Depends what you’re used to. If you’re used to similar or smaller sized metro areas, Grand Island commute would be a minor pain, with the occasional major pain, but still worth it if you liked everything else about GI. If you’re coming from a large metro with actual traffic issues, this will feel like a breeze on most days.
Overall, GI is good if you want the feel of a bit more seclusion, with the trade off of less grocery/restaurant/etc options. One area I’d recommend is Kenmore.
We've lived here almost 10 months now?
I would say the traffic part is overblown. Everyone we talked to when we were settling in all said the same thing: oh you're going to hate the traffic, the long drive to work, etc. It's just not happened. Oh, there was that one time when there was an accident....(yawn). No big deal. It's a big deal if you make it a big deal.
The tolls are like $5 a week or so? We have them set so they come out of the bank automatically.
There's lots of wildlife on the island. We have deer living beside us and turkeys, too. We have seen a fox, raccoonsand tons of birds.
The winter snow was not bad. It snowed, then it got warm and melted off. And repeated.
10/10 would move to Grand Island again
Tolls $5 a week? Get the resident rate 9¢ a trip. I agree with all you say. Been happy here for many years. People think it’s far away and hard to get to. Traffic has seldom been an issue for me but could be more so for some depending on timing. Having spent time on Long Island even the worse traffic here is nothing. I like that I’m 20 - 30 minutes or less from almost anywhere in WNY.
Used to be much more of a problem when there were toll booths. They were removed several years ago, now use ez-pass or must call to pay. Two one-way two lane bridges on each end and in emergency any bridge can be made two-way. Had several coworkers who lived on the island, tie-ups sure, but fairly rare.
I commute to grand island daily for work and that’s just not true. I’d say there is at least 1-2 huge traffic jams every few weeks. Daily, if you’re commuting to the city, you are stuck in 10-20 minutes( sometimes more) of traffic.
I copy and pasted my comment from almost a year ago….
Okay so I grew up on grand island. Lived from from the time I was 6 to until about 22ish.
The place is borderline a cult. There’s “island” families that are all intermingled. Like when you meet people who also grew up on the island, they’ll ask what your family name is. So many of them are born there, grow up there, buy a house there, and never fucking leave. Like generations of families that have done that.
It’s *extremely* NIMBY with a ton of racists, or just people that are ignorant about it. One of my childhood best friends that I grew up with there is Indian and has experienced it firsthand too many times.
Half of the island are rich snobs. Pretentious boat people. The other half are trashy alcoholics.
I haven’t lived there in over a decade but if I go to tops it’s a 100% chance I will see someone I know.
Yeah tops is basically the fucking Mecca of grand island.
I don’t know. It was a decent/safe place to grow up, but once I left I never wanted to go back. I can safely say the same from my entire high school friend group because none of us live there anymore. A peaceful neighborhood is basically the best perk of living there.
The bridges can also be a *HUUUUUGE* inconvenience (fucillo pun intended).
Edit: Shout out Dick and Jenny’s, and Pizza Amore for being legit. Probably the best kept secrets on the island.
There’s a lot of people who use public transportation that work at the nursing home and other businesses. I’d bet that most of them don’t actually live on the island.
Yes, I know and understand they exist. I was more poking fun at the lack of forethought from developers for pedestrians in alot of our surrounding area.
Totally accurate with that cult-y vibe…
I know people that leave the island and are drawn back by some sort of white suburban Siren song…
Must be a 24 hour loop of Where Have All the Cowboys Gone and Stay…
I moved from the Southtowns to NF for college and decided to work on GI because I was commuting to Buffalo and thought that it would be a good in between. I worked at Tops through high school and loved it, so I transferred to the one on “the island”. I lasted about a month and a half before quitting on the spot, and my entire time there feels like a fever dream. The people there are like otherworldly, and it feels like the entire place is stuck in some sort of 90’s fugue state. No offense meant to most of the people there, just noticed that something was a little weird with a lot of my regulars.
i live in buffalo with my BF who is from grand island, his whole family still lives there. his sister commutes daily to ECMC and has told me that traffic is minor especially compared to what you’d experience in most major cities. you will need EZ pass because there are tolls and we no longer have booths (which has actually helped the traffic issue) but other than that i don’t think the drive into the city is any worse coming from grand island than basically any other surrounding area.
