St. Louis, MO to Springfield, IL Commute (Decatur, Bloomington: hotel, house)

[nature19]

Hi Everyone ,

Have a potential move to Springfield, IL soon, but was wondering if it is fairly common or advisable to set up home in St. Louis MO, and drive to Springfield, IL everyday (90 mile commute one way). Does anyone know of people who do this? Is the interstate rural with not much stop-and-go? Would I hit a lot of commute rush hour traffic crossing the bridge across to IL in the morning and MO in the evening?

If it takes ~1 hour to go, and ~1 hour in the evening to come back, I was thinking of giving it a shot.

Thank you for your answers. These are sincere questions, and will help me in making a decision!

[Maintainschaos]

Growing up in Springfield, it was a rare occasion to hear people doing the reverse commute, but only a few days a week, and never every single day. With a 90 mi distance and traffic in StL, I would never advise the commute. I-55 isn't the most congested freeway ever, but it's definitely not a rural road. Coupled with inclement weather in the winter, I would never want to do it. Plus, COL is so low in Springfield and the surrounding area that you could get a nice house with a nice piece of property quite inexpensively. I would save yourself a world of hassle and live in/around Springfield and just take the train to StL whenever you want to visit or shop there.

[myrc60]

If it's 90 miles, you cannot legally get there in an hour and I wouldn't be willing to take the risk of getting stopped going as fast as you'd have to to arrive in an hour!

[chet everett]

You have got to be kidding.

People have asked about maybe commuting between Decatur and Springfield or Bloomington and Springfield and even the concensus has been "too many risks".

St. Louis is going to take EVERY BIT of 90 minutes in the rare "perfect conditions" from Springfield. There is A WHOLE LOT of truck traffic that currently is supposed to move below the 65 MPH passenger vehicle limit. There is often foul weather, including ice storms and heavy rains. There are frequent "road repairs" done by connected (and likely corrupt...) road builders in this state.

You would have a hard time making the I-270 "outer loop" in a hour of hard driving and EVEN that would be an absolute IMPOSSIBILITY when the frequent less than perfect conditions outlined above are factored in...

[madpaddy]

Don't con yourself into believing that you're going to be able to do it in an hour....I-55 between St. Louis and Springfield is probably the most patrolled section of Interstate in the State. Figure on an median time of ~105 minutes from downtown St Louis to downtown Springfield, with a realistic understanding that it could be much longer at times. 3.5 hours+ of daily commute time gets real old, real fast.

I would strongly recommend that you either live in Springfield and commute to St Louis on weekends (you can pay for a nice hotel room every weekend with the money you'll save on gas, maintenance, and vehicle depreciation) or, if you find living in Springfield untenable, find a job in St. Louis.

[linicx]

It's 90 minutes of driving on I-55 from Springfield to I-270 and the Mississippi River in great weather. There are better routes, though, if you are going deep into MO.

[Drover]

You gotta be nucking futs if you intend to do this as a daily commute.

[cubssoxfan]

my thoughts exactly, I just couldn't find the words suitable for print

[linicx]

It's 3 +/-hours from Springfield to the 1-44 cut-off or about the same to Wentazville on I-70. Then another 3 hours to Columbia.and Jeff city depending upon the traffic. It's 2 hours from Wentzville to US 54 at Kingdom City. The easiest solution is to live mid-way between 'em - maybe around Coal Valley..

[Plzeň]

Originally Posted by nature19

Hi Everyone ,

Have a potential move to Springfield, IL soon, but was wondering if it is fairly common or advisable to set up home in St. Louis MO, and drive to Springfield, IL everyday (90 mile commute one way). Does anyone know of people who do this? Is the interstate rural with not much stop-and-go? Would I hit a lot of commute rush hour traffic crossing the bridge across to IL in the morning and MO in the evening?

If it takes ~1 hour to go, and ~1 hour in the evening to come back, I was thinking of giving it a shot.

Thank you for your answers. These are sincere questions, and will help me in making a decision!

90 miles in 1 hour? When you consider that the beginning and end of your commute will be in-city driving, that means you'd have to average over 100 mph on the highway portion.