Your daily commute

[bassoon1986]

So I'm curious to see what your daily commute is like. How long does it take you to get to work? How far is it from your home? And how many traffic lights do you pass to get there?

Mine is fairly easy to count. 15 minutes, about 9 miles to work, and 4 red lights

[Takumi]

12 minutes, 6 miles, 9 signals. 1 interstate, 1.5 US routes, and 1 state route, along with several unnumbered city streets.

[shadyjay]

May-October:  approx 2 miles each way, approx 5 minute driver, no traffic lights, all local town roads (paved and dirt)

November-April:  approx 0.5 miles each way, 10 minute walk, no traffic lights, combination of resort roads & ski trails

Yeah I know, I've got it rough.   

[allniter89]

10 miles, 7-10 minutes depending how fast I choose to drive, one stop sign, two left turns. Unnumbered road, US 90, Walton county road 1087, Walton county road 2A. Opposite commute, in the a.m. everyone is going the other way, same on way home, love it!

[DTComposer]

Until about a year ago it was 2.5 miles, 2.4 miles on one street, about 16 signals. 8-10 minutes.

Now it's about 12.5 miles (but no freeways), about 33 signals. Takes 19-25 minutes depending on time of day.

Both are great by Southern California standards, but I'm trying to decide if I want to move closer to my current job.

[Alps]

To work: 11 miles give or take; 13 minutes is my record, 16 minutes typical worst case. If I can make a left from my driveway, I hit four lights, otherwise eight. Rarely, I subtract 3 traffic lights but add 3 miles and 1-2 minutes, if my usual exit is backed up.

From work: The big variable, this. If I can follow my usual route, there's 11 miles and 6 lights (2 of them are between the WB exit and EB entrance that I use). If the I-80 WB onramp is backed up badly or I stop at the supermarket, add 5 more lights on US 46. If both 80 and 46 are backed up badly (usually they work in pairs), I have to go the back way, which is another 1.5 miles and also 5 more lights. Altogether, if I leave work in the 5-6 window I generally need 20-25 minutes to get home, whereas best case is under 15 minutes.

Starting late August: 20-30 minute walk, 1.4 miles.

[Eth]

3 miles, about 5-6 minutes.

To work: 2 stop signs, 1 traffic light (left turn).
From work: 2 traffic lights (both right turns), 1 stop sign.

All on unnumbered two-lane semi-rural/suburban roads.

[blawp]

Maybe 10 signals, but it's a one-way street and they're all coordinated. About 7 miles on the 210 freeway and then 2 more signals after I exit at Santa Anita Rd.

[kphoger]

Going to work:  11.3 miles, no stoplights, 13 minutes.

Coming home from work:  10.9 miles, one or two stoplights (my exact route depends on what point in the stoplight sequence I arrive at the Kellogg/Oliver), anywhere from 13 to 16 minutes depending on traffic.

Along the way, I traverse a Texas-style crossover, a 400-series US highway duplex, a turbine interchange, an elevated freeway with a canal down the middle, and an intersection with no side-mounted stoplight (gasp!)

http://goo.gl/maps/Fv4I

[Sanctimoniously]

I walk from the third floor to the first floor of my building. Like working from home but not really.

[1995hoo]

I work out of the home office these days, so no commute.

I do take my wife to the subway in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon. The nearest stop is two miles away through seven traffic lights. Depending on the traffic, that drive can take over half an hour, so sometimes we go to the next-closest stop at the end of the line (perhaps three or four miles the other way through seven lights). It's a longer ride for my wife but it can be a lot faster to get there.

[xcellntbuy]

When you live in urban south Florida, ALWAYS have an alternative/escape route.

I have the good fortune of earlier work hours than most, drive opposite to the great majority of traffic patterns (west vs. east and north-to-south) in the morning, and have chosen my most recent commuting route based upon a very helpful program where Broward County has re-timed many traffic signals.

My 10-1/2-mile commute passes 23 signals, of which, only six usually turn red.  There have been many good mornings where I have only encountered just three red signals.  My commute time is usually 18 minutes and with the newly coordinated signals, the most efficient route has allowed better gas mileage, often saving at least one gallon of gas per fill-up.

[mcdonaat]

45 minutes, 28 miles, 10 signals, 2 interstates, 2 US routes, and 4 state routes, and about five surface non-numbered routes. Plus three bridges from 1940!

[Duke87]

As the crow flies my office and my apartment are about 2 1/2 miles apart. On the ground the distance I have to cover is more like 3 1/2 to 4 miles. This takes half an hour door to door: ten minutes walking to the subway station, a couple minutes waiting for the train, fifteen on the train, and then finally another couple leaving the station and crossing the street to the building where I work at the other end.

To sort of answer your last question as best as it applies, all seven intersections I walk through are signalized. I don't know exactly how many rail signals the trains I take pass en route but it must be dozens (I want to say they're spaced every 600 feet, but don't quote me on that).

[hbelkins]

32 miles, typically 40 minutes, three Kentucky state routes, five signals (soon to be six when the new KY 15 routing in Jackson is tied into the existing route).

It takes a little longer to get home, even if I don't make any stops, because traffic is usually heavier in Jackson in the afternoons than the morning.

