Eggplant Jeff

My wife and I are considering moving to be closer to family in a year or two and Atlanta and Philadelphia are the two top candidates. Actually, Downingtown PA (suburbs west of Philadelphia) and Lilburn GA (suburbs northeast of Atlanta).

I was curious what biking is like around those cities? Keep in mind I'm talking about living in the suburbs, not downtown. I'd like to continue to bike to work so commuter-related info is good, but I'll take anything .

max-a-mill

downingtown not so commute friendly.... but everything is relative to where you'd live and work.

but it is nice country out there; mountainbiking is plentiful and there are many nice roads to road bike on on the weekends.

you could get lucky and have a BEAUTIFUL commute, but it ain't exactly set up to enourage bike commuting out there.

if you do move out there give me a heads up i used to live in west chester and could point out lots of fun to be had by bike out there.

borderline

I have not lived in Atlanta but grew up in the burbs of Philly and now live in the south. One thing that is great about the south is that the winters are much milder than the north (although the summers do suck). You will have a longer commuting season if you are a fair weather commuter or have less cold and snow to deal with if you are an all year commuter.

GTcommuter

Lilburn could be tough for bike commuting. Mostly suburban streets feeding into big main roads. Also its mostly a bedroom community without too many work destinations. I think most people head from there either down to the Stone Mtn area or into downtown. Depending on how far from family/work you wanted to be, you could move just inside the Perimeter and have a much easier commute to the intown areas.

Patch29

I live in Norcross, near 85 and Indian Trail. IT is not a fun road to ride on at all. I can get around Norcross well. The only benefit to some of the large roads is the additional room for cars to move over, getting them to move over is a different story. There are a lot of smaller roads which will get you where you want to go, possibly not the shortest route, but a lot of them are fine to ride on with a lot less traffic. You will also be about 10 miles away from Stone Mountain via smaller roads (not interstates) and it is a good place to get a good ride in without a lot of fast traffic around you. There are not a lot of bike lanes or paths around Gwinnett either. They are starting to build newer roads with bike lanes.

Do you know where you would have to commute to? That could make a huge difference.

joejack951

I live in Delaware but commute to work near West Chester (Concordville). I've biked around Downingtown too and some of the surrounding areas. There isn't a whole lot of bicycle advocacy in the area save for a few share the road signs but in general, drivers are considerate of bikers. Most have enough to lose that they wouldn't do anything stupid and actually harm you in any way. Here's another offer to show you around if you do move up north.

Mr. Miskatonic

Live in Philly, Northern Liberties section. Biking here isn't bad. It could be better, it could be worse.

Map tester

About bike commuting in Liburn, GA: You willing have *MANY* SUVs to deal with. Also, unless you are commuting to a job close to where you live, you are a long way from anything intown (inside the Perimeter Highway). A lot of new development and big roads in Gwinnett County. Here is a good thread on commuting in Atlanta

hrcarol

I live in Lilburn, GA. I'm a stay at home mom so I don't commute but, I do ride around here and it's not all bad. It really depends on where you're commuting to. If your planning to work downtown it could be a long and dangerous commute but there is a path that goes from Stn. Mtn. to intown. If you are going to commute to another part of Gwinnett Cty. you could probably find a safe route. I disagree about Lilburn being a bedrm. community the majority of my neighbors work in Gwinnett Cty. There are a lot of suv's but I think the drivers around here are pretty respectful of cyclist.

MisterJ

I live in Lawrenceville and work about a mile from Perimeter Mall. Commuting is quite frankly difficult. With a few exceptions Gwinnett county just doesn't plan for anything but motor vehicle traffic.

I am fortunate to only work three days a week and I generally do a split commute two days per wee,, 10 miles by car and 16 miles by bike. But I have really researched the roads and there are still places that are quite frankly scary.

The weather can be warm, and the terrain is hilly.

Eggplant Jeff

Well, since I haven't decided where to move yet, my job is even more undecided. I'm a software engineer, which unfortunately puts most (although not all) potential jobs in downtown type areas. My goal would be to pick out an area to live, then pick out a job that is a reasonably short commute from there.

Of course, in dreamland I might get a telecommuter job... but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one .

purple hayes

I ride through Lilburn two times a day, 5 days a week. It's not hard, but there aren't any bike lanes.

max-a-mill

convince youtr old company they still need you! i got a buddy who telecommutes and he NEVER complains about it... especially while he was in rome (and now in san diego, the bastard) telecommuting.

cerewa

I live in philly. I can attest that the center-city part of philly is a pretty good place to ride a bike. Cars usually can't go fast because of traffic, so a bike fits right in.