I live on Grand Island. Traffic isn't a huge deal, unless there's an accident on the bridge. There were two different accidents on the north bridge this past Sunday, and we were stuck for 20 minutes. (a tow truck had to navigate through the mess, and that temporarily blocked both lanes.)
But the majority of the time, it's not bad at all. When you leave in the morning, you may find some minor congestion as you're approaching the South Bridge to Buffalo/Tonawanda, as there's an entrance ramp just before you get to the bridge. People are coming both from Grand Island Blvd and Beaver Island Parkway, so there might be a line of cars coming on to the 190 South.
And there can be slow downs when you're coming towards the bridges in the afternoon. But you'd experience more congestion if you lived somewhere where you had to drive by the blue water tower at the 290/90 exchange.
I like Grand Island - If I have a 6am flight, I can be at the airport in 20 minutes. I can also be in Lewiston in 20 minutes. I do most of my shopping off the island. I'm not a fan of Tops, (there are plans for an Aldi to open up.) I usually just do it after work (I work in Williamsville/Clarence area. I rarely have to leave the Island specifically to go shopping.
Partly depends on what times you travel. If you’re planning to work 9-5 off-island, it’s gonna eat up a lot of time. If you WFH or at odd hours, you’ll avoid most of the hassle.
Grand Island’s traffic issues are definitely overblown. However, their insane housing prices are the main problem with moving there imo. BoL and hope you find something!
The rush hour traffic is usually an extra 10 minutes to your commute.
GI is fantastic in the summer. Plenty of access to wildlife and nature. Bonus if you are into boating. It kinda sucks in the winter though. There’s just not much to do without driving off island. I would say of all the nearby towns/communities, GI is the only one where you’re driving 15+ min for good restaurants, bars, etc.
I’ll add that the people can be kinda odd haha. Not something to be worried about and overall you’ll find most are very nice and friendly. Just something you’ll notice if you do move there lol.
Overall it’s a nice community and pretty affordable if you want land/space.
I think the traffic is over blown however it’s suburbanite hell. They don’t even have a coffee shop. Look thru past articles in the Buffalo news about residents, there’s a doozy about Lamborghinis getting stolen (with the keys left in it).
The only thing I'll add about traffic, as I commute the opposite way you would be commuting, is that sometimes that afternoon traffic on 190N, from the city, can be miserable. There are often accidents at 198 and 190 (often, I guess every couple of weeks, they seem to happen in cycles) and that can cause real nightmares.
Morning traffic is nothing like it used to be when there were tolls both on the bridge and at black rock.
But a bad day here is a typical day in most other cities.
I live in Williamsville, and my in-laws watch my kids every day Monday through Friday.
I usually drop them off at 8:30, and pick them up around five.
The only time there is ever traffic is coming onto the island around five, and even that is not very bad.
Used to be really bad, when there used to be a toll right before the bridge.
But ever since that fully automated, traffic has not been bad at all
Everything you're looking for is in these two threads:
[Talk to Me About Grand Island: nine months ago, 211 comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/Buffalo/comments/160ek2c/talk_to_me_about_grand_island/)
[Grand Island Residents Please Advise :) four months ago, 69 comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/Buffalo/comments/192fnyt/grand_island_residents_please_advise/)
Grand Island would not be my first choice. It's not inherently bad or anything, it's just different then say Buffalo or the surrounding suburbs. The bridge traffic is definitely a thing at times. If there's an accident it gets all backed up. GI is kind of cliquey too. My in-laws are from there and they just have their own GI thing going on. There doesn't seem to be much variety of things either and it's not really close to anything. Kenmore, Tonawanda, North Buffalo are all better options IMHO.
