Gig Harbor to Tacoma new commute time (Artondale: house, neighborhood)

[WeMet]

Can anyone give me an idea of how long it takes to get across the bridge to/from Tacoma at rush hour now that they have the new bridge? I hear it's cut down on the commute considerably, but I don't know how long it is now.

Thanks,

[mthomson]

From Gig Harbor to Tacoma takes no time at all now. If you have the "Good to Go" transponder so you don't have to wait in the toll line, there is no traffic at all. I can make it from downtown Tacoma to my house in North Gig Harbor in 18 min.

[ChadPettingill]

Depends on where in Tacoma. Very short time to commute to West Tacoma but the closer you get to I-5 is where the backups start at many hours of the day. It's annoying but WSDOT is working on it (slowly).

[Xenobion]

The bottleneck occurs where highway 16 hits I-5. If you get off on an exit before then it shouldn't be a problem at all since the new bridge was built. The toll has significantly lowered traffic in the area.

[WeMet]

Thank you for your replies.

Would you all recommend any particular parts of GH? Artondale looks nice, but it also might be nice to be nearer the water. We are a young couple looking forward to starting a family soon. Trees, space, and friendly people are high on the priority list. Price < 500K.

Any idea how property values are doing with the new bridge opening in light of the housing recession?

Thanks again.

[mthomson]

Artondale is nice. Under $500k won't get you a waterfront home, but can get you a waterview home. I'd love to show you an example of one here, but I can't due to this website's advertising rules. There is a nice, 2003, 2600 sq ft view home for $487k that we have in our office.
Another thing to keep in mind is that pretty much everywhere in Gig Harbor is near to water. My wife and I just sold a great family home in a great neighborhood for $325k, and we were exactly 2.3 miles from the Gig Harbor Bay. Took less than 5 minutes to drive our kayaks to the launch dock.
Not much of a housing recession here. Prices really leveled out this past year, with the median house price in GH dropping by 0.8%...average house price actually increased 4%. Please feel free to visit the website on my profile to learn more.