Driving from Center City to Allentown (Bethlehem, King of Prussia: house, live in, restaurant)

[JohnZ963]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Personally though if I was working in Allentown, I might get off in Quakertown and take the back roads to 309 and go into CC Allentown that way unless where the OP would be working is west Allentown.

Yes. 22 east is jammed in the mornings from around 309 to 145.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by JohnZ963

Yes. 22 east is jammed in the mornings from around 309 to 145.

Can confirm. My friend lives near the SL Library and commutes to Allentown (next to the arena) and says its about 30-35 minutes during rush hour.

[j_ws]

As has been reflected above, it can be a rough haul.

That being said, if the job is really lucrative enough and you are committed enough to maintaining a life in Philly, then you could theoretically make it work.

I understand the desire to stay in a more prominent city. From an architectural and urban planning perspective, Allentown is an urban environment and arguably one of the best preserved early-twentieth century cities of its size and it has some very great older urban neighborhoods and some awesome rowhomes and unique streetscapes. That being said, it's still small. Whenever I return back to the Lehigh Valley the small scale of the cities is very noticeable. The area has definitely developed some significant cultural amenities since I grew up in the Lehigh Valley and the bar scene is increasingly decent, but it is still small and the Valley itself is overwhelmingly suburban, so I can see how some suggestions to relocate to the area would be potentially undesirable.

Have you considered any locations somewhere between the Lehigh Valley and New York? That seems like it might be better-suited for the commutes the two of you need to undertake.

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by asiandudeyo

Hi guys,
I am considering a job offer in Allentown.
The salary and benefit package are excellent, and they even offer reimbursement for transportation cost. On the top that, I can see acceleration in my career advancement in this company.

Now we live in Center City Philadelphia and are planning to stay here for a bit.
Questions are:
1. How doable is it to drive from Center City Philly to Allentown?
2. We might relocate to somewhere closer in the near future. Say Jenkintown or Abington. How doable is it for me to drive from there to Allentown?

Both me and my partner are city boys. We are so accustomed to living in cities.
So we feel like Jenkintown or Abington will be one train away to Center City, and it is great.
We also considered relocate somewhere closer to NYC. But we do not want to squander our money for renting an apartment or a house. Soon, we would start to buy properties for ourselves and for investment. So we feel Jenkintown and Abington will be more affordable than areas closer to NYC.
Also boyfriend works from home but he has to travel to Manhattan 2 - 3 times a week. While we are here, it is great because he can just simply go to 30th Street Station and take AMTRAK (or sometimes MegaBUS if I tag along since I love sceneries).

Thanks for your inputs!

Regarding moving somewhere closer, the OP mentions Jenkintown or Abington. I see zero advantage to those places either except maybe 10 minutes of commute saved, but even that's questionable.

[MrKite]

In short: no way!!! There is no good way to get from center city Philly to Allentown.

I've commuted from Quakertown and Sellersville (which aren't even the Lehigh Valley--south of it in Bucks County) down to Fort Washington, Horsham and Hatboro (suburbs north of Philly). That stretch is only a portion of the commute from center city Philly to Allentown, but even that was often frustrating and time-consuming. I took 309 all the time, which explains it: all those traffic lights can cause headaches. But as others have pointed out, 476 is not much better--maybe even worse.

My advice is to move to the Lehigh Valley or nearby. Center Valley and Quakertown are nice and not far. Northside Bethlehem is definitely desirable, as is the West end of Allentown. Do avoid anything in center city Allentown.

[j_ws]

Originally Posted by MrKite

My advice is to move to the Lehigh Valley or nearby. Center Valley and Quakertown are nice and not far. Northside Bethlehem is definitely desirable, as is the West end of Allentown. Do avoid anything in center city Allentown.

In terms of urban neighborhoods, West Walnut is a pretty great area (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5960...7i13312!8i6656).

