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I'm moving to Raleigh in September from Pittsburgh. I'm a 25 year old nurse and I'll either be working at Durham Regional, or Duke University hospital 3 days a week. I want to live somewhere that will be fun but also less than an hour long commute. I Know when I look on google and get the times its usually 20-30 minutes. But that isn't counting traffic. SO my questions are this...
Should I stick with Northern, or NW Raleigh? Or are those really suburban areas?
If I live downtown - what would be the fun places to live, that also wouldn't give me a hellish commute for 3 days a week?
I think I'd rather live in a nice area with bars/restaurants - either a short drive or walking distance and have a 45 minute commute to work instead of living in a boring area where I have a short commute to work but I have to drive quite a distance to find something to do.
I'm coming to Raleigh in 2 weeks to look at apartments and I"d like to have a few areas picked out where I may want to live so I can schdule tours and what not. I know that its hard to judge without being there. But also on the same token, its hard to schedule an apartment tour on the day you want to tour it.
Why not live in Durham? You'd be closer to work, have far better restaurants (although bars in DT Raleigh are better) and have probably less expensive rent.
I don't want this to be another raleigh vs. durham debate thread. But my probable roommate lives in Chapel Hill now and would prefer to live in the Raleigh or Chapel Hill area. I've visited Raleigh last year for an NC State football game, and really liked it.
I work for Duke...I work with a lot of "younguns" - 20's - 30's who work at Duke and live in Brier Creek. Easy access to Durham and Raleigh, great shopping.
Brier Creek is nice and not a bad drive to Durham. It's not close to downtown Raleigh, though - it's a 15-mile drive with lots of lights. There are also nice apartments in the Crabtree area and near the RBC Center. It's definitely suburban, but it's nice in that it's a really easy drive to most places in the Triangle - 40 is right there to go to Chapel Hill or Durham and it's easy enough to take Wade Avenue to Glenwood South/downtown. You might also try places in downtown Raleigh or around Cameron Village if your budget allows. Not sure if you'll work a conventional 8:30 to 5, but if you don't, it won't take that long to get to Durham from downtown Raleigh. And even if you do work "regular" hours, the traffic won't be THAT bad. (Not that it's a cake walk, but it's definitely not the worst traffic in the country.) The worst spots are around some of the RTP exits and Harrison Avenue, and you'd hit a lot of that from other points in Raleigh, too.
Not sure I'd want the Durham to Wade Ave commute during the normal 8-5 workday but three days a week might not be too bad. The additional lanes they're building now at I/40 and Harrison Ave should help , but its hard to predict how much.
Brier Creek would effectively avoid that mess in your normal commute but it certainly is not as trendy as Glenwood South would be.
Perhaps check out Brier Creek and see if it meets your needs .. if not, head closer to downtown Raleigh. You'll get an extra 20 minutes or so on your commute but three days a week isn't too bad.
You should have no issues on your return, and I'd think you'd be okay heading in to work, but perhaps others who've gone to work that early might want to weigh in.
If you are looking for a house, I know of a great one in Downtown Raleigh if you want to direct message me.
Do not rule out Chapel Hill though! If you would rather have information on Chapel Hill let me know. I was just out at Kildare's last night... Ridiculous amounts of fun!
Traffic here is not as bad as some major cities and it starts later. If you have to be into work by 7, you won't have a problem with traffic almost anywhere in this area (baring an accident). You could live in DT Raleigh and make it to Durham at that time in about 40 min. or so. Brier Creek is more suburban, but the location is great for this area. It's roughly halfway between both DT Raleigh and DT Durham and also basically the center of what would be considered the triangle. On top of that it is a very nice and safe area in which to live.
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