Moving to Huntsville area in 2017 (Madison, Athens: home, buying, place to live)

[LoveXinfinity]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

It's not just Madison County ... it's all across the south as far as college sports go. Pro sports dominate big cities, so reallly it's a national thing.

I'm sure a couple of years in I'll be a big sports fan.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by LoveXinfinity

Ummm, tell me about these roller coaster overpasses😳

Memorial Parkway was built entirely as a surface street many years ago, I think in the late 1950s. As the city has grown, the need for limited access was apparent, and over the years the state has added overpasses at previously signal-controlled intersections, along with service or frontage roads for more "local" traffic. The overpasses go up, then go down and in some cases where they're closely spaced there are very limited sight distances. Stopping can be an adventure if you top one of the man-built hills and traffic happens to be stopped in front of you. The speed limit is 50, but of course, people tend to drive closer to 65.

And the whole thing is a work in progress. Two or three new overpasses are being built on the south end now, and one area was just opened on the north side a couple years ago. There's probably about 8-10 miles of limited access now, but it would be nice if the freeway extended all the way to the Tennessee line, or even Fayetteville, since the incoming traffic in the mornings can get quite heavy, and outgoing likewise in the afternoons. That will be many years in the future though.

[LoveXinfinity]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Memorial Parkway was built entirely as a surface street many years ago, I think in the late 1950s. As the city has grown, the need for limited access was apparent, and over the years the state has added overpasses at previously signal-controlled intersections, along with service or frontage roads for more "local" traffic. The overpasses go up, then go down and in some cases where they're closely spaced there are very limited sight distances. Stopping can be an adventure if you top one of the man-built hills and traffic happens to be stopped in front of you. The speed limit is 50, but of course, people tend to drive closer to 65.

And the whole thing is a work in progress. Two or three new overpasses are being built on the south end now, and one area was just opened on the north side a couple years ago. There's probably about 8-10 miles of limited access now, but it would be nice if the freeway extended all the way to the Tennessee line, or even Fayetteville, since the incoming traffic in the mornings can get quite heavy, and outgoing likewise in the afternoons. That will be many years in the future though.

My goodness you are a wealth of knowledge and I'm so very thankful for that😉. When I visit Alabama, my boyfriend & I always go to the lottery stores in Tennessee. If I'm correct during one of my trips last year we went to Ardmore. I'm going to have to ask him about Memorial Parkway because I'm sure we've driven on one of these overpasses that you speak of,but I was completely oblivious to it. We took a trip one day to Tennessee about a little over an hour away and I was in shock at how dangerous some of the roads were. Driving in NY is the equivalent to driving in a drag race, but if I'm understanding correctly what you're saying, it seems some roadways are not up to speed with the growth of population. I live in the suburbs of NY in a small county and this has happened here. Back in the 50s before I was born Rockland County was a small village comprised of a bunch of small towns. In 1950 the population was about 89,000....20 years later in the 70's it grew to 229,000 and the current population is about 325,000. As you can tell the county is bulging at its seams. I enjoyed it so much when people labeled it as "country and slow".

[FTG-05]

Originally Posted by LoveXinfinity

How far is Lincoln County, TN from the Madison County area. I've become so spoiled with less than 25 minute commutes here in NY on local roads that if it is anything over an hour I'd probably die. My boyfriend has worked at Redstone Arsenal over 25 years. It would be kinda nice to work near Redstone Arsenal to commute together sometimes, but at this point I'm not being picky. Every job I've had since I've been working in NY has been in NJ so I'm used to paying taxes in NY & NJ. It sucks, but it's all I know.

"Lincoln county is the TN county directly north of Madison county AL (i.e. Hsv. and Madison)."

How far and how long to commute is highly variable depending on where you're coming from and where you're going.

Typically, it takes us about 45 minutes from our house (about 5miles from I-65 and the AL/TN border) to downtown Hsv in a SE direction. About the same to downtown Madison going almost directly south.

However, we're retired and hence have no need to commute. I imagine that during rush hour, it would be longer.

[LoveXinfinity]

Originally Posted by FTG-05

"Lincoln county is the TN county directly north of Madison county AL (i.e. Hsv. and Madison)."

How far and how long to commute is highly variable depending on where you're coming from and where you're going.

Typically, it takes us about 45 minutes from our house (about 5miles from I-65 and the AL/TN border) to downtown Hsv in a SE direction. About the same to downtown Madison going almost directly south.

However, we're retired and hence have no need to commute. I imagine that during rush hour, it would be longer.

I would be commuting from Scott Road in Toney. The road goes right into Tennessee.

[convextech]

Originally Posted by LoveXinfinity

I notice there are a lot of Contract Administrator jobs and that's the direction I would like to go in.
...
many of the companies go through temp agencies with temp to perm positions.

When I moved to Harvest AL from Macon GA for work, and I used Aerotek to get my job at Boeing. After the 6-month contract was over, I was hired by TBE and eventually moved to DRS.

[writerwife]

Originally Posted by LoveXinfinity

I would be commuting from Scott Road in Toney. The road goes right into Tennessee.

My sis lives off of Scott Rd. Depending on how far north you are on Scott.. it is VERY close to the TN border. Her son attended private school in Fayetteville Tn. State line Rd is at the end of Scott Rd and then you are in Lincoln County. But yes.. if you have to drive there into various places in Hsv at rush hour it can be a longer ride than it should. But.. if where you are commuting to in Hsv can be easily gotten to off of I65 then you could go the back way via Thach Rd. and it's a faster and much nicer drive.

[LoveXinfinity]

Originally Posted by convextech

When I moved to Harvest AL from Macon GA for work, and I used Aerotek to get my job at Boeing. After the 6-month contract was over, I was hired by TBE and eventually moved to DRS.

I'm keeping my eye on Boeing and Remington. After my experience here in NY/NJ in corporate America I'd prefer a gov't job or working for a company that supports Redstone Arsenal- the goal here is some sort of job stability and somewhere I can grow. I know there are downsides in every job arena and I shouldn't be picky, but corporate is last on the job quest.

[LoveXinfinity]

Originally Posted by writerwife

My sis lives off of Scott Rd. Depending on how far north you are on Scott.. it is VERY close to the TN border. Her son attended private school in Fayetteville Tn. State line Rd is at the end of Scott Rd and then you are in Lincoln County. But yes.. if you have to drive there into various places in Hsv at rush hour it can be a longer ride than it should. But.. if where you are commuting to in Hsv can be easily gotten to off of I65 then you could go the back way via Thach Rd. and it's a faster and much nicer drive.

We are very close to the Opps Reynolds Road end. I'm not really bothered by the traffic since I'm used to beastly NY traffic. I could deal with a short commute w/traffic vs. a long commute. In a perfect world my commute would be 20 minutes and I would get off from work before rush hour.

[LoveXinfinity]

See this is why I've fallen in love with Madison County because everyone is so nice, helpful & friendly. There are friendly people where I live now, but few and far between. I find the only time people up north are helpful, friendly, nice or sympathetic is if it has to do with children, an animal or some horrific tragedy. The reality is that people should be nice, friendly and helpful in everyday situations.