Are any one living in Broward county and communting to Miami? (Fort Lauderdale: fit in, house)

[trappb]

I will be moving from Chicago to Miami and just wondering if its common for people to commute from Fort Lauderdale to Downtown Miami area. What is the commute time? and what part of Broward do you live? By the way I was looking at the Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, and Miramar area. Thanks

[Nolefan34]

Been there, done that. First of all, Miami is a very big place and it greatly depends on what part of Miami you have to commute to. It would be like saying "I have to commute from New Jersey to New York for work, how long will it take me". Obviously, the answer could vary greatly depending on what part of NY and NJ. For instance, commuting from Coral Springs to downtown Miami is much different than from Pembroke Pines to Kendall. It could take you 2-3 times as long depending on what routes you have to take. Also, what time of day will you have to commute? There is a big difference between commuting at 6AM versus commuting at 7AM. The traffic goes from light to madness in just an hour.

Lets just assume you live in Pembroke Pines and you have to commute to downtown Miami. You will have to take the Turnpike to I-95, then I-95 into downtown Miami. That route is gridlocked every morning between 6AM-9:30 A.M. going south, and between 4:00 P.M. and 7:30 P.M. heading north. It would take you at least an hour so far as I know, maybe 1.5 hours right in the thick of things. There are very few alternatives that are viable. Now, if you had to commute from Pembroke Pines to West Kendall for instance, you'd take a western route such as I-75 to the Palmetto Expressway, or to the Turnpike Extension.

So first tell us where in Miami you will be commuting to, and then we can give you an estimate from there. Also, as a general rule of thumb, the traffic gets a lot worse once you cross over into Miami-Dade County and the drivers get a lot more aggressive/reckless.

[trappb]

Good point. I will be commuting to the port of miami.

[L'il Momma]

My husband commutes to the port of Miami and we live in Davie, near I75 and Griffin. If he leaves by 645am it takes him 45mins. If he see's our son off to school and leaves by 715am, it takes him 1 hr 15 mins. Coming home, he leaves the office between 430pm and 530pm and it takes anywhere from 1 hr 10 mins to 1.5 hours -- the later he leaves, the heavier the traffic. Hope that helps. Good luck with your move!

[kevinkagy]

The good thing about working at the Port of Miami is that you have good access to public transit since there are many Metro stations in Downtown. I'd suggest you look at a house somewhere near a Metrorail or Tri-Rail Station so you can avoid driving altogether and just take the Metro into the city.

[Nolefan34]

kevinkagy>

The metrorail and tri-rail don't go to davie or pembroke pines. The metro-rail does not leave Dade County, and the Tri-Rail only goes along the I-95 corridor northward towards Fort Lauderdale and West Palm. That doesn't help him if he lives in a western suburb.

[SouthAfrica75]

Since the addition of the "Express Lanes' on I-95 heading north into Broward from downtown Miami, it has cut the commute time into Broward in half. Before the "Express Lanes" it was gridlock.. now mostly a breeze unless there is an accident in the "Express Lanes"

They are currently working on making the South Bound lanes of I-95 into downtown "Express Lanes" and it will also cut the commute time.

So if you would to live in East Hollywood you would have easy access onto I-95 and down to the port

[Nolefan34]

South African>

Is that assuming that you use the Express Lanes? Or do you mean it has improved all lanes? Because I have still found that after the express lanes were put in place that the regular lanes are just as bad if not worse from 4pm onwards. Also, those express lanes can either be really good or really bad if there's an accident there's no way out for miles.

Also, they had to narrow the regular lanes in width in order for the express lanes to fit. That created a situation where accidents are more likely since there's zero margin for error if you accidentally drift out of your lane. And what if you drive a '76 Cadillac? Would you even fit in one lane?