[Stylo]

Originally Posted by JGBigGreen

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply. My wife is partial to the idea of the coastal towns like Branford- we will add Milford to look at based on these recommendations- while I like the idea of Wallingford- and now possibly North Haven- because my job will require travel and I think access to Bradley might be slightly easier being north of New Haven.

JayCT, my office will actually be in the Connecticut Financial Center on Church Street. In your experience does that give a commuting edge to one area over another? I know traffic will definitely be bad compared to Vermont but we moved here from Atlanta so I'm hoping it is slightly better than that. My main interest is trying to keep the commute, door-to-door, around 30 minutes. If possible, I hope to either carpool (I've read a lot of people carpool in that area) or ride a train (if we chose Branford or Milford) or the CTTransit (If we went with Wallingford or North Haven.)

Yes, Wallingford does offer better access to Bradley. However, just realize that Bradley has limited service compared to the NYC airports - so it may be smart to live closer to them in case you need to use them occasionally (better avoided, due to traffic). Bradley covers most domestic flight needs but if you have to do any international or random last minute flights to smaller domestic destinations the NYC airports are far superior. They're also superior domestically, but again you can get away with Bradley most of the time. Even Tweed in New Haven is OK for regional flights, and very convenient. Branford does not give an advantage to Milford over Bradley. From Milford, you just shoot up 15 to 91 and it's pretty easy. In Branford, you'd possibly want to bypass the bridge traffic in New Haven by taking backroads to 91.

As far as working in downtown, I'm not sure which town has the advantage. Traffic from Milford is pretty minimal (I do it every day). From Branford, you'll have to cross the bridge. From Wallingford, you'll likely get off from 91 and cross over to downtown. From what I can tell traffic-pattern wise, 95 south to downtown is probably going to have the most traffic coming in. None of these commutes are bad, and none require taking the train IMO. If you did resort to the train, perhaps for parking issues, you should look into Branford and Milford schedules and travel times. Coming from Milford, you could also park at the West Haven station. Again, I'd only do this if the parking situation for your work is really bad and you like train commuting. Shoreline East is a quick trip, but runs much less frequently than Metro North.

Branford: http://www.shorelineeast.com/index.php
Milford: http://as0.mta.info/mnr/schedules/sched_form.cfm

[JayCT]

Going to New York for an airport is really insane. The traffic to get to the two major airports, both of which are located on Long Island, is just not worth it from the New Haven area. If there are no direct flights, i is much easier to drive up to Bradley and catch a jumper flight to another major airport to get to your destination.

Also note that more and more people in the New Haven area are using the trains and buses to commute into New Haven. It is actually an interesting trend given the downturn in the economy over the past several years.

Having a job at the Connecticut Financial Center, which is right on the Green in the middle of downtown will be easy to get to but there may be issues with parking. The OP should be able to find a carpool, bus or train option to get to work there. I think the OP should visit the towns he is interested and see which one feels best to them. Good luck, Jay

[Csiko]

Originally Posted by JGBigGreen

My main interest is trying to keep the commute, door-to-door, around 30 minutes. If possible, I hope to either carpool (I've read a lot of people carpool in that area) or ride a train (if we chose Branford or Milford)

These are all feasible.

or the CTTransit (If we went with Wallingford or North Haven.)

This is not. Commute will be way too long on a bus.


edit: Regarding flights, Bradley is perfectly fine, albeit expensive. I would never go to JFK or LGA though. Depending on where you're going, White Plains is far cheaper than Bradley. And if there's no flights to your destination from HPN, then there's no reason not to just go to Bradley.

[clutchrider]

Originally Posted by JGBigGreen

Clutchrider, if you have children in school, would you mind sharing your thoughts on how welcoming the kids in Wallingford have been to "outsiders?" Have you had any experience with how wide the rec offerings are in town?

We actually don't have children yet but are planning/working on that one One of the reasons we picked Wallingford though was because the schools are great and we now live around the corner from the Middle School (can't recall the name) and Lyman Hall (high school).

