Commute in Jacksonville (Fruit Cove: HOA fees, houses, neighborhoods)

[Fireblade3]

Hello All.
Can you let me know if the commute from St.Johns (32259) to Beach Blvd ( 32216) is doable on a daily basis?
Google maps says around 25 miles but I am not sure if the traffic is bumper to bumper like in say Atlanta where I currently live and fed up with
Looking at a potential job in 32216 and plan to live in St.Johns for the school system and family oriented stuff as we have two children in elementary schools.
Your response is much appreciated and thank you in advance.

[mawipafl]

It all depends on your definition of "doable". Jacksonville traffic even at its worse is nothing like Atlanta.

It also depends on where exactly on Beach Blvd you'd be traveling to and from where in St. Johns County you'd live ... or do you specifically mean St. Johns in St. Johns County?

The traffic snags you'd encounter would be on San Jose Blvd (Hwy 13), and a slow-down where 295 and 95 meet (if that was your commute route). Those areas are somewhat nasty during rush hour, but personally we don't find them undoable compared to commutes in other cities (such as Atlanta, NYC, Boston as examples).

[skooba]

32259 is Julington Creek/Durbin area. Easily doable.
If you leave by 7am you'll hit minimal traffic. Leave between 7:15 and 7:45 you'll hit a bit more trying to get onto 95 at Old St Augustine Rd and a few spots on 95.

You're looking at a 30-35 minute commute on a good day, up to an hour on a bad day. Probably 40-45 min average.

[Fireblade3]

Thank you mawipafl,skooba !

I do not have the specific site address. I was just told of the zipcode where the worksite is....you know how recruiters can be ,
Atlanta traffic is hopeless to say the least...a 25 mile commute here is more than an 60 min in rush hour and when school reopen.Thats not doable for me on a daily basis...
For me doable is 45 min for a 25 mile distance to work. I was looking specifically at St.Johns since at least in the cyberworld the schools seem to be rated well

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by Fireblade3

I do not have the specific site address. I was just told of the zipcode where the worksite is....you know how recruiters can be ,

Laughing because yes I do know how recruiters tend to hold vital info close to the chest :-)

Atlanta traffic is hopeless to say the least...a 25 mile commute here is more than an 60 min in rush hour and when school reopen.Thats not doable for me on a daily basis...

You will not, in my opinion, find traffic anywhere in Jax that's like Atlanta.

For me doable is 45 min for a 25 mile distance to work. I was looking specifically at St.Johns since at least in the cyberworld the schools seem to be rated well

It will be quite interesting to see what happens to traffic when 9B opens (a connector between I-295 in Duval and Rt. 1 and eventually I-95 in St. Johns). But if you're used to short-distance commutes that can take forever (like in Atlanta), I don't think you'll mind the commute too much between Beach Blvd. and St. Johns County -- you'll probably have pockets of slow traffic, but definitely not an hour's worth of snail-like bumper-to-bumper traffic.

I was recently in the Jax area househunting, and I drove all over the place at all hours of the day to test commuter times. Our workplace will be on Butler Blvd., and one of the drives I made a number of times was from there to Fruit Cove and then the opposite. I think the "worst" was a 45 minute drive and that was because of the slow down where I-95 and I-295 meet, but mostly because of traffic lights on San Jose Blvd (Rt. 13). Heading south at evening rush hour, traffic on San Jose began to break around Orange Picker Rd. and then slowed a bit at Race Track Rd., but wasn't bad enough to make me tear my hair out.

[Fireblade3]

mawipafl,


Thanks again for the info.That helps a lot.
I was actually looking at the Fruit cove area.Homes seem to be reasonably good and the schools seem to be good.If the commute is doable from Fruit cove to Butler Blvd, Beach blvd is not far from Butler Blvd and I should be fine.
As you were house hunting, have you looked at Nocatee ? Any info as to what HOA fees I will be looking at?
Thanks again...

[mawipafl]

Fireblade3, we didn't look at Nocatee, but only because we were looking for a house in a neighborhood that was already complete. That's not to say there's anything negative about Nocatee - it was just our preference.

It's hard to figure out the CDD fees and HOA fees in Nocatee. Apparently there are 2 CDDs - one in the Duval side and the other in the St. Johns side. I saw CDD fees ranging from $1600-1800 and perhaps they are more or less depending on what specific neighborhood a house lies in. HOA fees seem to be low for some houses, about $180, while another I saw was $600. I honestly don't know enough about Nocatee and all its neighborhoods to know these fees for sure.

You'll hear both schools of thought on the CDD thing. I understand both sides, but for us, paying a CDD fee was worth it -- all the amenities were built as the houses were being built rather than having a lip-service promise from the developer that the amenities would eventually be built.

[Fireblade3]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

Fireblade3, we didn't look at Nocatee, but only because we were looking for a house in a neighborhood that was already complete. That's not to say there's anything negative about Nocatee - it was just our preference.

It's hard to figure out the CDD fees and HOA fees in Nocatee. Apparently there are 2 CDDs - one in the Duval side and the other in the St. Johns side. I saw CDD fees ranging from $1600-1800 and perhaps they are more or less depending on what specific neighborhood a house lies in. HOA fees seem to be low for some houses, about $180, while another I saw was $600. I honestly don't know enough about Nocatee and all its neighborhoods to know these fees for sure.

You'll hear both schools of thought on the CDD thing. I understand both sides, but for us, paying a CDD fee was worth it -- all the amenities were built as the houses were being built rather than having a lip-service promise from the developer that the amenities would eventually be built.

Thank you.
That was sufficient info to get my boots on ground going...

[mawipafl]

Fireblade3 ... if you decide to take the job on Beach Blvd. and your next task is to hire a realtor, ask him/her if he/she can give you access to Listingbook.com ... I found it to be more up-to-date and real-time current than zillow, trulia, or realtor.com, and it was really easy to find the data and info, including fees, specific to a particular house in a particular area.

[Fireblade3]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

Fireblade3 ... if you decide to take the job on Beach Blvd. and your next task is to hire a realtor, ask him/her if he/she can give you access to Listingbook.com ... I found it to be more up-to-date and real-time current than zillow, trulia, or realtor.com, and it was really easy to find the data and info, including fees, specific to a particular house in a particular area.

That is very helpful. Surely will do.
Thank you.