Help these people move to Flower Mound!
I got a great letter yesterday from a woman who's looking hard at moving to Flower Mound. But she had gotten some strong warnings about FM commuting from some of her co-workers. She's given me permission to post her letter here. If you've got good information for her, please post a comment. She'll be checking to see what you say! Here's her letter:
Hi:
My husband and I have been looking into moving our family to Flower Mound. We are currently trying to sell our house in the Mansfield area…which is going to take a long time in this market but we are committed. I stumbled across your website flowermoundroad.com and thought you can help me with a few questions.
We have made several trips to Flower Mound and decided we probably cannot move any further north than Flower Mound Road. To give you an idea of where we are looking, we really like some of the subdivisions of Wellington (it appears the older areas appealed to us more than the new construction). We thought the Villages of Northshore were very nice too. It’s more established and we got a really good “feel” when we drove through there. We REALLY liked the section with “all the trees”. My concern is commuting issues as we both work full-time outside of the home. We have heard that getting out of Flower Mound is a nightmare. Is 2499 south from Flower Mound road really that bad?
My husband works in Carrollton and I work in Dallas. Currently, my husband’s commute is 2 (on a good day) to 3 (one wreck on 360 and he’s toast) hours per day and mine is 1.5 hours per day. We decided on Flower Mound after researching the school system (we have a son that is in kindergarten and a daughter who will be one next month). We wanted something comparable to Mansfield ISD or better and Flower Mound definitely fits our criteria. A friend of ours, who works at my husbands company, lives off of Gerault (in the Bluebonnet elementary school area) and claims it take him 20 minutes to get to work. They work off Crosby Road if you are familiar with that. I work in Dallas off of Commerce street…West Commerce the real industrial area not downtown. Everyone at my job tells me that I will be hating my commute and life if we lived there. On a side note, no one from my office lives in Flower Mound but one person lives in Keller and one lives in Colleyville and they hate the traffic (they come in via 114). Can you give me any insight on the traffic situation? I saw that you work in Dallas.
Oh, I do have a friend that lives in the Marcus High School area. I think the subdivision is Waterford Park? He told me that I would have to leave at 6 am to be sane. That area is way too north for us I believe. He works from home so how can he be so sure?? Anyway, there is no way I would be able to start my drive to work at 6 am because of the kids. My work hours are 8-5 and my husband’s workday starts at 7:30 and ends at 4.
My husband says an option for me to get to work may be 635 to GB/161 (taking over his tolltag) to 183 to Loop 12? He says 635 and 183 may be bad but 161 is always clear and Loop 12 would be going against traffic. Or would that be a nightmare too? He says it may be an even better option once 161 goes all the way to I-30 since I-30 is so much better now. Any insight on the commute to and from Dallas you can give me would be very much appreciated.
Thanks for the letter. I posted my response to her as a comment. You should too!
posted by Chip Mahaney @ 10:01 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Here's what I wrote back to her:
First, I grew up in south Arlington (the Wimbledon neighborhood to be exact, near Bowen and Bardin), so I know your area well.
Here in Flower Mound, I drop my kids off at school at 7:45am, and then make my way downtown. I'm usually at work no later than 8:30, which means it's a 45-minute commute at the worst. Sometimes it's as little as 35 minutes in morning rush hour. Today in the heavy rain it was about 55 minutes, but that is really the exception. Door to door, no traffic, it's 26 minutes from work to home.
Is 2499 bad? Depends on what you're used to, though I don't think you'll find it any worse than Cooper Street or even parts of I-20 or 360, which get pretty congested too. Your husband's commute to Carrollton will definitely be easier -- 20 minutes is possible, though I'd suspect 25-30 would be more likely during rush hour.
