Looking at where to live in Colorado after living in Texas (Austin)

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by xeric

Regarding traffic - I'm dubious that the Austin MSA (1.9 million) is worse than the Denver MSA (2.7 million). But even if Denver is better now, that is a very relative term and it is only going to get worse. OP - maybe try Fort Collins. Smaller, great schools, plenty of snow, lots of breweries, more than enough shopping, and affordable if you can make the same salary you have now. But jobs might be a problem and commuting to Denver is not an option (in my opinion). Boulder might work for you but it is expensive. You will not consider traffic to be bad there if you are from a large metro area. But if you commute to Denver, I would recommend looking for a job in downtown and taking the frequent Boulder/Denver RTD service. Longmont is another possibility if you want to stay in the Denver orbit. I don't know much about it what it is like now (only having visited and passed through recently).

Austin may be smaller, but it has the misfortune of having a very poorly designed and extremely heavily used Interstate cutting right through the middle of it. I-35 is clogged with semi-trucks carrying goods to and from ports in Mexico. During holiday weekends it's not uncommon for the typically 3.5-4 hour drive from Austin to DFW to take 6, 7, or even 8 hours.

On the INRIX scorecard, Austin is ranked 5th worst (in North America, 4th in the US) for traffic while Denver is 22nd overall (19th in US).

As far as specific corridors go:
Austin has 5 corridors that fall within the Top 100 most congested in the country
I-35 SB from Airport Blvd to MLK (25)
I-35 NB from Ben White to MLK (37)
I-35 SB @ Woodland Ave (51)
I-35 SB @ Oltorf St. (57)
MoPac SB from Steck Ave. to the Barton Skwy (92)

Denver has zero corridors in the Top 100
Denver's worst corridor is I-25 Northbound from Colorado Blvd. to 84th Avenue (173rd)

[Hipchik]

Can't rep you again bluescreen but here's a

[NW Crow]

Compromise options include Broomfield, Louisville, Lafayette and Golden.

Can also check out the hundreds of similar threads for extra details.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by Hipchik

Can't rep you again bluescreen but here's a

Plus one!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

If you want a small town with easy access to the jobs in downtown Denver or the Denver Tech Center, you won't find one. But some of the suburbs like Littleton, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Englewood, and Golden that used to be small towns have managed to keep a small town flavor through community events and an interesting central core. I particularly like the old downtowns of Littleton and Arvada, although certainly with the sprawl one suburb can look just like the next one.

You should check out the light rail (Regional Transportation District) system. It beats siting in rush hour traffic any day.