Originally Posted by Stylo

Yes, Wallingford does offer better access to Bradley. However, just realize that Bradley has limited service compared to the NYC airports - so it may be smart to live closer to them in case you need to use them occasionally (better avoided, due to traffic). Bradley covers most domestic flight needs but if you have to do any international or random last minute flights to smaller domestic destinations the NYC airports are far superior. They're also superior domestically, but again you can get away with Bradley most of the time. Even Tweed in New Haven is OK for regional flights, and very convenient. Branford does not give an advantage to Milford over Bradley. From Milford, you just shoot up 15 to 91 and it's pretty easy. In Branford, you'd possibly want to bypass the bridge traffic in New Haven by taking backroads to 91.

As far as working in downtown, I'm not sure which town has the advantage. Traffic from Milford is pretty minimal (I do it every day). From Branford, you'll have to cross the bridge. From Wallingford, you'll likely get off from 91 and cross over to downtown. From what I can tell traffic-pattern wise, 95 south to downtown is probably going to have the most traffic coming in. None of these commutes are bad, and none require taking the train IMO. If you did resort to the train, perhaps for parking issues, you should look into Branford and Milford schedules and travel times. Coming from Milford, you could also park at the West Haven station. Again, I'd only do this if the parking situation for your work is really bad and you like train commuting. Shoreline East is a quick trip, but runs much less frequently than Metro North.

You could also just take 15 from Wallingford to Milford, my wife does it to Orange everyday for work about 15 minutes of driving each way. And Bradley offers A LOT more travel options than it used to. They do flights to California now and directs down to Florida which we do a lot for cruises and Disney. Yes NY airports and Newark may have the majority of flights but the travel time/distance from say Milford, Branford, or Wallingford is within 15-20 minutes which isn't that big a concern for me.

[Stylo]

It's not even a discussion really. Of course Bradley and Westchester are easier. As someone that travels for business a lot, sometimes they're not an option. The majority of time I don't need to use JFK and LGA, but sometimes I do just because of available flights. Sometimes I do out of choice as it's just that much cheaper. It's really not as bad as it's being made out to be for off-hour flights. I never had an issue getting to my flight on time. Of course I've never attempted rush hour traffic to get there either.

[JGBigGreen]

Heading to Connecticut to look at towns in preparation for our move. I want to thank all of you again for taking time to help!

[Henry10]

Many people commute by Shoreline East to NH (State Street), which is next stop from Branford and 10-15 minute easy train ride. You get off 2 blocks from downtown. Parking in Branford's train station is free IIRC. Shoreline East ridership has exploded in the last 10 years. Branford's Park and Rec has plenty of programs, and there is a YMCA close-by. You will not suffer for kids' activities, plus everything is close, and not like Vermont.

Summers are great also on the shoreline, plus many programs on the beach and water. And you will find plenty of Yale employees and faculty there.

Branford also allows easy day trips to NYC, without having to drive anywhere. Which given the horrible traffic from New Haven to NYC it's a big plus.

[Csiko]

Originally Posted by JGBigGreen

Heading to Connecticut to look at towns in preparation for our move. I want to thank all of you again for taking time to help!

Definitely take the time to check out some other towns too. Cause if you do find something you can afford in North Haven? It's definitely the best choice.

[hvexpatinct]

Be prepared to pay for parking in downtown New Haven... last I knew, it was upwards of $120 a month for the garage adjacent to CFC, and $80/mo for the Temple St garage several blocks away.

I worked at CFC about 8-9 years ago and commuted from Middletown. The trip down 91 wasn't bad at 7:30-8 am, a little backed up at exit 1 but not terrible. Most of my coworkers lived in Orange, Milford, North Haven, or Wallingford. The people who lived east of New Haven seemed to have the worst commute.

[JGBigGreen]

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to post and offer thoughts and suggestions.

We made several trips to the area and have decided on Wallingford. All of the towns we looked at were great but there was just something about Wallingford that felt "right" to our family. We loved the downtown area, the YMCA and the schools seem perfect for our sons.

We are looking forward to our move!