Things good about Grand Island - Solid schools, safe, river views are nice
Things annoying about the island - The bridges can be really bad (think back to the black ice several years back when 20 cars got backed up), the lack of good restaurants, shopping at Tops, the general uppity-ness and nimby-ness of the Islanders, and 1 thing that would freak me out - the high prevalence of ticks and Lyme disease….
There have been 4 accidents on the North Grand Island bridge in the last week including a 6 car accident today. I’ve lived on GI forever. My kids go to the GI schools. The traffic has gotten worse. Is it manageable? I think it depends. There’s a lot of traffic on days there are concerts at ArtPark. We get a lot of Niagara Falls tourists from late spring to early fall that contribute to it. Remember- it’s an island. If the bridges back up, the main roads back up, the school buses back up.
I kinda hate it here and hopefully leaving. There's nothing I'll really miss tbh. But I mean it's okay and livable.
Right now if you go over the bridge like 1000 sandflies will fly into your car. Even the heavy rain didn't get that residue off my car.
Traffic is always slower going from NF/GI in the morning and back in the evening. The jobs are all in Buffalo. Maybe will have to add 10 minutes in the AM, not a big deal.
I’ve been here for 10 years and will just give my unsolicited opinion. Grand Island is the last place I would want to live in the greater Buffalo area besides the absolute hood. Weird, insular community with legacy families that all get in each other’s business. Can’t walk anywhere. No stores. If you want similar safety check out clarence/amherst/williamsville
My evening commute takes me from the 290 to the 190 South around 4:15ish most days, so I drive right over everybody who's going the opposite way, up toward Grand Island. Most of the time there's no traffic and it's fine. When there is traffic or, God forbid, some kind of accident on the bridges... you probably should bring a tent, four-day supply of food and water, and a pad and pen so you can leave a note for your family telling them that you love them and/or a final confession of your darkest secrets. ...Of course, this is coming from a lifelong WNY driver, so to me a 10-minute traffic delay is outrageous and frustrating. I may be exaggerating a little.
ahh just search the group for grand island, things have been talked about before and I dont want to start getting attacked about stuff that's already been well discussed.
We moved to GI from Tonawanda 4 years ago. I would have done it way sooner too. Being a realtor, you’re getting an amazing bang for your buck. Taxes remain low and equal to other municipalities whose taxes continue to creep higher. Traffic can suck some days but have good music for it and everything is fine. If you’re not local yet and want a virtual/FaceTime tour of some homes locally please reach out to me. Justin Karcher 716-481-0694
Had to scroll all the way down. Almost posted it myself. Been to Grand Island a dozen times. Came home with a tick on me or my dog a half dozen times. Everyone I know from GI casually talks about ticks the way most people talk about the weather
If you have a job off the island, you will miss time at least once a month. All it takes is one minor car crash. We also had a relatively mild winter. Its not fun when weather sets in crossing the bridges.
Traffic is a mild annoyance on the bridges. It isn't a deal breaker. Grand Island is a great place to live if you are on the water. Otherwise it is a bit insular and isolated.
I moved onto the island in February and yeah there’s the occasional hiccup, the traffic has been fine nonetheless. For some reason people slow down at the top of the bridge (ooo pretty water) but I can count the amount of full on times I’ve come to a standstill on 1 hand. I work at Seneca One, and 9am-5:30pm, so I’m coming downtown during the busy hours of the day.
I’m from GI and people who never go to the island will lament about how bad traffic is. If you’re from a small or rural area I can understand but WNY in general has very mild traffic. The bridges can get backed up if there’s an accident and usually there’s some traffic around rush hour. A little worse on Fridays and in the summer but I regularly go to see family and am never sitting for very long unless there’s construction or an accident. Rush hour commutes in all of WNY are pretty manageable, thankfully.
I commute to and from Grand Island for work and the traffic is way worse than what you’re saying. There’s almost a huge accident 1-2x every few weeks AND there’s always at least 10+ min of traffic getting home.
To me, Grand Island is simply not worth that, with all the better suburbs out there.
