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Considering buying a home in Holly Springs, in a Stonemont community on Avent Ferry Rd.
The cost of the toll on 540 would be about ~$80 each month.
The commute does not seem bad, driving between 75 and 80 mph to work, ~20 minutes. So, i have accepted the commute.
(and the Harris nuclear plant does not bother me, if it goes, then no place in triangle seem safe irrespective of ~10/25 miles radius emergency zones)
But i'm curious, do people that work in RTP, eg. Cisco and its neighbors, live in Holly Springs?
Sounds awkward to ask this, but i have yet to find people in my team and around the team, that work here (RTP) and live out in Holly Springs.
Some (small) stats i have on people asking where they live,
Cary, yes. <<----------- current living here, in a temporary town home,
Apex, yes.
Morrisville, yes.
Raleigh, yes.
Wake Forest, yes. <<--------------- yike,
Youngsville, yes. <<------------ yike, yike,
Holly Springs, 0 <<------------ that can't be right, my sample is bad...
Back on commute, looking in Google Map on historical travel times, the hot spots in the commute seem to be on Avent Ferry Rd to get to 55, and spots in 55 to get to the Target area. 540, perhaps being toll, is wide open.
540 is relatively new, so Holly Springs is just being discovered as a reasonable option for commuting, and the areas west of Hwy 55 feed into 540 fairly easily.
As 540 gets extended toward the east, more and more HSp people will delight in its faster route. But the area you wrote about is always going to be the best for commuting to RTP since it will be closest to RTP. As areas in that quadrant get built out, the traffic on the older access route, Hwy 55, has become dreadful. So 540 should be perfect for you.
Are you only commuting certain days of the week? Last time I checked the tolls were much more than $80/mo if you're commuting every day. More like 100-120
I work in RTP and live in West Cary. I am 15 minutes from work consistently. I love this. My buddy works at Duke Health in downtown Durham, but he and his family found their dream home in Holly Springs. He bought a Prius to save on gas for the commute. For about 7 months, he took 540 and then 147 tolls. It racked up to over $100 a month. Now he takes 55 until 147. It cut down tolls, but increased commute time. It takes him 40-45 minutes to get to/from work. He also drives on off times -> 6AM - 3:30PM.
If you don't mind longer commute times, I think Holly Springs is a great place with affordable housing. Go for it.
After work, I just want to be home, so I prefer to live closer. I also like to be close to Durham, North Raleigh, Apex, etc.
Even with tolls, I think ~20 minutes from RTP to Holly Springs might be a little optimistic.
Been there, done that…. no thanks. Moved “up north” to a more central location in Cary (“old/east/established” Cary near downtown).
As you (OP) mentioned and are aware of:
1. Not only having to commute to work, but being removed from other things as well (you mention H Mart). For us, it was being removed from the places we often found ourselves on the weekends (Umstead State Park, Crabtree Park, Bond Park, WakeMed soccer park, NC Museum of Art -fantastic newly designed out door park and trail system, Raleigh, Wake Forest, Durham, Chapel Hill… and on and on).
2. Tolls are not deductible. Kind of along those lines, it bothered us the tolls “go down the drain”. It is a “tax” that doesn’t go towards any public good like schools, parks, community services etc. Also, doesn’t build any kind of equity. We viewed it as “wasted money” that could be put to better more valuable use… like paying our property taxes, an extra mortgage payment, or towards a really nice family vacation every year! Note, for our family, with both of us using it, we were looking at over 2K/yr in tolls… adds up.
I agree with a previous poster that a 20-minute commute is pretty optimistic. Just getting to 540 can be troublesome. Holly Springs has significant traffic and congestion issues. They just voted out a bunch of their council members in November because of public displeasure with town planning and handling of growth (lack therof). New HS council members consulted Cary for guidance with “growing smarter”. Harold’s Blog: Thanksgiving, Chinese Lantern Festival and More – CaryCitizen
We know we compromised on size, newness and some of that HGTV shine. However, moving improved the quality of our lives. After so many dinner parties with the neighbors -everybody wanting to show off their big fancy new houses with their scraped hardwood floors (ie “engineered” ie “fake wood”) and ubiquitous white kitchens (with large island) … that look exactly the same… gets old.
Some people “enjoy” the commute and find it a time to decompress. Me, I got things to do and places to go. A wife and kids I love. I just want to get home and live my life.
We found HS lacking in many other attributes as well (parks, trails, cultural events and other amenities)… but that is a different thread/post.
