What's your commute like? (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: how much, house, transfer)

[sedimenjerry]

So I've been working a summer job in Sandy Springs off of Northridge Road and commuting from my home near Snellville and I've noticed not just how intense traffic is but how long rush hour is in the morning and afternoon. I've left my house as early as 6 and as late as 9 and it amazes me how even as I'm crossing 400 around 9:45 there will be heavy traffic southbound. I always considered normal working hours starting around 8 or 9 but not so much 10 or later. Today I left just around 3:15 and there was already heavy traffic on 400 northbound at 285. Later I got stuck in stop and go traffic at Spaghetti Junction getting on to 85N and this was just after 3:30. 3 hours later and its not any better.

This really got me wondering. When do all these people have to get to work? There's a lot of variety in work hours as shown by the hours of rush hour. When do you usually leave for work and when do you leave work? Are your hours flexible or set? Does traffic dictate when you leave? So tell me, what's your commute like?

[BobKovacs]

My hours are flexible- as long as my work gets done, they really don't care when I start/finish. I get to the office around 6am, and leave by 4pm. That allows me to beat all of the traffic in the morning, and most of it in the afternoon.

I've wondered the same thing about "what time to people have to be at work". I sometimes have doctor appointments in Canton at 8:30am, so I end up heading down 575 to 75 about 9:15-9:30. I've always been puzzled by how much traffic is still on 75 and through downtown at 10am- don't most folks have to be in work by 9am even for "bankers hours"??

[lastminutemom]

Several times a year, I do some work off Windward Parkway. During the school year, the heaviest traffic, heading south, seems to end by about 9:15 AM or so. During the summer, at least for the last few weeks, traffic is unbelievable heavy at 9 AM and later. I really feel for the people who sit in that day in and day out.

[rcsteiner]

My hours are flexible, and I can telecommute whenever I want. I normally drift into the office between 10 and 10:30 in the morning, and stay until somewhere between 6:30 and 7. A lot depends on whether or not I have work-related events happening during the night or in the earlier hours of the morning. If my wife didn't expect me home at a certain time, I'm sure my hours would be a lot more sporadic.

Traffic is largely a non-issue for me ... my commute is roughly 7 miles each way from northern Mableton to Cumberland, and it doesn't require the use of an interstate or other major artery (the E/W Connector is a local artery across part of south Cobb, but it really doesn't get that busy east of Austell Road).

[cqholt]

Easy, I take MARTA from Edgewood-Candler Park station to Sandy Springs, then ride a bike 1 mile to work. No traffic, no gas, a very stress-free commute.

[sedimenjerry]

I've left work at 6 a few times and that just seemed so late in the day. I don't know if I could handle 7!

cqholt, how long does that take for you to get to work? Is that bus or train or both?

[cqholt]

cqholt, how long does that take for you to get to work? Is that bus or train or both?

30-45 minutes. I take a bus from the house to station, transfer at 5 points, to Sandy Springs station. Then ride the bike the last mile to work.

[belleislerunner]

I commute from SoNo to downtown via sidewalks. On bad days I'll have to wait 30 seconds for a traffic light to change.

Door to door - 9 minutes.

[sjuraud]

Mine sucks. Chamblee to Grant Park. Typically takes 45m – 1h on most days. Sometimes if the day is good I can make it in around 30 minutes. That's usually near a holiday though when more people are out of town. It almost doesn't matter when I leave. The traffic is usually always bad. Typically I do get to work around 9:30am and then leave around 6:30pm. The I-85 merge with 400 is where most of the back up is caused heading South in the morning. Heading North in the evening it typically gets smoother after the 75/85 split. I didn't know how good I had it when I lived in Decatur and could be at work in 14 minutes on most days.

[10 feet tall]

Mine is fantastic. Ten minutes, Dunwoody to Pill Hill. I rarely have to get on a major road, and the infamous Atlanta traffic has been virtually non-existant for me.