.

Several of the South Tampa rentals I had lined up on my schedule were leased before I even had the chance to see them. The one house I did get to see in South Tampa was underwhelming.

The house I liked the most, for the price, turned out to be in Temple Terrace, a well maintained home with a big beautiful yard and in a very nice neighborhood. My real estate agent says that it should be no more than 20-30 minutes to get to downtown Tampa during rush hour.

Can anyone comment?

Thanks again for all the help...

[roadtrip75]

Yes, that sounds about right.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Yep, 20-30 not a problem. Rush hour depends on traffic of course but still never near as bad as Dale Mabry rush hour traffic, not even with USF here, because there are so many options of travel routes. Before TT, I'd considered Carrollwood but then I got stuck in that traffic one day and I said no. From TT to 75 is always a breeze. And from there you just pick up 4 downtown. Or you can take the surface roads like 56th down to 60 or 301 or even 40th if everything for some odd reason backs up. From TT to 275 is 10 to 12 minutes at rush hour and south to downtown isn't even such a big deal now with the construction. Once that's done, that'll be a breeze too. And if 275 backs up by an accident you have both Nebraska or Florida to hop off onto.

And if, or more likely when, Tampa Bay ever gets light rail, the very first hookups will be USF to downtown and the airport so you'd be just a short taxi ride to a major terminal if you didn't feel like driving.

I've routinely made it to the airport in 30 minutes easy, downtown 20 without traffic. Rarely more than 30 minutes to downtown. And even out to St. Pete, it's probably not any more time than being further west like towards Dale Mabry in Carrollwood because of the ease of access to the interstate highways from TT.

Temple Terrace is super convenient for the commuter.

[EdgeCity]

Thank you housing crash survivor. Highly helpful info!

My real estate agent said the same about the TT commute via surface streets. I'm thinking I will jump on this house.

[rischthorpe]

From Temple Terrace to downtown I would not recommend taking 75 to I-4. That would be suicide most mornings (esp on the 75 onramp to I-4, and then on I-4 for about 2 miles approaching downtown is usually gridlocked). It would also be just awful in the afternoon on 75 between I-4 to Folwer or Fletcher. I think that stretch may be have the worst traffic of any highway in the Tampa area, and I drive over the Howard Frankland every day. 75 may improve once the construction is complete. But I wouldn't bank on it.

On the other hand, taking Fletcher, Fowler, or Busch west to 275 would be just fine in comparision. Traffic is often slow for a few miles, but you can always take Nebraska or Florida on particularly bad days, or part of the way until it clears up. I would say 20-30 minutes is pretty good estimate. I'd be surprised if it ever took you much longer than thirty minutes (provided you're savvy enough to check traffic on your phone and take back roads when needed.)

Another nice thing about Temple Terrace is you are close to lots of tasty, inexpensive ethnic food. Particularly Middle Eastern, Indian and Jamaican restaurants. I used to live in that part of town and those unique joints are what I miss the most about that area.

[Shorty458]

Originally Posted by rischthorpe

From Temple Terrace to downtown I would not recommend taking 75 to I-4. That would be suicide most mornings (esp on the 75 onramp to I-4, and then on I-4 for about 2 miles approaching downtown is usually gridlocked). It would also be just awful in the afternoon on 75 between I-4 to Folwer or Fletcher. I think that stretch may be have the worst traffic of any highway in the Tampa area, and I drive over the Howard Frankland every day. 75 may improve once the construction is complete. But I wouldn't bank on it.

On the other hand, taking Fletcher, Fowler, or Busch west to 275 would be just fine in comparision. Traffic is often slow for a few miles, but you can always take Nebraska or Florida on particularly bad days, or part of the way until it clears up. I would say 20-30 minutes is pretty good estimate. I'd be surprised if it ever took you much longer than thirty minutes (provided you're savvy enough to check traffic on your phone and take back roads when needed.)
.

I actually notice the exact opposite. My husband works in Temple Terrace by Fletcher/75. For a while he was having car troubles and we were car-pooling (at the time we lived in Tampa Palms off Amberly) Normally when i was going to work I would just go south on BBD to Bearss to 275 south. However, when we were carpooling I would need to go past usf and go east down Fletcher to get to his work. Then take 75 south to 4. Even though technically the driving was longer (and I had to drop him off) it took me the same amount of time because I wasn't stuck in traffic for long at all! I find the traffic on I-4 MUCH better than I-275 in the morning. It just got backed up around exit 1, compared to sometimes on I-275, it would be backed by until Bearss!

Especially going home... 275 is always backed up, but 4 doesn't seem to be! However, 75 north by Fowler starts to get backed up, or even once I-4 merges on, so I found a solution to take exit 7 off I-4 to 301 north, cut up Jefferson to get to Fowler, then take 1 exit north (exit only lane for Fletcher so traffic moves just fine) and exit off there. Where i moved to, that's actually the best way for me to get home, and the most traffic I sometimes endure is waiting for the light at Jefferson.

A coworker of mine lives in Temple Terrace and he lives close to the Ihop, and it takes him about 15-20 mins and he goes 75 to 4.

Today for example... since there was the accident on 275, it took me just about 1 1/2 hrs to get to work. No, that is not a typo. I left at 7:55am, and I got there at 9:20. I could have driven to Orlando in that amount of time!

[rischthorpe]

Originally Posted by Shorty458

I actually notice the exact opposite. My husband works in Temple Terrace by Fletcher/75. For a while he was having car troubles and we were car-pooling (at the time we lived in Tampa Palms off Amberly) Normally when i was going to work I would just go south on BBD to Bearss to 275 south. However, when we were carpooling I would need to go past usf and go east down Fletcher to get to his work. Then take 75 south to 4. Even though technically the driving was longer (and I had to drop him off) it took me the same amount of time because I wasn't stuck in traffic for long at all! I find the traffic on I-4 MUCH better than I-275 in the morning. It just got backed up around exit 1, compared to sometimes on I-275, it would be backed by until Bearss!

Especially going home... 275 is always backed up, but 4 doesn't seem to be! However, 75 north by Fowler starts to get backed up, or even once I-4 merges on, so I found a solution to take exit 7 off I-4 to 301 north, cut up Jefferson to get to Fowler, then take 1 exit north (exit only lane for Fletcher so traffic moves just fine) and exit off there. Where i moved to, that's actually the best way for me to get home, and the most traffic I sometimes endure is waiting for the light at Jefferson.

A coworker of mine lives in Temple Terrace and he lives close to the Ihop, and it takes him about 15-20 mins and he goes 75 to 4.

Today for example... since there was the accident on 275, it took me just about 1 1/2 hrs to get to work. No, that is not a typo. I left at 7:55am, and I got there at 9:20. I could have driven to Orlando in that amount of time!

Thanks for the alternate perspective. Part of the difference could come down to the specific times of the morning you and I were traveling. I found that traffic would often back up all the way to 50th street when I took I-4. I pretty quickly converted to a 275-only pattern, so perhaps I don't have the greatest sample to compare. Additionally, it's been 1.5 years since I lived in TT, so maybe things have changed a bit with all of the construction.

Also, I completely agree about the 301 shortcut. That was definitely the best route home from downtown when I lived in Temple Terrace. I'm glad you brought it up because I forgot to give my opinions on the commute home. In addition to Jefferson, you can also take Walker, the next left off of 301. Jefferson gets really backed up during prime rush hour 5-6pm, so Walker could shave a light cycle or two off your drive home.