Traffic question (Phoenix: live in, moving to, reverse commute)

[synapse]

I currently live in the north valley, near Desert Ridge, and work in the west valley near the Cardinals stadium. I use the 101 to go to work, which takes about 30 minutes, and there is rarely much traffic going west in the morning.

My wife and I are thinking of moving to Central Phoenix. That would involve going down the AZ-51 to I-10, taking I-10 west to the 101, and then going just north on the 101 to the stadium.

What is the traffic like on that segment in the morning? Is that still a "reverse commute," or would I get caught in morning traffic going south on 51 and then west on I-10? Or could I simply take Camelback or Northern, as a side street, all the way out west?

[pbenjamin]

You would likely see very thick traffic, some stop and go, until you cleared the deck park tunnel, after that it would not be too bad.

[buckeyenative01]

Once you're past the Stack and heading westbound in the morning, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

That stretch of the 10 between the Mini Stack and the Stack is brutal, though. As a result, the 17, westbound 202 and southbound 51 are all clusterf*cks during morning and afternoon rush hours.

[nightgirl151]

I think it depends on your work hours. I am a nurse that works nights at PCH- leaving in the am- as long as I get out by 7:30 and get thru the stack by then its not too bad. If I get out of work late- even by 15 min its a mess! So if your work hours vary, then you may be ok. One the flip side, the 10 heading east starts to back up by 2pm ish.

[observer53]

It can vary a lot depending on the time of your commute, but SR51, if you need to use it(depends on how far north in central Phx you are) can be heavy southbound in the AM and northbound in the PM... I-10 west in the AM will be ok once you get through the tunnel, I think; coming east in the evening may be heavier, though. It's certainly doable if you really want to move in to central Phoenix. I'd skip the surface street idea.