Tampa to Orlando commute (Lakeland, Brandon: buying a house, employment, neighborhood)

[MinkMan]

My spouse is starting a new job in Tampa soon, so we are relocating to the area and are buying a house in South Tampa. I am considering an employment opportunity that's located near Celebration, west of Orlando. According to google maps, I'm looking at about a 70 mile commute, which is pretty extreme, but I wondering what sort of typical drive times to expect. Looking at a map, I think that the drive should generally be against the flow of most traffic. (I'm assuming that most people in the mornings are coming into Tampa from the suburban areas, and would be approaching Celebration from Orlando to the east, please correct me if I'm wrong.)

We're moving from an area where hour plus commutes are not uncommon, but that can often be for a 20 mile or less drive. I'm wondering what normal speeds and drive times could be expected on I-4 east in the a.m. and westbound in the evenings. Thanks.

[ferret111]

You'll get tired of that pretty quickly. I never knew people actually commuted from Tampa to Orlando until I started reading this forum. I would probably pick somewhere in the middle, like Lakeland or Winter Haven. I've heard of people commuting to Orlando from Brandon, as well.

As far as traffic flow, it depends on which route you take. If you do Crosstown to 75, the Crosstown should be relatively hassle-free, but I don't know about 75. If you do 275 to 4, 275 heading into Downtown is always somewhat heavy.

[rezfreak]

While I'm not trying to be snarky, why not live in orlando if you're going to work there?

[Hockeyice]

I commute from (Northwest) Tampa to Lutz for my job. It is about a 20-mile trip each way. Even that gets tiring. I could only imagine having to do 70-miles each way .

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Home - Florida High Speed Rail

Connect yourself to High Speed. Vote Yes for Light Rail in Tampa.

[annerk]

Traffic is heavy and can be slow--that commute would easily be 90 minutes each way every day.

[MinkMan]

Originally Posted by rezfreak

While I'm not trying to be snarky, why not live in orlando if you're going to work there?

As I mentioned in the OP, my wife is starting a job in Tampa, which is why we are relocating to the area. We've already found a house in So. Tampa that we are buying, thus living in Lakeland, Orlando, or other locations aren't an option. Subsequent to making the decision to move and choosing a neighborhood/house, I learned about the opportunity outside of Orlando for myself and am trying to judge if the trade-off of commuting time makes sense. IMHO, for a certain level of compensation and job satisfaction a 1-1.5 hr drive (which isn't to far off from typical commutes in my current locale) might be worth it, while a 2+ hour one wouldn't, thus my question.

[jambo101]

I 've seen it bumper to bumper stop and go traffic from Tampa all the way to Orlando during rush hour and the traffic going the other way was very heavy.i'd try to live closer to where you are going to work..

[rezfreak]

Originally Posted by MinkMan

As I mentioned in the OP, my wife is starting a job in Tampa, which is why we are relocating to the area. We've already found a house in So. Tampa that we are buying, thus living in Lakeland, Orlando, or other locations aren't an option. Subsequent to making the decision to move and choosing a neighborhood/house, I learned about the opportunity outside of Orlando for myself and am trying to judge if the trade-off of commuting time makes sense. IMHO, for a certain level of compensation and job satisfaction a 1-1.5 hr drive (which isn't to far off from typical commutes in my current locale) might be worth it, while a 2+ hour one wouldn't, thus my question.

Oh, I'm sorry, I totally missed that part of your post. Sorry!

[rogercobb]

Originally Posted by MinkMan

As I mentioned in the OP, my wife is starting a job in Tampa, which is why we are relocating to the area. We've already found a house in So. Tampa that we are buying, thus living in Lakeland, Orlando, or other locations aren't an option. Subsequent to making the decision to move and choosing a neighborhood/house, I learned about the opportunity outside of Orlando for myself and am trying to judge if the trade-off of commuting time makes sense. IMHO, for a certain level of compensation and job satisfaction a 1-1.5 hr drive (which isn't to far off from typical commutes in my current locale) might be worth it, while a 2+ hour one wouldn't, thus my question.

It would be a brutal commute but at least you won't ever have to deal with snow or ice. Maybe you could commute for a year or two but beyond that it might be too much. Even if you hadn't bought a home in S.Tampa I would never recommend Lakeland. I'd rather drive the extra distance.