Posted: 5/26/2006 5:06:38 PM EDT
| Where are the nice towns to live in? |
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Depends where you are going to be working, and how long a commute you want. I live in Wildwood - which is a far western suburb, and I don't mind the commute (which is about 30 minutes for me) but next summer they're going to begin massive renovations to the main highway artery, and the commute is going to suck for a lot of people. There are a lot of nice places in St. Louis country - Kirkwood, Webster Groves as old neighborhoody towns. Ladue and Clayton as an expensive option. A lot of people like University City and Central West End. And then you've got the western part of the county - with Ballwin, Chesterfield, Ellisville, Manchester, Town & Country, etc - which are newer and really nice, but are further out. Definitely check the hometown forum as well. |
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The traffic for North bound I-55 is usually pretty heavy during rush hour, backing up at the I-270 interchange. I don't know if it's tolerable since I live 180 degrees from that area. There is lots of new construction happening in all the regions surrounding St. Louis, including around Festus; what that means is the wild is getting bulldozed for subdivisions. The terrain near Festus gets progressively more hilly and rough as you head South and Southwest toward the Big River and Black River drainages and the St. Fancois "mountains". There are some real pretty areas down there; unfortunately one of the prime spots at Johnson's Shut-Ins was ruined by the dam break at the power reservoir on top of the adjacent hill. It's real hard to say which part of this area you would like. Development of new houses in Illinois is under way and there are still some competitive houses for sale, but there is no way I would commute across the Poplar Street/I-64 bridge - hell on Earth. Illinois gun laws are oppressive and likely to get worse. St. Charles County to the West, and Jefferson County to the South have been popular for over 20 years because housing is more affordable than in St. Louis County, although the closest towns are probably getting closer to par nowadays. |
There are a lot of areas that are closer in that are pretty nice - like Tower Grove Park area, Central West End, and places like the area around Lafayette Park that are experiencing a resurgence. My neighbor across the street just bought a house off Lafayette park, and it is very nice. Don't get me wrong, I really like living in the far west burbs, but you are going to HATE the commute once they start to construction on Hwy 40/I-64. |