Living with kids on a busy street

"Bryan doesn't drive a 1M" (bryantakespictures) 09/19/2020 at 11:41 • Filed to: None

1

22

We’re house shopping (ugh) to get closer to good schools mostly, but also just to light a bunch of our money on fire.

Some of the houses we’re looking at are right off of streets with a speed limit of 45mph. Not much traffic, but not somewhere I’d want the kids walking along.

Do any of you have experience yourself or for your kids living off of a busy street? Did it feel too confining or dangerous? Did you simply hop in the car to go on walks or bike rides? Is it just something you get used to, or would it drive us crazy?

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 12:01

1

you get used to it for sure

tho..i guess its different over here...not so much the traffic..thats the same everywhere..but here its normal to let your kids go out and play unsupervised by the time they are like...6

in any event...busy streets arent all that dangerous...just gotta teach your kids to be traffic aware...and walk on the side facing traffic...so if they cant/dont see you you see them

WilliamsSW > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 12:04

6

My advice is don’t do it. We’re on a corner of two residential streets, but one is used by trucks and others to get “downtown” (mainly the post office, downtown is a block long). Speed limit is only 25, but it’s abused.

My kids are 4 and 1, and we keep them away from the street, but I still have nightmares about it, no joke.

Plus, properties on busier streets are hard to sell later, and won’t appreciate as much. They can be tempting because they’re cheap, but there’s a reason for it.

shop-teacher > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 12:15

2

I lived on a busy street right before we had kids. I'm glad we moved. I could not have let them have the kind of freedom to roam our block like they do, and I think that's been very good for them.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > shop-teacher 09/19/2020 at 12:25

2

That’s kind of what I’m thinking. Roaming around without parents is an important part of growing up.

kleeBRZ > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 12:26

1

one of the elementary schools was temporarily relocated to a vacant venue in our neighborhood and it attracted tons of traffic that apparently Google Maps directed through our street. without sidewalks, our kids have to ride in the street to get to a park. It should be tolerable when the kids get older, but you’ll wish they had the freedom of safety when they’re at their youngest.... which is when you’re the most exhausted. If you had the option, avoid streets with non-family friendly traffic and prefer sidewalks with minimal street crossings. You’ll thank yourself for at least the next 6 years.

Also, if a swimming pool is in the cards, get one now when they’re little.

fintail > WilliamsSW 09/19/2020 at 12:26

1

Yep. My dad always had two key points when looking for a house - walking distance (back in the day when hoverparenting was still unusual) to a good school, and not on an arterial route. Everything else can be dealt with.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > WilliamsSW 09/19/2020 at 12:28

1

This is the direction I’m leaning. Even the 15mph streets in our current neighborhood are scary with kids.

Beefchips > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 13:05

1

Even with no kids I would think you’d go crazy, just from the noise

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > kleeBRZ 09/19/2020 at 13:07

0

Thanks, I think we’ve pretty much excluded the house on a busy street. We might start switching our preference for a large backyard towards a more walkable neighborhood.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > Beefchips 09/19/2020 at 13:08

0

Busy street may not be the right term. It’s a fast street. Huge possibility it gets busier in the future, though.

jeepoftheseus > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 13:24

0

I grew up on a very busy street and it went from 45 to 35 right in front of our house but that didn’t really matter to the log trucks. I grew up on a farm though so adventure was behind the house, not in front of it. Stay overs at friends houses in neighborhoods did mean my bike got tossed in the bed of the truck so I could play like a normal kid.

That road is now four lanes wide and took a good bit of the front yard. Busy roads get widened and the corresponding DOT never gives a damn. This will cause your resale to be more difficult. The house we are in now is on a busy 55mph country road. No kids yet  but super paranoid when my dog was a puppy. Good fences are a must.

WilliamsSW > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 13:25

1

Exactly. My 4 year old understands not to go in the street without our ok and looking both ways, but he can get distracted enough that I still worry.

Luckily we’re going to move mid-block in the next year or so, away from the busier street.

I don’t like fences and I want him (and my daughter as she gets older) to be able to play outside without worry.  Can't put a price on that. 

WilliamsSW > fintail 09/19/2020 at 13:26

0

Yup. Same mindset here, we didn’t realize there’s as much traffic as there is on the one side street. 

nermal > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 13:29

2

Just get an Invisible Fence installed. Once the children get zapped a few times trying to leave the yard, they’ll learn to stay in.

Simple! 

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 13:31

0

I used to live in one of those old PA towns that had one N/S main road and one E/W main road; I was on the N/S one and the house sat 6’ or so off of the road (no front lawn, just sidewalk).

It was...okay. The back yard was relatively private and very deep, so my son had plenty of space to run. There was a fence that kept him from going from the back to where the road was.

The noise was a bit much (lots of heavy grain trucks) but you got used to it. Good windows are a must, along with blinds + curtains. I had a beautiful enclosed front porch that I never used because it was too loud. I was also close to a school, so traffic basically stopped at 7-8am and 230-330pm.

If absolute quiet is important to you, don’t do it. It didn’t bug me too much, partly because I was looking for a “cheap house” to become a rental. I didn’t mind paying what I did, but I wouldn’t want a  $250k+ house to be in the same location.  That being said, it didn’t really affect property values too much (for the bigger and more expensive homes). 

Cash Rewards > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 13:42

0

Sidewalks or no?

ranwhenparked > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 14:54

0

How far off the road? Any trees or bushes for screening? I’d be inclined to say no, unless it is set back real far to where you can barely see the road from the house and vice versa.

I live on what is, theoretically, a 20mph road in a suburban subdivision. However, cars whip through at 40-45 with no regard for kids skateboarding in the street, people backing out of driveways, or if there’s cars street parked around the bend.

We’re in between two major roads, and drivers use the neighborhood as a shortcut to get from one to the other. The city installed traffic calming measures on the most direct route, but they just cause motorists to avoid them by turning down my street instead.

Its something that was not at all obvious when I bought the place, just looked like a normal, suburban street, but became apparent after I was here for a period  of time. For a single adult, it’s a somewhat minor annoyance, for a parent with young kids, I’d call it dangerous.

CB > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 15:51

0

I grew up living right beside an intersection where no one stopped, and did lots of biking on 60 km/h roads without dying. It’s not ideal, but survivable.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 16:09

0

I moved off a busy street. Pretty sure my kids would be splat at this point, especially little crazy guy. I like the quiet street for myself better too.  It's nice to know the people around us too.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 16:20

1

If the kids can play out in the street a big backyard is less important.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Beefchips 09/19/2020 at 17:17

0

The house I grew up in was about 100 yards through a tree line to the Mass Pike. You actually end up noticing it more when it goes quiet. It took me a couple weeks after I moved to get used to sleeping without the noise. It’s kind of an odd thing how you just get used to noises like that.

shop-teacher > Bryan doesn't drive a 1M 09/19/2020 at 22:11

0

I completely agree.