Phoenix- Least stressful city? (Litchfield Park: home, construction, live in)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by roundball

um..correct me if I'm wrong here..maybe that is because you leave at zero dark thirty in the mourning.

You mean "morning"? Or are you British?

I find PHX pretty laid back for its size, but more stressful than places like Charlotte, Albuquerque, SLC, etc.

[jim53]

Anything has to be better than the Washington Baltimore area. My brother -in-law who has lived all over the country, has said we are nuts in this area. To make a normal commute you have to start at at least 5a.m. I commute from Frederick to the suburbs of Washington daily and a 20 minute distance take me 1 hour in the morning and anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours(if it's raining or snowing ) in the evening. It's a mess. The subway for me doen't work because the closest stop is only 10 minutes from my work. I juist might as well keep going. I am retiring to the Phoenix are in about 3 years and look forward to open highhways!!!!!!I know that you have congestion. I have traveled from Gilbert to the airport in the morning and have seen rush hour on Rt 17. Granted mass transit for you would be ideal but at least you don't have about 30,000 commuters going down a two lane highway in the morning. Can't wait to move!!!

[ibarrio]

Originally Posted by roundball

It's still heavy traffic. It takes us 45 min.+ to reach downtown (25 mi.) depending on when we leave in the a.m. Its not that it's slow, we only hit the 20's in a few places. It's the nut to butt traffic and the stupid people that always seem to be driving right in front of you that slam on the breaks. That happens everywhere though. Train to the NW would be nice.

um..correct me if I'm wrong here..maybe that is because you leave at zero dark thirty in the mourning.

Should have clarified...Sorry. That was yesterday afternoon. Was taking my niece and nephew home.

[roundball]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

You mean "morning"? Or are you British?

Not British.

DC is bad. No fun if you have to drive.

[Finger Laker]

rush hours get worse in the winter - if you haven't driven it yet in the winter, it doesn't count

if I leave work from the central corridor at 5pm i'm not getting home (22 miles from the office) until 6:15 at the earliest ....... it's not unheard of to spend 10+ minutes just waiting to get on the 10

from my office to queen creek is 40 miles - that is where my dog breeder was located ..... i made that trip twice after work - once it took 1hr 50min the 2nd time it took 2 1/2 hrs .......... never attempted a 3rd time

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

rush hours get worse in the winter - if you haven't driven it yet in the winter, it doesn't count

if I leave work from the central corridor at 5pm i'm not getting home (22 miles from the office) until 6:15 at the earliest ....... it's not unheard of to spend 10+ minutes just waiting to get on the 10

from my office to queen creek is 40 miles - that is where my dog breeder was located ..... i made that trip twice after work - once it took 1hr 50min the 2nd time it took 2 1/2 hrs .......... never attempted a 3rd time

Look at the crazy distances you are driving. Transpose those distances to any other metro area and it would take hours to get home. In my hometown of Seattle, getting 22 miles outside of downtown, or 40 miles (heaven FORBID) would take much longer than 2 hours. That would be a drive to Seattle - Olympia; I've done it many times and have been on the 5 for over 3 hours, easily. Now L.A., Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, a.k.a. any other metro area, a 22 mile or 40 mile commute would be a disaster. Ever been to Houston? I was stuck on a 6 mile stretch of I-10 for 45 minutes!!! 6 miles...not 22. BIG, BIG difference.

[Finger Laker]

actually I have been to those cities and phoenix is every bit as bad at it's peak - i've driven out to kirkland, kent & federal way during seattle rush hour

in houston i've had to go to the woodlands & sugar land (my brother used to live in the woodlands)

i've also spent most of my life back east and lived for a year in mpls and spent a winter in denver ........ both of which are a snap in comparison - in mpls I would go from brooklyn park into st. paul for work, which would take about an hour - on the bus - with a transfer ............ in denver I would go from Aurora to the Tech center (which was a little bit shorter than the others)

philadelphia is a city of similar size and when I worked out on the main line I had many coworkers who came in from places like mt. laurel & voorhees NJ and one of my good buddies lived in malvern .......... they spent less time in traffic

the nice thing about phoenix though is you get relief in the summers and there are breaks during the day ........ I would say on the whole Houston, LA, DC, Boston, Chicago & NYC are worse as far as places where I've had to deal with it (although admittedly i've never driven in NYC) ......... places like LA it's always congested - doesn't seem to matter when or where - it's congested

also it's about 6 miles from the 7th ave entrance to the I-10 and 67th ave ........... i too have sat in just that stretch for a solid 45 minutes

