Traffic in Orange County (Santa Ana, Huntington Beach: apartments, to rent, safe neighborhood) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

Emilyy · 12-26-2006, 05:34 PM

So I have the opportunity to take a job in the Garden Grove area, between the 5 and 405. The whole point of moving to Cali is living near the beach, so I'd plan on living in Huntington or Newport Beach.

Would I be able to take the back roads and make it to work in a reasonable amount of time, say, under 30 minutes? From looking at maps, it looks like Beach Ave or Brookhurst would take me there. I understand that the freeways are awful, so I know to stay off of them, but what about the side roads?

I've been watching a lot of live traffic video on my computer, trying to get an idea of just how bad it is, but they only show the freeways.

I'm trying to decide between a move to OC vs. Orlando, and the traffic is my only sticking point against California. I've done the commute to Washington DC from Baltimore (3-5 hours a day of driving) and I've found that much driving leads me to drink too much

Any advice?

dusesean1986 · 12-26-2006, 05:55 PM

The summers in garden grove probably top 80-85, with very low humitidy levels. The winter's lowest temperature is 55. Now, I've been to Florida in the summer and New York City, and the summer weather in California is much much better than the muggy weather of New York City and the mosquito bath of Florida. .

rivkadr · 12-26-2006, 06:09 PM

I live in Santa Ana (right next Garden Grove). Don't know where Dean is getting his information, but our nights are getting as low as the high 30's right now.

As far as your drive, you are very lucky -- they just finished MAJOR construction on the 22, which cuts East-West through Garden Grove. I work in Huntington Beach, and my drive between Huntington Beach to Santa Ana (during rush hour) is now generally between 25 to 30 minutes. The 22 is very fast now -- no traffic at all. If you work in Garden Grove and can find a place to live so that you can drive to and from on the 22, you can expect your commute time to be minimal. If you were to live in Newport Beach (which would require some time on the 405, which can get congested), expect to add a bit more to your commute time, but I still think it would be reasonable (definitely under an hour, even in rush hour).

Side streets are almost never faster than the highway, even when the highway is moving at a snail's pace. I tried almost every possible variation of side street I could think of between Huntington Beach and Santa Ana; most of them were about the same amount of time as the highway, and several of them were substantially longer. The only time it's worth it jump off the highway is if there is an accident, and people are literally at a standstill.

dusesean1986 · 12-26-2006, 06:21 PM

[quote=rivkadr;230897]I live in Santa Ana (right next Garden Grove). Don't know where Dean is getting his information, but our nights are getting as low as the high 30's right now.

QUOTE]

Go to weatherchannel.com and type in Garden Grove in the above toolbar, and you will see the averages and records, click it. It will give you the average temperature for every month. It will probably say low to mid 40's for winter low, but most of that is in the middle of the night. BTW, Orange County beaches are incredible, ecspecially Newport Beach and Huntington. The summer has very good southwest swells that produce good waves for surfing and bodyboarding, because they are south facing beaches. Newport Beach has this crazy place called the Wedge and when it picks up its crazy, like 2-3 feet deep with a quick 6-10 foot wave, gets your blood going. You won't find these waves in Florida, because the Gulf has very little and the Atlantic Ocean produces little to nothing swells.

rivkadr · 12-26-2006, 08:31 PM

Yes, but you didn't say the average daytime winter temperature

You said "The winter's lowest temperature is 55." It could be quite a shock to someone to hear that, to then come here, and then find out it actually gets near freezing during the night

dusesean1986 · 12-26-2006, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rivkadr

Yes, but you didn't say the average daytime winter temperature

You said "The winter's lowest temperature is 55." It could be quite a shock to someone to hear that, to then come here, and then find out it actually gets near freezing during the night

Ok I apologize...50-55 when people are not nocturnal! That's at 9'oclock at night...it dips about 10 degrees in the middle of the night. Thanks Riv..This is average standards, riv high 30's is not usual for Orange County whatsoever.

rivkadr · 12-26-2006, 11:36 PM

Quote:

This is average standards, riv high 30's is not usual for Orange County whatsoever.

Obviously. Which is why I said "our nights are getting as low as the high 30's right now." I was explaining that it was happening in the night. I was just clarifying what appeared to be an erroneous statement in your post -- I think it's important to be very exact when posting information for people. If you mean average daytime temperature, then say, average daytime temperature.

Am still trying to figure out why you're even posting about daily temperature, when she didn't even ask for it.

Bambi, if you have any questions about the commute between Huntington Beach and Garden Grove, I'd be happy to answer them, because as I said, I drive it every day (Santa Ana is one city East of GG).

Emilyy · 12-27-2006, 06:01 AM

rivkadr.....thanks for the info. It doesn't sound like the commute is going to be an issue. I hope you won't mind one more question.

I've been searching for apartments on Craigslist and other places, and it looks like I'll be able to find something reasonable, but its so hard to tell when you're not actually there. I need a 2 BR in a SAFE neighborhood (I'm coming from Baltimore and I am just fed up with living near drugs and crime). I'd like to be within, say a 20 minute walk to the beach. I can afford to spend between $2000 and $2400 (with a roommate) and I want to be able to walk to the beach and to restaurants and bars.

Does this sound realistic or am I dreaming?

dusesean1986 · 12-27-2006, 06:20 AM

Alright Riv I'll let you win

rivkadr · 12-27-2006, 11:37 AM

Bambi, you mentioned that you'd been looking in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. I'm not familiar with Newport Beach, but Huntington Beach is quite nice, and I think would fit the bill for you. Are you going to be able to visit here to pick out a place to live, or are you going to have to rent sight unseen? I'm not sure how reasonable your price range is as far as being able to rent that close to the beach -- it sounds right to me.