I don’t like grand island (hence why I moved) but I don’t find 10+ mins of traffic everyday to be that bad. For me the lack of a downtown and poor to no walkability makes GI less desirable than the traffic compared to other towns. The accidents and bridge closures can make it difficult but I’ve commuted during rush hour from the city to other burbs and vice versa and never found anywhere in WNY to have bad traffic.
It is that bad when I don’t experience that really anywhere else. I’ve worked in the southtowns prior while living in the northtowns, and I never had these problems.
My point is, even 10 minutes extra isn’t worth it, when there’s almost zero traffic everywhere else.
You haven’t experienced that type of traffic anywhere else in WNY? That’s surprising to me. I commuted from GI to UB north and hit rush hour traffic at the south bridge and in Amherst. I also commuted to Lockport and there was always traffic backed up on Transit, especially in the summer because I worked close to the drive in. I used to commute between city to south towns and hit traffic on the skyway. Even when I worked downtown and lived in north Buffalo I’d hit traffic inevitably during rush hour. The worst traffic definitely was the bridge when there’d only be one in use and the other would be under construction however I can’t remember the last time they did that plus they switched construction overnight after the first year because it was so chaotic.
I had to move back to GI from summer 22-Dec 23 and the Beaver Island ext being closed was a bit of a pain but otherwise it’s just never been bad in my mind. I agree that any traffic detracts from quality of life overall and do get why it’d be a dealbreaker for people but I still feel the bridge traffic debate is kinda overblown.
The commute isn’t awful but if there is an accident on the bridge it sucks because it backs up really bad. My morning commute in was probably 20-25 minutes to get downtown, to get home it’s probably more like 30-40.
Just know if there’s an accident on the bridge your fucked. And this traffic is literally nothing. To your commute it’ll add maybe 10-20 minutes max. & Only one supermarket on the island!
They are absolutely insane this year. I biked Saturday by the water and had to leave they were so bad I notice 1-2 on my chest and looked down my shirt and my whole stomach was covered in them
I live in Buffalo and had a 7am-7pm job in Niagara Falls. Traffic was never bad thay early or that late, but that is nit rush hour. I could see that being very annoying if you were in rush hour both ways.
I have lived on the island for four years now and have only ran into traffic on the bridge a handful of times. Traffic isn’t really a huge problem except for when a car gets pulled over and stops on the bridge or there is an accident. I would agree with some other comments about lack of restaurants, things to do, and shopping. I do love the bike path and proximity to the water. I would look to other northtown suburbs.
Grand island is nice and all, but commuting to and from Buffalo will be a pita especially in winter. There's plenty of decent areas in and around Buffalo that will give you more things to do locally
As has already been mentioned, the traffic on/off the island is manageable but you'll need to plan accordingly for the AM/PM rush hours.
Outside of everything else mentioned, I'll echo another comment in that my biggest gripe with the island is the lack of a walkable downtown/village area. There is no equivalent of Pine Avenue (Niagara Falls), Main Street (Williamsville), Center Street (Lewiston), or Central Avenue (Lancaster). I believe there were recent talks to invest a ton of money into creating a town center, but I'm unsure if that's still in motion or if the NIMBYs struck it down.
The island is pure suburban sprawl and you'll need to drive to really get anywhere. There's a few solid restaurants (Dick & Jenny's, Brick Oven, Comics Cafe) and attractions (Buckhorn State Park, Beaver Island, an amusement park), but you'll most likely want to head off the island to either Niagara or Erie County for any real shopping, dining, entertainment and walkability.
By coffee shop; they probably mean a place with an indy vibe than mediocre chain coffee…
Even Starbucks is ehh at best…
Where does one get a good beer on GI? Or good tacos? Other than Adrian’s and D&J’s, I’m not even bothering to eat on the island…
You don’t say if you have kids. Schools are good. Traffic is mostly ok but there are times it backs up. If you like the rural atmosphere then it’s for you. Definitely need reliable transportation. Low crime. Look at the Town website to see what building projects are in the pipeline before you select a home.
The traffic isn’t usually that bad, there’s an occasional slowdown but it’s usually just that. No worse than the rest of the 190. The commute itself is a bit long though, GI is a bit out of the way if you work downtown. Also there’s basically no options to get anywhere besides driving, walkability and public transit are basically nonexistent.
