Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Does anyone work around Burlington and commute in from the Durham/Chapel Hill/Carrboro area? I was originally considering living in Durham near and commuting via Hwy 85 (~40-45 minutes), but saw that route 54 runs directly from Carrboro (a bit cheaper than Durham) to Burlington. I'm not from the area, so was wondering if that is a feasible way to commute? It looks like a one-lane road on Google maps. Anyone have any advice?
I've driven NC54 to Graham a couple of times - but never as a commute. My recollection is that it's a slower drive than an interstate, but not unreasonable. Certainly the quickest route from southern Carrboro to Burlington. You are correct that the route is a rural 2-lane road (i.e., one lane each way).
I don't currently, but I used to live in Chapel Hill and commute to Burlington. I lived very close to both 40 and 54 and found that regardless of which route I took, the drive took about 40 minutes. Occasionally, however, you could get stuck behind a slow moving vehicle on 54.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,779 posts, read 15,790,796 times
Reputation: 10888
My husband makes that commute everyday! We live in Southern Village in Chapel Hill, not far from the Carrboro line. He takes 54. It's exactly 32 miles for him, and it takes about 50 minutes. He said it's usually pretty good - sometimes gets stuck behind a school bus. It's not difficult or trafficy, but we came from DC, so most anything is better than that! Having said that, he'd prefer a shorter commute, but I wasn't willing to live closer to Burlington for several reasons. Any reason you're not considering Burlington itself, which is very cheap or other closer places like Graham or even Hillsborough?
ETA: you're commute from Carrboro might be 5 minutes shorter if you live closer to or farther up on 54 than we do.
I've driven 54 many, many, many times and it's a fine two lane road. I would agree with elsbells and guess from Carrboro to Burlington would be about 40 minutes depending on where you start and end, of course. We go to the mountains a lot and often leave town via 54. You can do 55 or 60. At night you need to look out for deer and other wildlife.
If you don't have kids and aren't concerned about being in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro school district and like funky teeny towns consider Saxapahaw. It's a great place and undergoing a bit of a resurgence. Check out Saxapahaw Rivermill Home Page . It would be closer for you to Burlington and just about 25 minutes from Carrboro. Great folks there. I would guess it would be about a 20 minute commute from Saxy to Burlington.
Also Hillsborough is a quaint, historic, artsy town with a lot of good things going for it, too. Your commute from Hillsborough would be shorter, too. Not sure why google maps is saying it's 30 minutes as that seems overkill to me. I'd guess more like 20 minutes on the interstate. Of course it would depend on where you were in each town. http://www.visithillsboroughnc.com/http://northcarolinatravels.com/hillsborough/index.htm
best of luck!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
