The OP stated that he starts work at 7. At this starting time, I really don't think you will have an issue with traffic from any areas in the city. We live in New Brighton (since 2007) and when we moved there the number one concern for me was going to be the commute. I work near the University and I wasn't looking forward to it. The commute was brutal for me originally cause Deerfoot was always backed up, 52nd street looked like a back alley and Glenmore was under serious modifications. Back then the commute could easily reach 1 to 1.5 hours if there was any delays on the road. Throw in a rain or snow storm and things got worse.
However, Glenmore got fixed, 52nd street was widened a bit more and things started to get better. When the finish twinning(sp?) 52nd street between 126Ave and 114Ave, things should go even better.
But now that we have children, the thing that gets to me is the lack of schooling in newer neighborhoods. In our area, the kids are bused to Acadia. We're actually in the process of trying to move to the SW (Westhills) or the NW just to be closer to family again and because the areas we are looking at have nearby schooling.
The area is wonderful. We have pretty much everything we need less than 5 minutes away. Any stores we don't have will probably be at Deerfoot Meadows which is 10-15 minutes away. Our 3 reasons for moving are: 1) Want to be closer to family. 2) lack of local schooling. 3) Deerfoot Trail. My wife hates driving on it and wants to live somewhere where the amount of time she drives on it will be minimized.
After reading this thread, I decided to clock my time home last night and my trip in this morning.
4:45PM - In my car and driving down Crowchild South.
5:00PM - On Glenmore Trail and approaching Deerfoot (I will say that yesterday, the traffic seemed lighter than normal and I only was stopped at one light on Crowchild).
5:05PM - On Shepard Road heading towards Barlow.
5:10PM - On 52nd street after turning off Barlow at 106 St.
5:15PM - Hit my garage door opener.
I don't know if this was a normal afternoon cause I was concentrating more on the time more than normal and I seemed to time the lights better than normal.
7:18AM - Hit my garage door opener to close the door as I leave
7:20AM - Trying to get onto 52nd Street. Wow, what a backlog this morning.
7:30AM - Finally made it to 114th Ave.
7:35AM - Onto Barlow and merging into the Shepard Road turnoff
7:42AM - Turning off Shepard and onto Glenmore (This I know is unusual cause normally the traffic on Shepard is long but today it was flowing quite nicely).
7:48AM - Turning off Glenmore onto Crowchild
7:50AM - Notice traffic slowing down around 33 Ave.
7:55AM - Traffic slowly moving (but still moving) and I'm at Kensington now.
8:00AM - Pull into my parking spot.
8:05AM - Sitting in my desk.
To the OP. If you work at that hour, the commute won't be a problem. You'll enjoy the time you can spend with your friends who are only a few minutes away rather than 30 and you'll probably end up seeing them a lot more often.
Sorry for the long post.
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