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Hello! My husband and I may be relocating to the area. He'd be working in winston-salem and I'd be working in durham. We'd try to find a place in between to live (maybe burlington or greensboro). Could you please tell us how bad those commutes may be? Thanks!
Hello! My husband and I may be relocating to the area. He'd be working in winston-salem and I'd be working in durham. We'd try to find a place in between to live (maybe burlington or greensboro). Could you please tell us how bad those commutes may be? Thanks!
I'm not quite sure why you think these commutes would be bad. Raleigh traffic is bad, Durham, Durham Freeway, I-85 into Durham and around Greensboro is not that bad. A part of the traffic may depend on where in either of the two target cities you will have to reach. When working in either of those directions, I always try to arrive about 20 min early, it puts me ahead of the traffic and I would rather sit outside for a few minutes than get stuck in traffic. It is easier on my nerves.
I only visited the area once, but having said that, I think Burlington is the perfect mid-point between your Durham and W-S commutes; although you will have to be going around Greensboro! I read somewhere recently someone thought the drive through Greensboro to W-S everyday (from Durham, Chapel Hill) was a bit taxing.
*I* live in the DC metro area, and I think anything that NC has is going to be an improvement! I used to commute 1.5 hours to my campus - each way. Now I go all online and it's absolute *bliss*
If you haven't already, download the FREE Google Earth Google Earth and see for yourself. The satellite imagery is usually good-great, although some pictures can be up to a year old in some places. Good luck!
Thank you very much for both replies. This helps a lot. We currently live in the Chicago area, and traffic can be VERY bad. We've been commuting 1.5 hours every day for a year and we don't want to keep doing this. Thanks again!
I commute from Burlington to RTP (eastern edge of Durham County off of I-40) and it takes me 45 minutes. I can be in North or Central Durham (near Durham Regional Hospital or downtown Durham) in 30-35 minutes. Almost all of the miles are highway miles.
Regarding the commute to WS from Burlington, I have heard that they will soon be opening up a bypass around Greensboro so you can bypass a lot of the heavy traffic there (this will be an I-40 bypass that will use part of the existing I-85 bypass to the south of Greensboro). So ... that commute may improve very soon. The commute to WS will be longer than the one to Durham. I would guess, with a bypass, it may be more of a 50 minute to one hour commute.
Burlington is equidistant to Greensboro and Durham.
Regarding the commute to WS from Burlington, I have heard that they will soon be opening up a bypass around Greensboro so you can bypass a lot of the heavy traffic there (this will be an I-40 bypass that will use part of the existing I-85 bypass to the south of Greensboro). So ... that commute may improve very soon. The commute to WS will be longer than the one to Durham. I would guess, with a bypass, it may be more of a 50 minute to one hour commute
That actually opened up yesterday. It's not really a shortcut though, I think it adds about 8 miles to the whole trip, but the portion that goes near downtown on the old I-40 is not the most friendly.
I drive between WS and Greensboro almost daily as that is my territory, and can't think of many times when the traffic was THAT bad. Mainly due to construction. The stretch between Burlington and Greensboro is great, NEVER busy (relative to Houston traffic and I'm sure Chicagos as well).
For what it's worth, they are discussing the Business 40 redevelopment in WS right now, either will be a complete 2yr shutdown (preferred), or a 6yr partial. That may affect how traffic flows into downtown and around it.
Good luck with your move and this is a great place to pickup info about the area.
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