Commuting on I-25 AWAY from downtown (Denver, Englewood: apartments, transfer to, neighborhoods)

[bumbleb177]

Hi,
My husband and I are moving to Denver in a little over a week and are scouting places to live. He will probably be working in downtown Denver, and I have a job near I-25 near Arapahoe Rd.

We'd like to live somewhere in between, ie. the DU area, Cherry Hills, Glendale, etc. My husband will most likely take public transit into the city, but my question is about my commute. Is there a lot of traffic on I-25 heading south away from downtown in the morning and afternoon? Many of the apartments we're looking at are along the I-25 corridor, even so, would it be better to take surface streets?

Thanks in advance...

[tfox]

Originally Posted by bumbleb177

We'd like to live somewhere in between, ie. the DU area, Cherry Hills, Glendale, etc. My husband will most likely take public transit into the city, but my question is about my commute. Is there a lot of traffic on I-25 heading south away from downtown in the morning and afternoon? Many of the apartments we're looking at are along the I-25 corridor, even so, would it be better to take surface streets?

Thanks in advance...

Unfortunately, I-25 through Central Denver is packed in both directions during rush hour. DTC actually has about as many jobs as downtown Denver (more, by some counts), so there's as many people heading south as north. Also, northbound I-25 tends to get backed for miles up due to a bottleneck around Santa Fe (Highway goes down to 3 lanes for about 1/4 mile) -- this would affect you when you're coming back north.

You might also consider taking the SE lightrail line to your job further south.

[bumbleb177]

Yuck! That sounds awful; I'll definitely have to look into lightrail. Thanks for the head-up!

[Dorthy]

I-25 is congested a lot of the time. You could live right in the middle of your two jobs and take light rail. I would try to live on the SE light rail line but you could also live on the SW line and just transfer to the SE line, it'd be just one more step and a slightly longer commute by rail.
Neighborhoods to consider that are in the middle: DU, University Hills, Southmoor, Platt Park, Wash Park, Harvard Gulch, Old Englewood. If you're driving and he's taking light rail or bus you could also consider living in the tech center area as well.

No offense to Glendale, it's a great location but it's an area of lots of apartments, one complex after another all packed into a small area. Some complexes are nice but a lot are not so nice. I'd visit the area before moving there.

[Mikieo415]

I-25 is way too unpredictable. I have been stuck in traffic jams at noon on occasion and had free flowing traffic at 8:00 am southbound all the way downtown from 36! Although this is the exception, not the norm, but I-25 is very unpredictable.

[ryanek9freak]

Unpredicatable my a$$! I know for a fact that everytime I drive Northbound into Denver during rush hour, i can almost guarantee that the traffic will come to a halt right at Arapahoe.

[Spincycle]

This is a very interesting thread. Do many commuters use the Southeast Light Rail to reverse commute to their work BUT at/near the Centennial Airport area?

The Southeast Light Rail pretty much hugs I-25 (toward the western side of the highway) down toward the south end of the rail line. What options do people have that work a few miles to the east at various companies in vicinity of Centennial Airport?

Do any individual companies down there send vans out to pick up their employees (at the train)? Have any companies banded together to do likewise? Are any companies offering their employees discounts? Are their connecting buses which make decent connections with the trains and places of work?

I imagine with high fuel prices and the traffic problems that planning may be underway.

Comments?

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by Spincycle

This is a very interesting thread. Do many commuters use the Southeast Light Rail to reverse commute to their work BUT at/near the Centennial Airport area?

The Southeast Light Rail pretty much hugs I-25 (toward the western side of the highway) down toward the south end of the rail line. What options do people have that work a few miles to the east at various companies in vicinity of Centennial Airport?

Do any individual companies down there send vans out to pick up their employees (at the train)? Have any companies banded together to do likewise? Are any companies offering their employees discounts? Are their connecting buses which make decent connections with the trains and places of work?

I imagine with high fuel prices and the traffic problems that planning may be underway.

Comments?

This is a very good question-- and you are right, as of right now, there is a bit of a problem, if you work way off I-25 and want to take the light rail. There is an Arapahoe Rd RTD bus #66 which makes a stop at the light rail station. That's probably your best option as of right now. It would not surprise me that as time goes on, as gas becomes more and more expensive, we'll be seeing a lot more extensive public transportation everywhere. It might take several more dollars per gallon of gas price hikes before that happens though. BTW, what you're describing is not really a "reverse commute" at all, in fact, from everything I've (unscientifically) observed, the traffic heading to the tech center in the morning and away from it in the afteroon is worse than the traffic downtown.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by Spincycle

This is a very interesting thread. Do many commuters use the Southeast Light Rail to reverse commute to their work BUT at/near the Centennial Airport area?

The Southeast Light Rail pretty much hugs I-25 (toward the western side of the highway) down toward the south end of the rail line. What options do people have that work a few miles to the east at various companies in vicinity of Centennial Airport?

Do any individual companies down there send vans out to pick up their employees (at the train)? Have any companies banded together to do likewise? Are any companies offering their employees discounts? Are their connecting buses which make decent connections with the trains and places of work?

I imagine with high fuel prices and the traffic problems that planning may be underway.

Comments?

RTD offers a system call call-n-ride that will give you door-to-door service from one of the SE light rail stations and your office in the DTC. Technically, you're supposed to call on your cell phone to let them know which light rail station you got on, what stop you're getting off at, and where you're going, and there will be an RTD minibus to take you to your destination. In practice, larger offices in the DTC usually have enough people doing call-n-ride daily that there will be a minibus going to that stop daily whether you call in or not.

[steveco.]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

This is a very good question-- and you are right, as of right now, there is a bit of a problem, if you work way off I-25 and want to take the light rail. There is an Arapahoe Rd RTD bus #66 which makes a stop at the light rail station. That's probably your best option as of right now. It would not surprise me that as time goes on, as gas becomes more and more expensive, we'll be seeing a lot more extensive public transportation everywhere. It might take several more dollars per gallon of gas price hikes before that happens though. BTW, what you're describing is not really a "reverse commute" at all, in fact, from everything I've (unscientifically) observed, the traffic heading to the tech center in the morning and away from it in the afteroon is worse than the traffic downtown.

I don't know about that. Try commuting in from the north side during rush hour and you will have nightmares for a week. Throw in a snow storm.....