Bee Caves (Austin, West, Howe: apartment, home, living in)

[honeyNUTichiros]

I am from seattle and I got an apartment in some place called the Bee Caves...is it a nice area and how long of a commute would it be from downtown?

[AustinTraveler]

Bee Cave is a nice place but I wouldn't want to be commuting from there to downtown every day. I was out there last weekend and I live just north of downtown. I took 2244 (Bee Caves Road) to Mopac (Loop 1) and then home. I think it took 30 minutes and that was on Sunday. I don't commute so I have no idea how long that would take during rush hour or if there's a better route. Hopefully someone else can help you with that.

[honeyNUTichiros]

Thanks, yeah I'm still not sure how its going to be. The place where I am working is in South Austin out somewhere near Congress (I'm not sure what that is but it seems to be mentioned quite a bit) so hopefully I not going to have to go through downtown.

[atxcio]

Bee Caves is a quite scenic area, and not far from downtown mileage-wise.. but traffic-wise, it can be pretty bad, due to the many upscale hill country communities in the area... and the giant hill country galleria being built, etc. The road infrastructure just wasn't made for the number of people living in that area.

However, if you are commuting anywhere from Bee Caves... South Congress area is about the easiest. So you may have gotten lucky with that. I'd imagine ultimately you will want to move in closer to town, but you'll probably like it in Bee Caves. Nice scenery, very safe, but no nightlife to speak of.

[austin-steve]

how long of a commute would it be from downtown?

If coming in to work in the morning rush, you'll need 45 minutes +/-. Afternoon heading home will vary by day of week and time of the afternoon.

There is not a good direct freeway route. You can either drive Bee Cave Rd. (2244) all the way to Mopac, then north to 1st or 5th street and east into downtown. Or you can take Hwy 71 to SW Parkway to Mopac to Ben White to S. Congress and north on S. Congree into downtown. Or Hwy 71 thru Oak Hill to Ben White and S. Congress.

Unless you have a good reason reason to be way out there, it's not the best location to be commuting to downtown from. It is a nice area though.

[edge_gordon]

How about biking? would I be taking my fragile life in my hands, to bike from Bee Cave to Beardsley Ave? Car culture doesn't interest me. Yeah, I grew up in Austin. We've been in Germany with the Army for the last 6 years. Done serving our country (officially anyway), time to go home.

Additionally, we'd be interested in any atheist/secular humanist groups we could support in the area. And, yes, I'd like to hear about where I can get good highlights too (even if I decide to cut it all off in the heat!)

Thanks!

[b. frank]

Originally Posted by honeyNUTichiros

Thanks, yeah I'm still not sure how its going to be. The place where I am working is in South Austin out somewhere near Congress (I'm not sure what that is but it seems to be mentioned quite a bit) so hopefully I not going to have to go through downtown.

This is my commute, too.
I live off of South Congress and work a bit further west than Bee Cave.
My commute during rush hour is steadily 25-30 minutes.

[Moonlady]

You can also get to downtown by going South on Loop 360 and then picking up Mopac north and you eliminate the painful drive through Westlake. There has been a huge amount of growth in the Bee Cave area in the last 10 years and no extra roads or lanes to accomodate all the additional cars. If you're lucky enough to be further south on Congress, Loop 360 takes you to Hwy 71 (Ben White) and you can exit onto Congress. I live off 360 near Bee Cave and commuted to S Austin near South Congress and it only took 20 minutes. The further into town you need to go, obviously the worse it will be.