114 is far worse for the people who have to funnel through the 121/114 merge over by Grapevine's chain-restaurant district, which means the people coming in from Keller, Southlake, west Grapevine, Colleyville etc. For us coming from Flower Mound, there is usually some bottleneck going into the "funnel", south on 121 to get to 114, but not as bad as these other people have it. Once you clear the airport heading east on 114, it's not a bad ride. Some slow downs here and there, but it moves most of the way to downtown. If there's a wreck on eastbound 114 heading to Las Colinas or Dallas, then I take 635LBJ east to I-35E south and go to downtown that way. It's only about 2 minutes longer. Keep in mind that TxDOT will probably start rebuilding the funnel as early as next year. Plus TxDOT will be widening FM2499 in Flower Mound starting next year. Because they're taking away the inside median, the construction shouldn't have TOO much of a negative effect on FM2499 traffic, but it will be a distraction at best.
There's still an advantage to living south of FM3040 -- one less big light to have to wait through. We like living in Northshore, in part, for that very reason. But the infrastructure roads in Flower Mound, including 3040, are much better than they used to be, and this helps traffic all around. Nowadays the difference between living in Northshore and living in Waterford Park would be less than 10 minutes. Waterford Park is about 5 miles farther north, but it wouldn't be that much worse than being where we are.
If you were living in Northshore, I think your husband could leave at 7am to get to Carrollton at 7:30, and you could leave at 7:15 to get to downtown Dallas by 8am. 95% of your days you'd be just fine.
The schools in Flower Mound are terrific. We've been very happy with LISD public schools.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your move. Let me know what happens! Look forward to meeting you to welcome you here.
We live in HV and I take 35 (get on at 407) to get to work. I leave a little later to avoid some traffic (around 8:45) and get to work (exit Valley View) around 9:10...sometimes 9:15. The nice thing is there are several places to exit early if you need to (I usually do 121 to MacArthur if it's bad) and there are tons of side-street roads you can take too if you want to avoid 35.
As far as the commute further into Dallas I'd guess about 45 minutes from 3040. If anyone at your job lives close you can carpool and take advantage of the HOV lane and you'll get there really fast.
I agree with Chip. I work in Irving and go through the airport, but if I worked downtown I would take 114 to 35. I would allow 1 hour. I live off Simmons and have absolutely no trouble getting to 2499 - I take Simmons to McKamy Creek to FM Road.
Actually evenings on 2499 can be a little worse than mornings.
Come on up - you'll like it!
I would think that a commute in the FM2499 traffic would be much better than any 1.5, 2, or 3 hour commute from Mansfield! It will not take you that long to get to Carrollton or Dallas.
I hear that the Villages of Northshore is a great neighborhood.
Listen to your friend who lives near Bluebonnet. There are some great neighborhoods south of 3040 between Gerault and 2499. I live just north of Gerault east of Morris. I work in downtown Fort Worth and take 121 the whole way. I leave real early (6:15) and am at my desk at 7:00 (Yeah, I drive fast). Going to Dallas, there are lots of ways to go and more planned for the future using Lakeside Parkway to 121 which will eventually connect to Freeport Parkway. That will connect you with 121, 114 and 635. The Funnel Project will also eventually take out the lights at on 2499 by Grapevine Mills. Also know that when you move to Denton County the County taxes are lower then Tarrant or Dallas and the insurance rates are lower as well. Come on up! The waters fine.
Paul
Move to Flower Mound! it is a beautiful town, great neighbors and wonderful community! As long as you know what to expect with traffic then you will be fine.
We live in Wellington (great/best subdivision) and our kids go to a private school in Dallas (Hillcrest and Arapaho) I drive the Dallas traffic every morning.
I will not lie to you 2499 is a nightmare (I hate 2499 - especially if there is an accident - which is not frequent).
It takes us longer to get out of Flower Mound than it takes to get to Hillcrest once I am on 635.
We generally leave our home in Wellington around 7:15 - 7:20am and then we have no problems with 2499. if you can be on 2499 by 7:30am then the rest of the way is a breaze.
Best of luck and come live in Flower Mound! the best town for families in North Texas.
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