How bad is the commute from Eastern Shore to Bowie (Baltimore: homes, good schools)

[thinkingtalbot]

I have two homes I'm considering. One in Easton and one in Huntingtown (Calvert County). I'm wondering what the overall commute problem will be from Easton. It's about an hour and 15 minutes without traffic and I know its worse during the summer, especially on Fridays but what about overall. Will I regret moving there? Thanks.

-joe

[North Beach Person]

The Bay Bridge is a pain, if you've driven across it imagine doing it twice a day in all weathers.

Calvert is considered to have a better school system than Talbot, likely not by much. Your commute from Calvert would be easier.

[bus man]

I'm not all that familiar with Eastern Shore traffic patterns; the few times I've been there during weekday commuter hours, it didn't seem any worse than any other time. On the western side, traffic often slows down at the Severn River Bridge (near Annapolis).

The huge wild card in your commute is going to be the Bay Bridge. On a normal day, everything's fine. But you could get a lane closure that forces two-way operation on a single span, or a storm that slows traffic or even (rarely) closes the bridge entirely, or who-knows what else. And the bridge is a huge choke point; there is no practical alternate route.

Incidentally, you won't have any problem commuting TO work on a summertime Friday morning. (In fact, commuter traffic actually tends to be lighter on summer Fridays than other days and times of the year.) But going home in the afternoon, that's an entirely different story!

[HaileyFalconer]

Calvert actually has some really good schools like Northern High. It's closer to Bowie, too. Maybe you should look at the Crofton area in Anne Arundel County instead. It's super close to Bowie, and it has great schools (Arundel and South River HS). It can be kinda expensive, but depending on your budget, you should find something in most cases.

[G1..]

This is all on you ,the Bay Bridge isn't just bad during the summer ,think of snow storms ,nor'easters and such when the bridge is closed and traffic though Annapolis is a ***** anyway at all times of year .Yes Calvert county will make your life easier and a better commute and cheaper with no tolls but I would still live on the Eastern shore if I could .

[MDtoTX]

It depends on where in Bowie you will be...if you need to use route 3 for any reason you're going to be in for a real bad time. As someone who has lived in Crofton the last 6 years and in this general area my entire life...yes the bay bridge traffic is horrendous after 5pm on a Friday between May and Sept, but route 3 is going to be a daily headache for you. Thanks to the new town center and overall crowding of residents, that 3 lane highway hardly ever sees its speed limit.

However, if you're lucky enough to avoid route 3 and can take 197/193/450, you're gonna be just fine because you're just missing the bulk of the traffic. I commuted from Crofton to DC for 3 years taking 50W into the city and the traffic really didn't start until about the 495/202 area. If you get to work and leave early enough, you really should miss just about all traffic since you're no where near either city (Baltimore/DC). Also, Gov Hogan reduced the commuter toll to $1.40 so that'll definitely help.

With all that being said, I would completely forego the Huntingtown location. Again, depending on where in Bowie you work, your options are either route 4 to 301N or 495...both of which are going to be complete pains in the a** for your commute. I had a coworker that lived in Lusby and had to take route 4 to 495 and it was easily a 2 hour commute. Don't do that to yourself...honestly.

On a personal note: I would never live on the eastern shore and work on the western shore. Relying on a bridge everyday is just a terrible idea. With wind restrictions and single car accidents shutting it down, it's just too unreliable for a daily commute. Just my 2 cents.