Commute from Squirrel Hill to Cranberry (Franklin, Seven Fields: apartment, homes, live in)

[smallfox]

My husband will be commuting from our apartment in Squirrel Hill to Rowan Road in Cranberry starting May 1.
Google Maps suggests it will take 30-40 minutes. Thoughts?
Also, does anyone have any tips (when to leave, optimal routes, shortcuts, etc.)?

Thanks all!

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by smallfox

My husband will be commuting from our apartment in Squirrel Hill to Rowan Road in Cranberry starting May 1.
Google Maps suggests it will take 30-40 minutes. Thoughts?
Also, does anyone have any tips (when to leave, optimal routes, shortcuts, etc.)?

Thanks all!

Its not that bad of a commute going out, as you'll be going against the main flow. Coming in the Parkway East isn't bad as the traffic backs up on the other side of the Squirrel tunnels and he'll be going against the main flow of traffic on I 279 and I79. No tunnels, and just the Vets Bridge heading north.


Coming in during the p.m. rush is a tad tougher, likely to run into problems on the Crosstown. I'd be more inclined to take the Vets Bridge back in and stick to the Blvd of the Allies and out through Schenley Park, particularly for the northern sectors of Squirrel Hill.

[greg42]

Sounds a little crazy, but it's true that the 279 part is truly against heavy traffic. There is steady traffic but moving at complete highway speed unless there's an accident or whatever. Now, after the merge onto 79 though, there is plenty of traffic commuting into Cranberry. Not enough to back up on 79 really, but getting around Cranberry at, say, 8am is not at all traffic-free.

Most of the time I think this is going to take 45 minutes in the morning. I don't see how it's possible to do this in 30 even speeding with zero traffic and hitting all the lights green. Remember, you can't exit 79 at Rowan Rd; you have to exit at 228 and then maneuver your way to there. If something goes wrong it can easily take over an hour. The allowance time door to door should be at least an hour.

Coming back you'll have a lot of company trying to get out of Cranberry plus the city commuters leaving towards the east as an additional barrier (usually this won't be too bad in the AM if you just use the Parkway and 579 as mentioned.) Coming back is all the same route in reverse, but you would NOT want to get on the Parkway at that time. The exit ramp at Squirrel Hill is an awful backup outbound at that time of day.

Realistic commute time is 45-60 min range. With any luck most days it will tend towards the low end of that, and that is more likely on the morning trip than evening I would think.

[Copanut]

Take the back way. Route 8 to 228 to Franklin Rd to Rowan Rd. Much more relaxing.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Take the back way. Route 8 to 228 to Franklin Rd to Rowan Rd. Much more relaxing.

Would that work well if you live in the South Side Flats?

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by jay5835

Would that work well if you live in the South Side Flats?

Sure, just go through Oakland to hit Route 8 by the Highland Bridge.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Sure, just go through Oakland to hit Route 8 by the Highland Bridge.

Thanks. A friend of mine lives on the SS and works for Westinghouse in Cranberry, and he just hates the drive home on 279.

[greg42]

Might be tricky picking out the best route across the city streets, but yeah, I could see that being worth a try. Might depend upon where on Rowan, though; it's pretty ideal for Westinghouse. It might also be one of those things where it's best to take the highways in the morning and the back way in the evening. It really seems like the evening drive would be the worse of the two using the traditional highway route(s). For the South Side you might consider going through the Hill. Use the Birmingham Bridge and 40th St to Rt 28, making your way down Herron Ave, etc. (or up, as the case may be, and there is some backup on that in the evening).

But then again, it is worth noting that eastbound traffic on 228 is REALLY heavy in evening rush. If you can beat that out of there, maybe leaving at 4:30 or so you'd beat it, that would be okay. But there's a ton of traffic heading east at that time of day from people heading to homes in Seven Fields and Adams and so forth, backs up a lot through Seven Fields. You might need an alternative to 228 to make that work very well. But if you use roads south of 228 they don't really help because they curve in a lot of useless directions (e.g. Bakerstown Rd between Franklin and Rt 8).

It would take some trying out to see if using 228 to reverse in the evening would really be worth it both hassle-wise and time-wise.

[robrobrob]

Another option would be the parkway to the turnpike. All highways. Just a thought.

[DurangoJoe]

I live in Cranberry and when I need to go to Squirrel Hill I take the turnpike to Rt 8, the Rt 28 to the Highland Park bridge and up past the zoo through Highland Park. Seems to be pretty direct. But then I never travel it during commuting hours.