I actually missed a flight not too long ago - it was a 6:30am departure - figured I'd be fine if I were out of the house a little before 4 - didn't get to the airport until 5:50 ........... no accidents, nothing - just crap traffic

that's not phoenix - but let's not pretend that come 5pm you are going 65mph cruising up the 17 or over on the 10 or 202 ....... you are going a slow crawl, getting up to like 40, then spiking your brakes, sitting there - crawl - gain speed, spike, rinse & repeat

[Finger Laker]

also seattle to olympia is more like 60 miles - so 3 hours for that would be about an hour every 20 miles - which would be faster than an hour 1/2 it can take to get to goodyear and about the same pace / slightly faster than going from phoenix to queen creek (40 miles)

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

actually I have been to those cities and phoenix is every bit as bad at it's peak - i've driven out to kirkland, kent & federal way during seattle rush hour

in houston i've had to go to the woodlands & sugar land (my brother used to live in the woodlands)

i've also spent most of my life back east and lived for a year in mpls and spent a winter in denver ........ both of which are a snap in comparison - in mpls I would go from brooklyn park into st. paul for work, which would take about an hour - on the bus - with a transfer ............ in denver I would go from Aurora to the Tech center (which was a little bit shorter than the others)

philadelphia is a city of similar size and when I worked out on the main line I had many coworkers who came in from places like mt. laurel & voorhees NJ and one of my good buddies lived in malvern .......... they spent less time in traffic

the nice thing about phoenix though is you get relief in the summers and there are breaks during the day ........ I would say on the whole Houston, LA, DC, Boston, Chicago & NYC are worse as far as places where I've had to deal with it (although admittedly i've never driven in NYC) ......... places like LA it's always congested - doesn't seem to matter when or where - it's congested

also it's about 6 miles from the 7th ave entrance to the I-10 and 67th ave ........... i too have sat in just that stretch for a solid 45 minutes

I actually missed a flight not too long ago - it was a 6:30am departure - figured I'd be fine if I were out of the house a little before 4 - didn't get to the airport until 5:50 ........... no accidents, nothing - just crap traffic

that's not phoenix - but let's not pretend that come 5pm you are going 65mph cruising up the 17 or over on the 10 or 202 ....... you are going a slow crawl, getting up to like 40, then spiking your brakes, sitting there - crawl - gain speed, spike, rinse & repeat

LOL, please, ask anyone here, you do travel 65 miles per hour on freeways in Phoenix during rush hour. I remember going to a D-backs game and leaving Litchfield Park, near Luke AFB and arriving at Chase Field 25 minutes later at 5:06 pm. Please! Traffic here is a breeze! And NO, I have never spent over an hour ON ANY valley freeway, NEVER! It just doesn't happen unless a bad accident was involved. And yes, from City hall in Seattle to the State Capitol in Olympia, it is 60.66 miles, BUT from where my parents lived in North Oly to Seattle it was 42.69 miles. The suburbs in Seattle are just as vast as here in Phoenix my friend. I also have friends who currently live in Stilecom and they have a three hour commute to Seattle and only are 35 miles from the city center...that just doesn't happen in Phoenix unless a horrific accident took place.

[roundball]

LOL, please, ask anyone here, you do not travel 65 miles per hour on freeways in Phoenix during rush hour.

Not on the 101 from about 59th ave to the 17. Its sometimes slow all the way bach to 75th. Going S. on 17 it can slow to a crawl around Dunlap. I sure don't feel like speed racer getting on the 10.

Sometimes it's faster for me to take surface streets (7th) all the way.