In the years since I wrote that article, traffic hasn’t gotten any more tolerable and the City and County continue to demonstrate an astonishing capability to do nothing – expensively. (see: Places 29)
That said,
One of the most important things to note to those moving to Charlottesville is that the region is becoming more and more segmented – if you live in the 29 North area, there’s usually little reason to leave 29 North except for work – same with Crozet, Pantops, City of Charlottesville, etc. Urban Cores matter.
But – if you live and work in the City of Charlottesville or the urban ring (or really, any part of) Albemarle County, your commute is likely to be not beyond 25 or 30 minutes. The following infographic* shows some useful data points about the value of a short commute.
For now, I’d like to think that the Charlottesville area offers a reasonably high quality of life, and the commuting isn’t that bad.
Five years from now – we’ll see.
** I’m baffled/infuriated that with all the information the US Census gathers, they no longer seem to (or I can’t find) publish the County-to-County worker information.
You can use the Census Bureau’s On the Map tool to access the county-to-county worker data. It’s the LEHD data I think you are looking for. If the U.S. House of Representatives gets their way, we won’t have to worry about looking around for Census data. Most of it won’t be there anymore. See the WSJ “The GOP’s Census Takers”
Interesting. Thanks, Daniel. I looked for the data there but couldn’t find it.Â
Yet another example as to why I dislike politics – the focus is on the politics rather than the people they are meant to serve.
Very informative post. Thanks to author.
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