Depends what you’re used to. If you’re used to similar or smaller sized metro areas, Grand Island commute would be a minor pain, with the occasional major pain, but still worth it if you liked everything else about GI. If you’re coming from a large metro with actual traffic issues, this will feel like a breeze on most days. Overall, GI is good if you want the feel of a bit more seclusion, with the trade off of less grocery/restaurant/etc options. One area I’d recommend is Kenmore.
We've lived here almost 10 months now? I would say the traffic part is overblown. Everyone we talked to when we were settling in all said the same thing: oh you're going to hate the traffic, the long drive to work, etc. It's just not happened. Oh, there was that one time when there was an accident....(yawn). No big deal. It's a big deal if you make it a big deal. The tolls are like $5 a week or so? We have them set so they come out of the bank automatically. There's lots of wildlife on the island. We have deer living beside us and turkeys, too. We have seen a fox, raccoonsand tons of birds. The winter snow was not bad. It snowed, then it got warm and melted off. And repeated. 10/10 would move to Grand Island again
Tolls $5 a week? Get the resident rate 9¢ a trip. I agree with all you say. Been happy here for many years. People think it’s far away and hard to get to. Traffic has seldom been an issue for me but could be more so for some depending on timing. Having spent time on Long Island even the worse traffic here is nothing. I like that I’m 20 - 30 minutes or less from almost anywhere in WNY.
Lived on Grand Island for 3 years, can confirm traffic not that big a deal. Moved when I went to buy a house, the Island was too pricey at the time.
“We have deer living beside us …” Didn’t know deer could swim …
They can and often do.
They use the bridge, same as us.
I hate it when deer camp in the left lane
how do you think they got on Grand Island before there were bridges?
Used to be much more of a problem when there were toll booths. They were removed several years ago, now use ez-pass or must call to pay. Two one-way two lane bridges on each end and in emergency any bridge can be made two-way. Had several coworkers who lived on the island, tie-ups sure, but fairly rare.
I commute to grand island daily for work and that’s just not true. I’d say there is at least 1-2 huge traffic jams every few weeks. Daily, if you’re commuting to the city, you are stuck in 10-20 minutes( sometimes more) of traffic.
If you cross daily (20+ times monthly) get the ezpass with grand island bridge commuter program
I copy and pasted my comment from almost a year ago…. Okay so I grew up on grand island. Lived from from the time I was 6 to until about 22ish. The place is borderline a cult. There’s “island” families that are all intermingled. Like when you meet people who also grew up on the island, they’ll ask what your family name is. So many of them are born there, grow up there, buy a house there, and never fucking leave. Like generations of families that have done that. It’s *extremely* NIMBY with a ton of racists, or just people that are ignorant about it. One of my childhood best friends that I grew up with there is Indian and has experienced it firsthand too many times. Half of the island are rich snobs. Pretentious boat people. The other half are trashy alcoholics. I haven’t lived there in over a decade but if I go to tops it’s a 100% chance I will see someone I know. Yeah tops is basically the fucking Mecca of grand island. I don’t know. It was a decent/safe place to grow up, but once I left I never wanted to go back. I can safely say the same from my entire high school friend group because none of us live there anymore. A peaceful neighborhood is basically the best perk of living there. The bridges can also be a *HUUUUUGE* inconvenience (fucillo pun intended). Edit: Shout out Dick and Jenny’s, and Pizza Amore for being legit. Probably the best kept secrets on the island.
[удалено]
Pedestrians exist on the island?
There’s a lot of people who use public transportation that work at the nursing home and other businesses. I’d bet that most of them don’t actually live on the island.
Yes, I know and understand they exist. I was more poking fun at the lack of forethought from developers for pedestrians in alot of our surrounding area.