Been there, done that…. no thanks. Moved “up north” to a more central location in Cary (“old/east/established” Cary near downtown).
As you (OP) mentioned and are aware of:
1. Not only having to commute to work, but being removed from other things as well (you mention H Mart). For us, it was being removed from the places we often found ourselves on the weekends (Umstead State Park, Crabtree Park, Bond Park, WakeMed soccer park, NC Museum of Art -fantastic newly designed out door park and trail system, Raleigh, Wake Forest, Durham, Chapel Hill… and on and on).
2. Tolls are not deductible. Kind of along those lines, it bothered us the tolls “go down the drain”. It is a “tax” that doesn’t go towards any public good like schools, parks, community services etc. Also, doesn’t build any kind of equity. We viewed it as “wasted money” that could be put to better more valuable use… like paying our property taxes, an extra mortgage payment, or towards a really nice family vacation every year! Note, for our family, with both of us using it, we were looking at over 2K/yr in tolls… adds up.
I agree with a previous poster that a 20-minute commute is pretty optimistic. Just getting to 540 can be troublesome. Holly Springs has significant traffic and congestion issues. They just voted out a bunch of their council members in November because of public displeasure with town planning and handling of growth (lack therof). New HS council members consulted Cary for guidance with “growing smarter”. Harold’s Blog: Thanksgiving, Chinese Lantern Festival and More – CaryCitizen
We know we compromised on size, newness and some of that HGTV shine. However, moving improved the quality of our lives. After so many dinner parties with the neighbors -everybody wanting to show off their big fancy new houses with their scraped hardwood floors (ie “engineered” ie “fake wood”) and ubiquitous white kitchens (with large island) … that look exactly the same… gets old.
Some people “enjoy” the commute and find it a time to decompress. Me, I got things to do and places to go. A wife and kids I love. I just want to get home and live my life.
We found HS lacking in many other attributes as well (parks, trails, cultural events and other amenities)… but that is a different thread/post.
Can't really add much to ncrunner's post except that I was in Holly Springs for a track meet last year, at Holly Ridge MS, which is pretty close to Highway 55 and we sat through many, many light cycles at that intersection when we left to go home (and no, everyone was not leaving at the same time). If you are planning on living in that area you need to account for local traffic, which I hear is quite bad. IMHO that is a huge QOL issue because it seems it's not just rush hour that it happens there. So if you're wanting to go to Cary, Apex, Raleigh for shopping and amenities you need to factor that into the equation. I don't mind paying the toll to Holly Spring once in a while for my kid's middle school sporting events but to go shopping every week I think it would get old, and it's that or massive traffic.
What’s the draw for you, knowing you’ll be paying tolls?
Good question.
Personally i don't have a gap, for myself. But kids mom does, unfortunately.
I like driving, i know sounds crazy, but i do enjoy driving. But not constant stop and go like in city streets. Once on 540, it's a breeze for me, and take the exit to go to work to Kit Creek and Louis Stevens. I currently live in Cary in a town home 4 miles from work. Both kids go to Mills Park MS, traditional calendar (incidentally had to fight tooth and nail with Wake County School board for that school, since it's a capped school, and alternate schools wasn't good choice, i.e. no Salem MS since year round, and no West Cary MS mainly for distance reason).
I would like to get to work before 9 AM. The time i leave work can be flexible, but i would like to leave no later than 7 PM. I think latter is okay, but i have no first hand account of what the morning traffic looks like.
I've driven to Holly Springs quite a lot albeit during "weekends", and after i exit 540, hop on 55, i counted 11 traffic lights to get to Stonemont community. That does not seem bad. And i do like the way the roads have spaced out the left/U-turn signs. Also i appreciate how the road conditions are kept up well, i.e. literally did not see any pothole, dips and hills, bumps, patches on the road, just smooth surface on 55. Perhaps testament to the age of the road.
My unknown, besides seeing historical traffic data from Google Map, is with Avent Ferry Rd in the morning, there is about ~2 miles of road before i get to make left turn on NC 55.
I think i'll do a trial run next week to put myself as a commuter, first go down early in the morning, leave around 8:15 AM'ish and see that that looks like from community to getting on 540, to go to work.
We get lot more home (obviously). The Barrington plan home in Stonemont is like a dream home for me. Same plan in Apex (Crestmont community) costs ~+$100,000, not to mention more for lot premium. And same plan in Cary costs ~+$175,000, not to mention even more for lot premium (AAshcroft community).
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