by Donna Hicks

Created on: July 09, 2010

Traffic in the suburbs can sometimes be a nightmare. When one lives in the suburbs, one often must drive several miles to get anywhere. For those who work in the suburbs, traffic may be at a near stand-still during rush hours or other busy times. There are tips for dealing with traffic in the suburbs that will make for less stress over traffic nightmares and will result in being caught in busy suburban traffic less often.

Shopping

For those who live in the suburbs, there are far fewer convenience stores, corner stores, nearby grocery stores, pharmacies and the like, as there are within city limits. In cities, shopping can often be done in one’s own neighborhood, and often by walking or biking, or utilizing public transportation to get to a nearby store or pharmacy. Suburb dwellers often find themselves in heavy traffic when just trying to get shopping done. For suburban shoppers, consider going at times when there is less traffic. Instead of grocery shopping during rush hour, consider doing the shopping later in the evening or during mid-morning hours, after the morning rush. Not only is there less traffic on the suburban roads, there will be fewer shoppers in line. Another idea for shoppers is to buy in bulk. Of course, this would not work for everything, but if one buys several boxes of cereal, a larger bag or box of staple items such as flour, cooking oil, sugar or rice, and larger or multiple packages of items such as diapers, wipes, detergent, and paper products, there will be fewer trips to the grocery store. Ask your doctor to prescribe a three month supply of your regular medications, or consider having the pharmacy deliver them. These suggestions offers means of effectively dealing with traffic in the suburbs.

Getting Direction

If one wants to effectively deal with the traffic in the suburbs, one way to do so is to take an alternate route. In most suburbs, people tend to travel down the same main road or two and this is where the heaviest congestion is. An alternate route usually takes a detour of only a few blocks and one can be at the intended destination long before those still stuck in traffic on the main roads.

Car Pools

Consider carpooling to work with other suburban dwellers. Car pools are not just for work, however. Car pools can really be helpful if neighbors car pool to the grocery or take turns carpooling kids to and from school and recreational or sports activities. That means fewer cars on the road at the same time and everyone gets where they need to be on time.

Eat In on Weekends

Any suburban dweller that goes out to eat on weekend nights will probably run in to co-workers, friends and neighbors at the restaurant. That is because everyone had the same idea at the same time. Eating out in the suburbs means heavy traffic and long lines at the restaurant. Instead, plan special, fun meals at home, perhaps with a theme, such as pizza night, Oriental night, American or Mexican night. Set out all the “fixins” and let everyone dig in. An alternative is to have that romantic dinner or nightcap at home after the kids are in bed, instead of the restaurant. Then eat at the restaurant when there is less suburban traffic.

Although traffic in the suburbs can be quite congested, if one does a little planning and utilizes a little creativity, there are certainly ways to deal with the matter.

Learn more about this author, Donna Hicks.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.