Longest commute I ever had was six months of a 95-mile one-way drive that typically took two hours. Drove from rural Lee County to Frankfort.

Shortest commute I ever had was a year of living in the building where I worked.

[brownpelican]

Twenty miles, twenty minutes. Eighteen of those miles are on one state highway. The first two miles are a combination of town streets and another state highway.

[Brandon]

Over the past year, it was 33 miles in 1 hour, no matter which route I took.  My main one was up US-30 to IL-59 to I-88 to Farnsworth Ave, which becomes Kirk Rd, to St Charles.  Then back down Kirk Rd to I-88 to I-355 to I-55 to US-30.  That was way faster, but longer, than IL-59.  Now, it's 20 miles in 1/2 hour.  Across Caton Farm Rd to IL-47 to Yorkville (and back).  Less gas, less time, fewer assholes, fewer headaches.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Usual commute:
Two stops on residential streets (3-4 blocks), then route 132 from Beauharnois to Léry: no signals. In theory, a third of it is 50 km/h, another third is 90 km/h and the rest is 70 km/h. In practice, you're driving 70 the entire time, and it's nearly impossible to do 90 because there's ALWAYS someone, somewhere, driving way below that. Passing zones are rare and unusable during rush hour anyway. Then there's the first signal to turn across the tracks, then three more signals on the way. Half 70 km/h, half 50 km/h, mostly because of construction on the A-30 extension. After that, it's A-30, 100 km/h legally, 120 in practice. Exit at 730, then immediately at exit 2. Park at Sainte-Catherine Station, wait (or run) for train.
Car leg: 16.6 miles, 25-30 minutes.

Train from Sainte-Catherine to Lucien-L'allier in downtown Montreal. 30 minutes, unless the bridge is lifted for a boat. Roughly 11-12 miles.

Walk exactly 1 mile on René Lévesque Street., or take the metro to Place-des-Arts or Place d'Armes. 20-30 minutes depending on various factors (waiting for trains in the metro, signals when walking).

Total, 1.5 hours, 29 miles or so.

Other option: Cross the Mercier Bridge (route 138), park at the Angrignon metro station. Taking traffic and costs into account, it's roughly the same.

100% driving option: 45 minutes with no traffic. 1 hour in moderate traffic. 1.25 - 1.5 hours in heavy traffic. Parking costs between $15 and $20 depending on where you park. Daily.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

13 Miles, 17 minutes. Three stop signs, 2 traffic signals (or 2 stop signs, 4 traffic signals, or 3 stop signs, 3 traffic signals)
All two lane roads, 11 miles rural-suburban, 2 miles urban.

[DaBigE]

Normal
  -  4.6 miles: 1.1-freeway / 3.5-city streets
  -  2 roundabouts, 1 stop sign, 1 traffic light

Backroads
  -  4.4 miles: 2.6-town/country roads / 1.8-city streets
  -  2 roundabouts, 4 stop signs

Alternate
  -  4.7 miles: 2.3-freeway / 2.4-city streets
  -  4 traffic lights

Biking
  -  4.1 miles: 1-bike trail / 3.1-city streets
  -  2 roundabouts, 2 stop signs, 1 traffic light

When I move in a couple weeks, it will be one mile less for all options.

[signalman]

Going to work:
2 local municipal roads, 2 stop signs, County road with one signal, short trip on I-80 from one entrance to the next exit, short section of state highway, and I pass through the same signal along it twice going different directions (I detour for coffee)

Going home:
Exactly 2 miles via local municipal roads...no stop signs or signals

[Scott5114]

My commute to work takes place at 12:30 AM. This makes things quick, but also variable since the stoplights are all on actuated mode, so if a bunch of people decide to get on OK-9 when I'm trying to go through, I can be stopped at every light. Although some times I'm the only one on the road and I can just breeze straight through. It takes no more than ten minutes.

On the way back, it's around 8 AM opposite the heavy traffic flows, but this depends more on the day of the week than anything; I have smooth sailing on Saturday and Sunday mornings, but not so much other days of the week. I usually get home between 8:20 and 8:30.

[rawmustard]

My commutes about 4-5 miles and 10 minutes as long as I can hit the lights right. The slowest part is Washington Avenue between Hamblin and Champion because of traffic and lights timed at 40+ mph instead of the 30 mph speed limit. The road diet on Battle Creek's portion north of Michigan doesn't help the flow much. When I go directly to my apartment from work on afternoons, I catch the first shifters leaving the factories from the Fort Custer area, so sometimes the left turn to get to my building takes a little longer when there are fewer breaks in traffic.

[DBrim]

About 12 miles each way.  5ish miles of US1, 5ish miles of MA129, then 2 miles of backroads.

On the way there, 18 stop lights, 13 of which are in the last two miles.  One stop sign, one rotary.  Of the first nine, only one or two are red.  Of the last 13, around 9-10 are usually red.  Because of that, it takes 15-20 minutes for the first 10 miles and 10-15 for the last two.

On the way back, it changes to 15 lights, 2 stop signs, and a rotary.  Usually takes a bit longer due to traffic, 35-40 minutes or so.

[Special K]

2 miles @ 10 minutes by bike.