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West coaster here trying to get a feel for commute times by car at peek commute traffic times to Tarrytown from other towns in Westchester. Which roads are problems or nightmares. Say from Peekskill to Tarrytown?, Yorktown Hts. to T-Town? Chappaqua to T-Town? Do or don't places to purchase a home because of traffic. Commute via trains vs. car not worth the hassle? thanks.
To Tarrytown, realistically, you need to commute by car-- not train. (For example, there is no train that would get you from Chappaqua to Tarrytown).
At peek times, you will hit some traffic going south, but nothing horrendous. From Chappaqua, 15-25 minutes. Yorktown Heights, 20-30 minutes. Peekskill, also 20-30 minutes.
The nightmare highway can be 287, but you wouldn't take it from those towns. And even if you were using 287 to cross the county, you would be going against most of the traffic, at most times.
The north-south roads -- The Saw Mill Parkway, and Taconic, and Route 9, can get bad in bad weather, or it there is an accident, but they generally move well at other times. (Though Route 9 has a lot of traffic lights, and the Saw Mill has a few as well).
Havoc's remarks are spot on. I'd only add that the other artery from the North is I-684. In general you'd use 684 for Armonk, Bedford, Pound Ridge, etc. 684 does connect to Tarrytown via I-287 and there's ongoing, long term construction. Nevertheless, it still isn't usually too bad.
The driving habits on these roads is often quite shocking. In particular, if you drive on the Saw Mill Pkwy it's advantageous to have a small, highly maneuverable car, preferably with AWD. Seriously. People drive way too fast, the road is nothing but curves and hills and extremely narrow. On 684 they drive even faster, but at least it's wide and relatively open.
If your car has low profile tires I strongly suggest getting real snow tires. They really do make a difference. You'll be astounded by all the high performance, AWD Audis and bimmers that end up in a ditch cause they're running 255/30-20's or whatever (help me here BMWguy).
Thanks for the replies. Commute of under an hour would be a walk in the park vs. nightmares of driving in LA normally, let alone the 2- 3 hrs in the rain. Traffic in LA is crazy, but thank God no snow. I grew up in the snow belt of WNY, but my wife will experience something new to her when it snows.
Why not live in Tarrytown? Have you visited? It's on the Hudson and is a cute town in a beautiful area. Also only a 37 minute train ride to NYC whenever you want to hang out.
I just moved to Pleasantville from Los Angeles and I am LOVING my train commute. Also what people consider "traffic" here even on 287 is nothing close to the parking lot of the 405 and other LA freeways. You will have an entirely different driving experience here. Good luck!
Why not live in Tarrytown? Have you visited? It's on the Hudson and is a cute town in a beautiful area. Also only a 37 minute train ride to NYC whenever you want to hang out.
Might do that, but N. Westchester seems to offer more bang for the buck. We're more into nature than cities for our time off and so closeness to NYC isn't important.
You can take the Hudson line train from Peekskill to Tarrytown. Its not a long commute. Other stations on the same line are Croton on Hudson and Beacon.
I just moved to Pleasantville from Los Angeles and I am LOVING my train commute. Also what people consider "traffic" here even on 287 is nothing close to the parking lot of the 405 and other LA freeways. You will have an entirely different driving experience here. Good luck!
If my wife never hears the term "sigalert on the 405" again I don't think it would break her heart.
Why not live in Tarrytown? Have you visited? It's on the Hudson and is a cute town in a beautiful area. Also only a 37 minute train ride to NYC whenever you want to hang out.
Thats a lovely commute time, always takes me a minimum of an hour to commute to work from my home in Upper Manhattan.
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