Commutes to work (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington: how much, houses, living in)

[robind]

Ok, one more commute question....

Living in Eagan and commuting to Eden Prairie or downtown Minneapolis.

In rush hour what kind of commute times can you expect?

[golfgal]

Downtown Minneapolis from about Yankee Doodle/Pilot Knob area is about 20 minutes or so. Eden Prairie, 20 minutes to two days depending on the back up at 494 and 35W. If you can travel at slightly off hours you can save yourself some time.

[SlyFrog]

I was looking for houses in this area, and so I actually drove to exactly that area (Yankee Doodle/Pilot Knob) and timed how long it took to get downtown on random days during about a 4 week period. I actually drove to that area and used a stop watch to see how long it would take.

If you can do it between 7:00 and 8:30 a.m. (and corresponding commuter times p.m.) you're doing a hell of a lot better than I could. Actually, I'd say if you can routinely make it in 20 minutes at just about any time other than 3 in the morning, you're doing pretty well.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Downtown Minneapolis from about Yankee Doodle/Pilot Knob area is about 20 minutes or so. Eden Prairie, 20 minutes to two days depending on the back up at 494 and 35W. If you can travel at slightly off hours you can save yourself some time.

I used to go the other way every day (from 169 @ Pioneer Trail in Eden Prairie to just north of Pilot Knob @ Yankee Doodle Road). Don't underestimate the utility of taking 13 just south of the river as an alternative to 494 -- it's a perfectly good route. The stoplights make it a stop-and-go experience, but it tends to be more predictable than 494 through Bloomington (based on my experience five years ago, anyway).

[robind]

Ok, you timed it with a stop watch - how long did it take?

This could make or break where we buy.

Thanks!

[SlyFrog]

Originally Posted by robind

Ok, you timed it with a stop watch - how long did it take?

This could make or break where we buy.

Thanks!

Never less than 34 minutes. More of an average at 39 minutes. One morning as bad as 52 minutes.

Again, this is leaving between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. My experience? You will painfully wind your way to 55 or you will try the "quick" 494 to 77 route, only to be stuck in a backlog of cars (your choices seem to consist of getting to a major highway (i.e. 494) more quickly and then getting stuck on that highway, or a more even (but still not backup free) route through traffic lights to get to 55. In either event, you will end up waiting at the 62/77 junction. It will be fun. You will not get through that in the 2 minutes it takes at 3 a.m. when there is no other traffic on the road.

From there, your options are to wind your way around some residential streets north on Cedar to get back over to 35W (or god forbid, just stay on Cedar the whole route), or try to take 62 over to 35W. Then downtown.

I timed it because I was just getting surreal times on this and some other routes in other areas I was looking into (e.g. Wayzata). I thought this was bull****, and wanted a real answer one way or the other.

I have come up with a tentative theory. People do not like being reminded of any defects that come with where they live. When talking with others who are interested in their area, they tend to mentally "shave" a bit of time off. Fastest morning in becomes the average time, and this is made worse because most people tend to estimate that time in the first place, and they estimate a bit low (again, when talking to others about the wonders of the area they live in, it may be different when they are raging about the commute specifically).

I have a guy who lives in Wayzata who is a really great guy, but tells me he makes it home during rush hour in about 15 minutes. I've seen 394 leaving downtown at that time of day. As far as I'm concerned, you're lucky if you are leaving your parking garage and getting to 100 in 15 minutes, let alone Wayzata.

Likewise, we had a guy who bought a place out in Chaska. Beautiful home, he definitely got bang for the buck in terms of yard and home size based on where he lived. But that was not enough; he just could not admit that he did not have the best of all possible worlds. Kept on talking about how he could make it in the morning in 20 minutes. Cracked us all up. What did not crack us all up was the fact that he was always about 20-30 minutes late for things, because he kept leaving himself 20 minutes to get in.

P.S. Don't let this make or break where you drive. I'd feel really bad if you could find some super secret way to get in at a 20 minute average. All I know is that I'm more than happy doing 75-80 m.p.h. on a highway (if the traffic permits), so as far as I'm concerned, I'm not some grandmother slowly picking her way to the grocery store. On the other hand, maybe others have some mad Formula 1 racing skills that I don't have that let them make these amazing commute times.

[golfgal]

Have you tried going 35E to 94W from Eagan to get to Minneapolis--no wonder you are taking so long, you are going a VERY indirect route from Eagan to downtown Minneapolis. It is about 10 minutes to the 35E/94 interchange from Eagan and then about 10 more minutes to Minneapolis. Now, your actual time can vary depending on where in downtown you need to be and where in Eagan, which is pretty spread out, you live.

You can get from Apple Valley to downtown Minneapolis on the express bus in 40 minutes and Apple Valley is further south then Eagan.

[SlyFrog]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Have you tried going 35E to 94W from Eagan to get to Minneapolis--no wonder you are taking so long, you are going a VERY indirect route from Eagan to downtown Minneapolis. It is about 10 minutes to the 35E/94 interchange from Eagan and then about 10 more minutes to Minneapolis. Now, your actual time can vary depending on where in downtown you need to be and where in Eagan, which is pretty spread out, you live.

You can get from Apple Valley to downtown Minneapolis on the express bus in 40 minutes and Apple Valley is further south then Eagan.

No, that is part of the misconception. First, the express bus gets to ride on the shoulder around other cars. Drivers don't. Second, people do not realize how far east from 77 you are when you start moving over to the Woodlands, etc. area of Eagan. You are going even further east when you take 35E to 94. It is far less direct than taking 55 or 494. Believe me, I've been obsessing over this type of thing for about 10 months now, staring at maps, plotting times, etc. When I started, I thought Eagan would be much faster (and a better place to live) due to how much further north it is. But a lot of the places people talk about when they talk about Eagan just end up giving back that time due to being further north by being much further east than parts of Apple Valley that people speak of (I'm talking about the parts right around the 77 corridor).

Yes, I have tried both (only due to having appointments in St. Paul get canceled while I was on the road, admittedly). No one I know that lives in Eagan and works downtown (and there are a number of them) has ever mentioned taking 35E to 94W. That simply seems insane (or at least incredibly suboptimal, given the increased driving distance, status of roads at that time of the morning, etc.). You are basically driving to St. Paul to drive to Minneapolis, and actually head away from Minneapolis for a good part of the trip. Further, though it is better than 494, it's not like 94 just hums along at 70 m.p.h. during rush hour.

[golfgal]

IT might be a few miles further but since 35E is 70 MPH vs 60 on 494 and there isn't much traffic along 35E until you get to about Shepard Road you do move very quickly. Yes, 94 backs up at rush hour but no where near as bad as 494 or 35W. I still think, having taken that route many, many times over the past 30 odd years that it is easier. Also, if things get too backed up at 35W near downtown St. Paul, hop on Grand or one of those roads and take the back roads over to 94.

Ok, I just mapped it out, 16.9 miles going 494-77-35W, 17.2 miles going 55 but yuck route!, 22.5 miles going 35E to 94. The 'estimated' time for the first two routes was 30 minutes for the last route 32 minutes--not really that major of a deal.

The shortest route I found was 35E, Ayn Mill Rd to Snelling to 94, 16 miles.

[golfgal]

To put this all in perspective too-My dad used to live near Riverside CA, outside of LA. He was 20 miles from his driveway to the parking lot of his lab, it took him 90 minutes in GOOD traffic to drive to work. We don't have traffic problems when you look at the BIG cities--have you ever driven in Boston .