Commute Suwanee to Alpharetta (Tucker, Buford: house, construction, place to live)

[tdr74]

Hi everyone. I was recently offered two jobs, one in Tucker and one in Alpharetta and chose the Alpharetta job. While we were researching we fell in love with Suwanee. Can anyone tell me what the commute would be like from Suwanee to Alpharetta? We also like Alpharetta as a place to live but Suwanee stood out for their Town Center area and they seemed very family friendly. We will be moving from Franklin, TN and really love the family-vibe here. Suwanee seems to excel at this in a similar way. Also our budget will be 250-300, but hopefully keeping it closer to 250. Just seemed to have a lot more options with that budget in Suwanee. Anyway, my main question is what the commute would be like to Alpharetta, but any other advice or comparisons of the two cities would be great. If I am way off base on my assessments please let me know. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Mattie]

You would have a couple of options to try out. McGinnis Ferry is one. The construction is largely completed there, and it's at least 2 lanes in either direction, but has several traffic lights. I've never tried to do it during rush hour, but mid-morning till mid-afternoon it takes me about 20 minutes to get from Suwanee to Alpharetta. There are speed traps on it to watch out for.

An alternative would be 120, also with stop lights. Both roads have options should things back up, but it depends on where you want to end up in Alpharetta.

The distance isn't terrible at all, but it isn't highway driving, so it really depends on your willingness to deal with stop and go traffic.

[tdr74]

Thanks Mattie. We really don't mind a 30-40 minute commute so it sounds reasonable. A closer commute is always better, but we just fell in love with Suwanee. I appreciate the info.

[OhioNative]

My wife used to drive from near town center to downtown Alpharetta in about 45 minutes, and that was before McGinnis Ferry was done so it should be a faster drive now.

[mhans123]

Should be a reasonable drive considering most of the traffic is going in/out of atlanta rather than between suburbs. And you will avoid the interstates which is great

[tdr74]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I think we will be good with that.

[rianaardis]

I have an Alpharetta mailing address, but am only a few minutes to Suwanee (although the Town Center is further), I can't imagine it would be a bad commute, depending on where the job is. I would have liked to look for a house in Suwanee, but my husband didn't want to be any further from 400 than we already are just in case anything changes for him job-wise and he needs to commute into the city. (He works off of Windward) I love the town, it seems like it great for a family! We go to the farmers market in the town center Saturday mornings and the kids play in the splash area and playground, I have heard that deli across the street is really good too.

[tdr74]

Thanks rianaardis! Those were things that really drew us to the town as well. It just seems really family-friendly, some even said to a fault, but that actually makes it more appealing. I have heard great things about Alpharetta too, but I don't think it seems to have that family community of Suwanee. Do you have any opinions on that?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by tdr74

Thanks rianaardis! Those were things that really drew us to the town as well. It just seems really family-friendly, some even said to a fault, but that actually makes it more appealing. I have heard great things about Alpharetta too, but I don't think it seems to have that family community of Suwanee. Do you have any opinions on that?

Suwanee may seem more family-friendly because of the village-like town center area that it has in its downtown, while Alpharetta may seem less family-friendly because it has more commercial development (suburban office parks, suburban strip shopping centers, big-box retail, etc) and a less-developed village-like downtown than Suwanee.

[DJDeadParrot]

I commute along McGinnis Ferry from Satellite to McFarland every day.

Granted, I hit it pretty early on the morning commute...like at 6am; not much to slow you down at that hour. After about 6.30am, though, the traffic begins to back up a bit at the Bell Rd light in Shakerag if you're going towards Alpharetta. Later than that, I couldn't tell you what its like on a daily basis.

Late afternoons can get tedious on McGinnis Ferry going from Alpharetta back to Suwanee between 5 and 6 oclock. The big hold-up is the light at PIB, from which traffic will some times back all the way up to Bell Rd. And again at Buford Hwy, where a heavily patrolled and perversely short light totally kills your momentum coming down the hill.

But, if your destination is the Town Center area, then that's not really a factor, anyway, so...