Moving to Pittsburgh looking at Plum or Monroeville

[Guard88]

Hi I'm moving from Florida and planning on buying a house in the next 2-3 weeks. Couple of questions, is Pittsburgh
commutable from Plum or do you have to go through the Squirrel Hill tunnels ? Also is it easy to get to Pittsburgh from
Monroeville or Plum in the evenings. Thinking about Martial arts clubs with a 630pm start during weekdays.

My wife and I are very excited to be moving to Pittsburgh, we love the City and the Culture. The only thing I'll
miss about Florida is that the CCW is good for ALL weapons and sometimes it makes sense to have a less lethal
alternative like a Yawara Stick or even a knife for backup. Really looking forward rifle shooting in less than 90+ degrees !

[pyld]

That drive sucks. I moved out of Murrysville (just over the hill from Plum) in 1998. Back then, it was a minimum of an hour into downtown during rush hour. Minimum. I bet it's gone up. You do end up doing the SH Tunnels, and it permanently sucks each rush hour. Plan on leaving right at 5 regularly to make it at the end of the day.

If you want to live that far out, I'd strongly urge you to consider the north hills. No tunnel. It makes a difference.

[sota]

having inlaws in the monroeville area, I can agree that being on the wrong side of the tunnels will seriously degrade your quality of life.

[scruff]

+1 - tunnels suck, and north is the way to go. Check out Zang Taekwon-do in Warrendale. http://www.zangtkd.com/

[Emptymag]

Depending on what part of Plum you may be able to take Rt 28 south to town.
That said, that road gets nuts too and it scares the bejeezus out of me to drive it when you get near town because it's narrow and windy people drive like maniacs, and just... wow.

I live in the east and I can tell you that the drive in is bad at almost all hours of the day now. It didn't used to be that way, but I think the road simply can not bear the amount of traffic it carries now - it's slow even at noon headed inbound.
I do a lot of work in the area of the city just outside the tunnel (Edgewood) and while that area is too "city" for me, lots of people like it because it's close and you can "go around" the parkway on the side streets.

Inbound in the evenings is generally not a problem at all though.

Feel free to keep asking questions. There are a ton of us in the area and you'll surely get some decent insight.

By the way, "the north" is a good option as mentioned above.

[Deleted]

Any reason you are looking at Plum? IMO there are a lot of communities that are nicer and will give you a better commute. I'm partial to Hampton.. Franklin Park..

[Guard88]

Any reason you are looking at Plum? IMO there are a lot of communities that are nicer and will give you a better commute. I'm partial to Hampton.. Franklin Park..

were looking in Plum because it seems to be the best value for houses in the Pittsburgh area and good schools.

It it very much appreciated that members have shared their expertise, it's difficult to know what a place is like
without talking to the locals. To me what makes Pittsburgh such a great place is that the City has many fun
places to visit ( and beer) and it's close to the outdoors.

So now my wife is searching for houses outside Monroeville/Plum/East of theTunnels, Thanks for the advice.

[Hawk]

I've lived east of the city all my life and just expect the traffic on the Parkway at rush hour and during any major events. If you go east far enough, Westmoreland County has considerably lower taxes than Allegheny County.

Also, the best gun club in the Pittsburgh Area is east of the city. Minutes from Monroeville.
Check it out:
http://www.pmsconline.com/

[arjohnson]

I live in Monroeville and if you do decide on moving there checkout turnpike gardens housing plan. Nice, quite and easy access to both turnpike and parkway without going through the Monroeville rt 22 business area.

Parkway traffic sucks depending on the time you use it, if you hit it inbound early 6am and around 2:30 outbound it's not to bad.

Like Hawk said as well, you will be minutes form the best gun club in the area, PMSC.

[Just1more]

We moved here quite a few years ago (although husband is from here originally) and am very happy in the north!

Allegheny county - taxes are higher than some other areas like Butler county though. I think the trade off was the better school districts and we needed that advantage back then.
We are in Richland township If i were to do this again, I would probably move closer to Wexford for access to 79 quicker Pine Richland school district is very good as is Hampton school district - our next door neighbors. We have access to rt 8 and 28 to the city also although somewhat slow but acceptable.