commute time? athens/madison/huntsville (Decatur: new home, transfer, neighborhoods)

[jwm64]

hello all, I'm hoping someone can help me with this question. I'm moving my family from boise,idaho to huntsville due to a transfer with my job. We're looking at places convenient to research park, since I'd prefer to have a commute of no more than 30 minutes, preferably. Is Athens too far away for a 30 minute or so commute to research park during rush hour? Or, is rush hour traffic pretty bad around research park? I used to live in atlanta, so that's my perspective of what I call Horrendous traffic. I can't imagine it's as bad as that, but having never been there, I really don't know. I've heard good things about madison, se huntsville, and athens, but athens appears to be the cheapest of the three housing wise. That's why I'm asking specifically about Athens. Thanks to all that reply.

[james_hsv]

The commute time from Athens to Research Park is no more than 20-25 minutes. Traffic on US 72 between Athens and Huntsville has gotten much worse in the past few years, but it's still nothing compared to Atlanta traffic.

[deesonic]

I actually live in SW Huntsville and commute to Decatur for work. I 565 is a relatively easy drive in either direction. US 72 on the other hand is becoming a pain. I rarely have to travel it, but once a couple months back after work I had to head up US 31 to Athens for an errand and then returned home to Huntsville on US 72. 72 is a nightmare compared to 565. I get to work in 20 minutes every morning (23 miles) on 565.

But it's all relative as the previous poster mentioned. I've lived in LA, Denver, Baltimore, and Athens GA (pretty close to Atlanta) and our traffic in this area is still tame next to those metropolises. I hope it stays that way, but I doubt it. Huntsville and vicinity have done a pretty nice job of upgrading highways when necessary and even think ahead on ocassion! I mean 565 is 5 lanes in each direction in much of the city limits of Huntsville. You don't see that in many cities twice our size. Madison on the other hand, has grown so fast and is full of little two lane main roads. So keep that in mind.

I might add that Athens and Limestone County schools are pretty good apparently.

[jwm64]

Thanks to both of you for replying to my question.

So I would gather from what's been said that the commute from Decatur is easier than the commute from Athens. How're the schools in Decatur? Is the city nice?

Also deesonic, I went to college in Athens,GA so I'm pretty familiar with the traffic there too. If Huntsville has less traffic than that, then it definitely doesn't have a traffic problem compared to other cities similar in size. That's nice to know. Here in Boise the whole valley's growing fast but the freeway has two lanes in each direction in most places, so five is good.

[dbkeel1]

Decatur has some great values in beautiful older and somewhat historic homes ready to renovate/upgrade if that's something of interest. There is some new construction but not as much as Athens has seen and certainly not what Madison has seen over the last ten years.

According to Madison County stats, the City of Madison grew over 300% from 1990-2000 while Huntsville's lack of aggressive annexation kept it's growth very minimal. They're correcting that, though, trying to landlock Madison to the North. The area's traffic and construction remind me more of Austin, TX. There is so much going on here, like Boise, the roads aren't keeping up. Couple that with cities residents who vote down millage increases to help with the roads (Madison) and it's frustrating at times. Still, everything's relative. Rush hour here can be like 2AM traffic on LBJ Boulevard in Dallas.

New home growth is booming on the North side of Madison County, some of which might still fit under your 30 minute milestone. Of course, be sure to talk with those you'll work with for their input on commute times.

[deesonic]

I don't know a lot about the schools in Decatur. I've never heard anything bad about them. I think they are decent for the most part. Homes are very affordable there. And like the previous poster mentioned, there are lots of great historic homes if you like that sort of thing. My wife and I love historic homes and have been considering buying in Decatur since I work there and Huntsville's historic neighborhoods have become quite pricey.

As for Athens GA, I went to grad school at UGA and my wife is a UGA alum (undergrad) as well. Go Dawgs! Well, actually I'm a Bama fan first, but have adopted the Dawgs as my other team due to my connections there and the Dawgs are my wife's team. I love Athens GA and wish I could get back there more often. Huntsville traffic is much busier than Athens GA (unless it's football weekend), but Huntsville roads can support it for the most part.