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Hi, I have lived in Brighton for the past 4 years, and while I really do love it here (off street parking/big apt/low rent/safe neighborhood) I commute to Natick everyday on route 9 and getting through Cleveland Circle is driving me nuts! My boyfriend and I are thinking of moving to Southie for a change of scenery and to escape the BU/BC student congestion.
My commute right now can be anywhere from 25 mins (if I'm coming home around 8 PM) to an hour (route 9 with traffic and construction). Does anyone know what it would be like commuting (by car) from Southie to the Natick Mall area? Would the Pike be my only option?
Also, how do other people feel about Southie vs. Brighton with regards to rent prices, safety, and the all-important off street parking? What area of Southie would give me the easiest commute to Natick?
Have you tried the Pike from Cleveland Circle? You can get on in Newton at Ex. 17 (by the hotel) - drive down Chestnut Hill Ave and cut through Brighton Center and Oak Sq. The Pike can snag up at the tolls, but unless there's an accident or bad weather, it's not too bad.
The commute from Southie on the Pike won't be bad (depends on where in Southie you live I suppose). But you'll pay the toll at the Allston/Brighton tolls ($1 with Fastlane) and again at the 128/95/Weston tolls. Definitely fewer college students.
If the crowds of students are your main reason for wanting a change from the atmosphere of Brighton, you might not have to move far. The western side of Brighton, roughly west of Market Street, seems to be less of a haven for undergrads. Over there you're more likely to find a mix of grad students, young professionals, and blue-collar families. From the neighborhoods west of Market St. you'd also be able to get to either rt. 9 or rt. 30 for your commute to Natick, by taking the back streets through the west side of Brighton into Newton, so you could avoid having to pass through Cleveland Circle.
I make the same commute from the West Fens. I don't do Cleveland Circle on a daily basis but route 9 is bugging the **** out of me on the way home. Especially in Brookline. Problem is I don't want to take the Pike because I'm poor and 128 to route 2 seems just silly. As for rt 30, I don't see that being any better coming in at 4pm than rt 9.
Nomah- I was taking Dean Road for a while to cut out Cleveland Circle but then they closed the bridge so that detour went out the window! I've tried the rte 30 way and for me its been worse than rte 9. So much for a "reverse commute"! The Pike tolls really would add up pretty quickly...another thing to consider if we end up moving.
Ogre- Thanks for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that another reason we want to move is to be closer to Boston for the social/restaurants/nightlife aspects. We are saving up for a house in the burbs eventually but figure we should try to spend some time in the city while we can. Southie seemed like a good option to be closer to the city (instead of the crazy 40 min B line T ride we have now) without the high prices of living in Boston. But I wouldn't move if it meant a horrible commute.
Thanks for the help so far! Anyone else have any experiences with commuting Southie to Natick?
I did route 9 to natick/framingham from beaconsfield, and it really wasnt bad at all... until they closed Dean RD... I had to find a different way to get down to 9 (working my way to Tappan st) but all in all it wasnt bad. Try another route out, its possible to not deal with all of that
to add to my post, yeah 30 is horrible, I dont even bother taking it now (I moved to newton)... But the route that would be similar to what I did was corey to dean(which I'm sure you did before) then left onto beaconsfield when you hit that blockage on dean, take that all the way down to tappan and make a right. and then just follow that down to 9, you'll end up coming out from Buckinmister or summer, which is 1 light down from chestnut hill.
it only ending up adding a min or 2 to my commute once they blocked dean off.
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