Athens commute to Redstone Arsenal? (Huntsville, Decatur: apartments, to live in, parking)

[y8tiger]

As I continue to research the area, I am finding Athens an attractive prospect. I am wondering what the Athens commute to Redstone Arsenal is really like on a daily basis.

The apartments, although not well advertised, sure seem to be a lot cheaper and I am sure there must be some newer decent complexes. I'm sure there will be someone here that can provide some insight...

[E Limestone Dude]

40-45 minutes. Of course it does matter if you are leaving at 6, 7, or 8am

[Seth Parker]

Depends on which side of Athens, which Gate you're going to at the arsenal, and like above, what time. Time can vary as much as from 25 minutes to 55 minutes or so.

[Reactionary]

These two people would be happy to answer any question you may have about Athens and the surrounding area (their emails / phone numbers are available at the links):

Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks

The City of Athens Alabama

Former Athens Mayor and newly-elected State Rep. Dan Williams

Welcome to the Alabama State Legislature

[y8tiger]

Whoa, I figured it was more around the 30 Minute mark. I'm guessing that 40-45 minutes is due to the traffic and hwy road conditions not being optimal. I suspect taking US-72 vice taking I-65 and I-565 might make a difference as well.

Still, I think there must me some that are willing to live in Apartments in Athens and make the commute. Unfortunately, I have found very few reviews for Apartments there and hope to find some recommendations.

[tam314]

I live in Athens, just west of the hospital, and commute everyday on US-72. Although, I don't work on the arsenal, I do work on Bradford, just past Research Park. Like others have said, the time you leave makes a difference.

If I leave around 7 or 7:15, it takes 30-45 minutes to make it to the US-72/Research Park Blvd exit. If I leave closer to 8, that commute decreases to 20-30 minutes.

I'm not real familiar with the traffic on Research Park heading into the arsenal and that would have to be factored in to what I listed above.

Madison is the bottleneck on 72, and all the roadwork they've been doing recently has made the morning commute that much worse.

In my experience, the interstate route isn't any better... but YMMV.

[HB2HSV]

I lived in west side of Madison and see the I-565 westbound traffic jam almost daily. Sometime it is one big parking lot on the I-565. So if you're thinking using I-565 for daily commute to Decatur/ Athens, think twice.

[y8tiger]

Egads! Sounds like Huntsville could benefit from a Perimeter Loop like the I-285 around Atlanta, or at least a Northern Arc.

[KDM256]

Originally Posted by y8tiger

Egads! Sounds like Huntsville could benefit from a Perimeter Loop like the I-285 around Atlanta, or at least a Northern Arc.

We sure could benefit from a Perimeter Loop like the one in Atlanta but here in Huntsville we put roads and on the back burner.