[duchifas]

My wife and I are moving to CT. I'll be working in New Haven, but we really liked West Hartford when we visited the surrounding areas. One thing I am worried about is the commute. Is there a lot of traffic on I-91? Anyone doing that commute regularly? How long does it take on average?

Thanks in advance for all your responses!

[T Pinto]

Hi there,

Its easy to fall in love with West Hartford! Its a vibrant and charming town. Depending on where you are in WH, you would either take the 9S or the I84-W to merge with the I91-S to New Haven. With normal to light traffic, this would take 45 minutes. In heavy traffic and rush hour, I suspect this could be much longer.
The I-91 is definitely heavy on traffic during peak hours. You will have traffic heading to NY on the same route. If you are exiting for Yale you may be lucky enough to miss the bottleneck exiting for NY. But it can get quite backed up, all the way to the Yale exit. There was/is construction going on in that area and I think that may eventually ease that bottleneck.
So all in all, you are looking at 45mins-1.5hours depending on traffic.

Good luck!

[mikelizard860]

West Hartford is a nice town, but that commute is terrible. You're better off living in the new haven area. You can always visit west hartford 5 days a week outside of rush hour traffic and you'd be driving less than if you were doing that commute. lol

[inetlom]

Originally Posted by duchifas

My wife and I are moving to CT. I'll be working in New Haven, but we really liked West Hartford when we visited the surrounding areas. One thing I am worried about is the commute. Is there a lot of traffic on I-91? Anyone doing that commute regularly? How long does it take on average?

Thanks in advance for all your responses!

I make this commute twice a week in reverse (New Haven to W. Hartford and back). It takes me at least 45 minutes if there is no traffic, and that's in the middle of the afternoon and in the evening after rush hour.

I would suggest looking for something closer to New Haven if you'll be working there. West Hartford is nice, but for me it's not nice enough to justify the lengthy commute, especially when there are other towns closer to New Haven that are just fine.

[Stylo]

If you like West Hartford, check out other towns near New Haven with similar qualities. IE, lots of activities and a great town center.

Milford, Branford, Wallingford.

West Hartford is great, but not worth that commute.

[mr2448]

take the train! the state's spending a lot of money to improve the commuter railroad on the New Haven-Springfield line.

[inetlom]

Originally Posted by mr2448

take the train! the state's spending a lot of money to improve the commuter railroad on the New Haven-Springfield line.

As the improvements have not yet been made and according to the website will not be done until 2016, that would be even more difficult. You would have to take the bus from West Hartford to the New Haven station, then another bus, taxi, or walk depending on where you work in New Haven.

The Amtrak times for this line are not particularly convenient and trains do not run as often as the commuter trains or trains to Boston. When I was first looking into this commute I thought about taking the train, but for the cost of a ticket plus the extra hassle of catching the bus or biking, it actually made more sense to make the commute by car.

[JayCT]

I would say that the commute from West Hartford to New Haven is about an hour depending on where you live and where you work. The traffic is not bad until you get to New Haven where I-91 will sometimes back up from I-95.

I agree with the others that you should consider some of the towns around New Haven instead. Milford is somewhat similar and the shoreline towns east of New Haven, Branford, Guilford and Madison are very nice. The commute to New Haven from any of these towns would be more reasonable. You might even consider Fairfield which to me is very similar to West Hartford in character. IT may be pricer though, but it is a lot closer. Jay

[nep321]

West Hartford is certainly a great town. And that's even coming from someone like me, who generally does not like densely populated towns. It's just hard to dislike West Hartford. I know many people who do their entire lives in that town.

Anyway, that commute would suck really bad. I agree with others that you should try out Milford or something (I don't know that area too well, since I'm native to Hartford County).

[kidyankee764]

I agree with the others - not worth the commute. I also agree that you should check out Fairfield, as it's very similar to WH (just a little more expensive - well, okay, a lot more expensive). Milford is nice but it's downtown is nothing like WH's in my opinion. Wallingford's is pretty similar to West Hartford's, as is Madison's. Guilford is another town to consider.

You have so many great options in the New Haven area that you don't even need to make that trek to live in a beautiful town.