Detroit to Novi commute (Southfield, Brighton: living in, moving, pool)

[e130478]

Does anyone have experience with commuting between Detroit and Novi for work? It would mostly involve I-696 and M10 I would assume. Any consistent traffic issues?

[MS313]

I don't commute from Detroit to Novi but one time I did drive from downtown to Novi around 5pm on a weekday and it took me roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes I believe. Mostly stop and go.

[Coldjensens]

Tough commute without a lot of alternate options. You can got down 275 to 96 or vie versa. If you are commuting to Novi form Detroit, you will have a reverse commute, but it still gets really choked up both directions during rush hours. Just stay out of rush hour and it will not be horrible

[DTWflyer]

Couldn't tell if you meant living in Novi to working in Detroit or the other way around. I'm going to assume Novi living to working in Detroit.

Novi to Detroit is a pretty busy and congestion-prone commute during peak rush hour.

I-696 from I-275 to M-10 is highly congested in the morning, and a stop-and-go parking lot during peak afternoon rush.
If rain, snow, ice, fog, or some idiot texting causing a collision amply the time significantly.

I-275 to I-96 tends to move a bit better, but is highly prone to stop-and-go traffic as well particularly around the I-275/I-696 interchange.

Without traffic, it could be a 35-40 minute commute, most days in average traffic it will be 45-50 minutes. Bad weather or high-idiot days it will be 60-75 minutes. Horrendous weather days 90+ minutes.

Again, that assumes normal ~8am-5pm hours, if commuting off-peak you can avoid a lot of the gridlock fiasco.

[zthatzmanz28]

I commute from Brighton to the DMC.
There are basically two options--Assuming you are at 12 mile / 12 Oaks area? --696 to the lodge or Grand River.. Grand river can take you to 8 Mile then the Lodge, or all the way to Downtown.
If you are in the 8 mile area, there are a few surface streets that can get you to 696 (Novi Road) and 96 (Beck, Newburg) that can be better than 275.

From Brighton to the DMC it is usually 48 minutes in the morning. In the afternoon it is easily 60--90 minutes coming back.

I have found that 96 to M 14 is a smoother ride and can be done in about 60 minutes. But Beck can quickly become a parking lot between M 14 and 10 Mile. Sheldon is a bit better, but will only get you to 7 Mile around the Race Track area.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

I commute from Brighton to the DMC.
There are basically two options--Assuming you are at 12 mile / 12 Oaks area? --696 to the lodge or Grand River.. Grand river can take you to 8 Mile then the Lodge, or all the way to Downtown.
If you are in the 8 mile area, there are a few surface streets that can get you to 696 (Novi Road) and 96 (Beck, Newburg) that can be better than 275.

From Brighton to the DMC it is usually 48 minutes in the morning. In the afternoon it is easily 60--90 minutes coming back.

I have found that 96 to M 14 is a smoother ride and can be done in about 60 minutes. But Beck can quickly become a parking lot between M 14 and 10 Mile. Sheldon is a bit better, but will only get you to 7 Mile around the Race Track area.

From Novi they can take 275 south to 96. In a pinch, they can even go all the way down to 94 if 96 is plugged up for some reason. Usually, the 96 moves along very well. When I come from that way to Detroit, I am getting on the 14 at Beck so it is a straight shot across 96 and many times you can fly. (I take Currie/Curtis, or various dirt roads to7 mile or 5 mile in order to avoid most of Beck. Beck should be 6 or 8 lanes). Occasionally I will take 8 mile all the way to 275 then down, there is more traffic, but it is still better than all the times I have tried 696 - lodge.

Sometimes the lodge is not going anywhere, you can come in on 75 or Southfield. More miles, but better than sitting in park for an hour. You can even get off on telegraph and come down that way if you are desperate, but it is generally very slow.

Best bet is to get familiar with Waze. It will direct you around problem areas (usually. It tends to be about half an hour behind what is going on, so sometimes, a jam has cleared and something new has happened on your alternate route, by the time the information gets relayed. In most instnaces however, Waze is your best friend and will keep you out of the worst foul ups). Personally I would prefer to get off and creep from light to light long surface streets than sit unmoving, even if it takes longer. I suck at sitting still.

Lodge used to be a lot worse. Many years ago, we got stuck because something was on fire, and there was no place to go. We (my car pool) got out and started playing euchre on the hood of my car. Other people got out and came over to play and we had a tournament gong on five different cars; the two girls in our car pool got bored with euchre and cranked the stereo and started dancing. Others joined in. Then it became a freeway dance party. Eventually, we realized the cars ahead of us were moving again and we all scrambled for our cars. It was a funny/memorable experience. Not everything about traffic jams is bad.