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Last week we were in Raleigh exploring the area to see if we want to live there. In Cary, we randomly stopped in a realtor's office who was nice enough to oblige us with answers to our questions. He said he couldn't tell us where shouldn't live (meaning, due to crime) but he later said to think of the city as a Pac-Man, with Pac-Man's mouth facing east, and if he were us, we should avoid that area in Pac-Man's mouth. In my mind's eye, I'm thinking of Raleigh as a clock face and he's saying he would avoid the areas between 2 and 4 o'clock. But he didn't say why these areas should be avoided. He suggested we go on crime mapping sites to see for ourselves. I did that, and frankly, there's crime all over. Does anyone know what areas of the city he was referring to?
Also, coming from Delaware and it's heinous traffic, I found it very easy to get around Raleigh, with no trip taking more than 20 minutes. I admit though, this was mid-day so traffic was light, and also the colleges were out for summer. I have a terrible commute now where I live. On a good day it's 35 minutes to work, and 45 minutes home, to go 27 miles. The curse of living in an small oblong state is that there aren't many go arounds to avoid crashes and closed roads. So I live and breathe by Waze and other local traffic websites and facebook groups. Does Raleigh have anything similar?
EDIT: Sorry - I should have been more clear. The normal drive time I am used to. What makes it heinous is when there is an accident bad enough that forces a roadway to close, which happens at least once or twice a week, it severely clogs the other roads, doubling or tripling the commute time. I don't know what it is about this area, but we have frequent rollover crashes and trucks that roll over and spill their loads (like penny blanks, car engines, bees - I wish I was making this up).
Last edited by Joan Holloway; 07-17-2019 at 10:44 AM..
Regarding traffic, it's all a matter of perspective. I've lived in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, and all have traffic which is an order of magnitude worse than what we have around RTP. That said, I commute from Cary to both Durham and Raleigh, depending on the day of the week, and it frequently takes me 35-45 minutes to travel 25 miles during the morning or afternoon rush. That seems the equivalent of what you've defined as "heinous traffic."
Sorry - I should have been more clear. The normal drive time I am used to. What makes it heinous is when there is an accident bad enough that forces a roadway to close, which happens at least once or twice a week, it severely clogs the other roads, doubling or tripling the commute time. I don't know what it is about this area, but we have frequent rollover crashes and trucks that roll over and spill their loads (like penny blanks, car engines, bees - I wish I was making this up).
Also, coming from Delaware and it's heinous traffic, I found it very easy to get around Raleigh, with no trip taking more than 20 minutes. I admit though, this was mid-day so traffic was light, and also the colleges were out for summer. I have a terrible commute now where I live. On a good day it's 35 minutes to work, and 45 minutes home, to go 27 miles. The curse of living in an small oblong state is that there aren't many go arounds to avoid crashes and closed roads. So I live and breathe by Waze and other local traffic websites and facebook groups. Does Raleigh have anything similar?
Maybe it's just me? I don't think that 35-45 minutes to travel. 27 miles during rush hour is that bad. That's like 50-55mph
He suggested we go on crime mapping sites to see for ourselves. I did that, and frankly, there's crime all over. Does anyone know what areas of the city he was referring to?
Use a crime map that color codes by crime rate. "Crime all over" may literally be true, but it can be exceptionally rare in some areas and prevalent in others. On top of that, violent crime vs petty crime is a consideration.
Maybe it's just me? I don't think that 35-45 minutes to travel. 27 miles during rush hour is that bad. That's like 50-55mph
But we do have Waze.
Yeah, takes me about 30-35 minutes to commute 18 miles so I don't see that being too bad, either. (Wake Forest to East Raleigh.) That same drive took me 20-25 minutes 10 years ago when I started this job - it keeps getting worse as the growth outpaces the roadwork, and it takes me a little longer each year to get through each intersection/bottleneck.
To the OP, if you are working I would suggest living as close to work as possible. Whatever your commute time will be in year 1, it'll keep getting worse as time goes on.
As far as the PAC-MAN thing, I understand what they are saying and I would not want to live in those areas, either.
That being said, it would be pretty obvious to find that out if you visited here and looked at some homes/drove around the area.
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