I would counter the arguments to avoid the center city areas altogether. They're rough around the edges, generally speaking, but you can snag some pretty impressive rowhomes. I also feel that Allentown's dense, relatively intact original city streetscapes are huge architectural assets that (hopefully) more people are starting to appreciate. (i.e. things like this: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6095...7i13312!8i6656 and this: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6075...7i13312!8i6656)

If you're willing to put up with higher crime than the rest of the Valley, it can be worth it. I understand how that sounds like an absurd suggestion to a lot of people, but I think Allentown loses a lot of it's stigma when you remove it from the context of the rest of the higher-income areas around it and view it through a different lense (Disclaimer: I live in Cleveland now, so some of the lows from which this city is rebounding really put places like Allentown into perspective). Also, if someone truly wants to be in a city, a lot of the Lehigh Valley outside of the three small urban cores is tough. Even then, the cities aren't hugely navigable in terms of public transportation (which is pretty nonexistent) or walkable in terms of having necessary amenities directly at your doorstep. Furthermore, if there is some desire to use property as an investment, there is an argument to be made for the trajectory of Allentown's development and the likelihood of central neighborhoods to start rapidly gentrifying. Dense cities such as Allentown have a higher chance of spillover occurring at a quicker rate.

So to the OP, I would say that if you REALLY want to be in a dense, urban environment, investigate some of the traditional urban cores in the Lehigh Valley (Even Easton seems to be more viable now that they're adding amenities like a farmers market). If they're still too small, it seems like you'll be sacrificing a lot of your quality of life by spending a disproportionate amount of time on the highway or having to move to a place that doesn't really suit your lifestyle.

[asiandudeyo]

Thank you guys for all your inputs.
I told the employer I need some time. In a way, I decided not to take the offer. But then they said "Oh that's okay, the project won;t start until mid February anyway. So you have time until January..."
It seems that "mother nature" insists on me taking this offer.

So I will try to drive there couple times and see how durable it is.
Also, we will explore Allentown more and maybe we will like it there. Who knows...

[asiandudeyo]

Originally Posted by j_ws

As has been reflected above, it can be a rough haul.

That being said, if the job is really lucrative enough and you are committed enough to maintaining a life in Philly, then you could theoretically make it work.

I understand the desire to stay in a more prominent city. From an architectural and urban planning perspective, Allentown is an urban environment and arguably one of the best preserved early-twentieth century cities of its size and it has some very great older urban neighborhoods and some awesome rowhomes and unique streetscapes. That being said, it's still small. Whenever I return back to the Lehigh Valley the small scale of the cities is very noticeable. The area has definitely developed some significant cultural amenities since I grew up in the Lehigh Valley and the bar scene is increasingly decent, but it is still small and the Valley itself is overwhelmingly suburban, so I can see how some suggestions to relocate to the area would be potentially undesirable.

Have you considered any locations somewhere between the Lehigh Valley and New York? That seems like it might be better-suited for the commutes the two of you need to undertake.

Well we don't know any areas between Lehigh Valley and NY.
We think those areas will be more expensive due to the proximity to NY, no?

Do you have any suggestions?

We don't really go to bars.
We are more like gym, shop and computer game type of guys.

[asiandudeyo]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Regarding moving somewhere closer, the OP mentions Jenkintown or Abington. I see zero advantage to those places either except maybe 10 minutes of commute saved, but even that's questionable.

Darn...

[j_ws]

Originally Posted by asiandudeyo

Well we don't know any areas between Lehigh Valley and NY.
We think those areas will be more expensive due to the proximity to NY, no?

Do you have any suggestions?

We don't really go to bars.
We are more like gym, shop and computer game type of guys.

I kind of regret suggesting it because it's more or less just a bunch of rural suburbs until you get to the New York metropolitan statistical area, so it's probably equally non-ideal for commuting purposes. That being said, I do know of people who commute into Manhattan from the Lehigh Valley, so if that is doable then a reverse-rush hour commute might not be terrible.

But if you aren't really invested in the bar/restaurant scene, then that might make Allentown or Bethlehem more desirable since they're still lacking in that department when compared to medium and large cities. Otherwise Bethlehem proper is pretty pleasant across the board and Allentown is an interesting small city. Culturally-speaking the entire Valley is developing, so that's nice. It seems every year there is considerably more to offer in terms of the arts. Definitely check out some of those Allentown neighborhoods I mentioned above. And really anywhere in Bethlehem around downtown might be suitable - especially the west side. I can't speak much for Easton since I almost never ventured there and when I come back to visit I still haven't had much of a reason to go, but they do have a farmers market now so that's indication of a revival of the urban core there as well.