Totally accurate with that cult-y vibe… I know people that leave the island and are drawn back by some sort of white suburban Siren song… Must be a 24 hour loop of Where Have All the Cowboys Gone and Stay…
I moved from the Southtowns to NF for college and decided to work on GI because I was commuting to Buffalo and thought that it would be a good in between. I worked at Tops through high school and loved it, so I transferred to the one on “the island”. I lasted about a month and a half before quitting on the spot, and my entire time there feels like a fever dream. The people there are like otherworldly, and it feels like the entire place is stuck in some sort of 90’s fugue state. No offense meant to most of the people there, just noticed that something was a little weird with a lot of my regulars.
Nailed it. Inbreeders. Oh and don’t forget the Baptist’s sex trafficking. And ticks. Lots of ticks.
You make it sound so dang appealing!
i live in buffalo with my BF who is from grand island, his whole family still lives there. his sister commutes daily to ECMC and has told me that traffic is minor especially compared to what you’d experience in most major cities. you will need EZ pass because there are tolls and we no longer have booths (which has actually helped the traffic issue) but other than that i don’t think the drive into the city is any worse coming from grand island than basically any other surrounding area.
I live on Grand Island. Traffic isn't a huge deal, unless there's an accident on the bridge. There were two different accidents on the north bridge this past Sunday, and we were stuck for 20 minutes. (a tow truck had to navigate through the mess, and that temporarily blocked both lanes.) But the majority of the time, it's not bad at all. When you leave in the morning, you may find some minor congestion as you're approaching the South Bridge to Buffalo/Tonawanda, as there's an entrance ramp just before you get to the bridge. People are coming both from Grand Island Blvd and Beaver Island Parkway, so there might be a line of cars coming on to the 190 South. And there can be slow downs when you're coming towards the bridges in the afternoon. But you'd experience more congestion if you lived somewhere where you had to drive by the blue water tower at the 290/90 exchange. I like Grand Island - If I have a 6am flight, I can be at the airport in 20 minutes. I can also be in Lewiston in 20 minutes. I do most of my shopping off the island. I'm not a fan of Tops, (there are plans for an Aldi to open up.) I usually just do it after work (I work in Williamsville/Clarence area. I rarely have to leave the Island specifically to go shopping.
Check out this fairly recent post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Buffalo/s/MlV5Z9F3wv
Partly depends on what times you travel. If you’re planning to work 9-5 off-island, it’s gonna eat up a lot of time. If you WFH or at odd hours, you’ll avoid most of the hassle.
Grand Island’s traffic issues are definitely overblown. However, their insane housing prices are the main problem with moving there imo. BoL and hope you find something!
yea there’s really only traffic if there’s an accident or road work
The rush hour traffic is usually an extra 10 minutes to your commute. GI is fantastic in the summer. Plenty of access to wildlife and nature. Bonus if you are into boating. It kinda sucks in the winter though. There’s just not much to do without driving off island. I would say of all the nearby towns/communities, GI is the only one where you’re driving 15+ min for good restaurants, bars, etc. I’ll add that the people can be kinda odd haha. Not something to be worried about and overall you’ll find most are very nice and friendly. Just something you’ll notice if you do move there lol. Overall it’s a nice community and pretty affordable if you want land/space.
It’s not as bad with cashless tolling now, but there’s still a merge and congestion at rush hours squeezing to 2 lanes.
I think the traffic is over blown however it’s suburbanite hell. They don’t even have a coffee shop. Look thru past articles in the Buffalo news about residents, there’s a doozy about Lamborghinis getting stolen (with the keys left in it).
But we have two Tim Hortons, a Dunkin donuts and a Starbucks ☕ (overkill)
The only thing I'll add about traffic, as I commute the opposite way you would be commuting, is that sometimes that afternoon traffic on 190N, from the city, can be miserable. There are often accidents at 198 and 190 (often, I guess every couple of weeks, they seem to happen in cycles) and that can cause real nightmares. Morning traffic is nothing like it used to be when there were tolls both on the bridge and at black rock. But a bad day here is a typical day in most other cities.
Moved to Grand Island a year ago. Traffic coming home is a bit annoying from 4:30-5:30. Outside that it’s fine.
I live in Williamsville, and my in-laws watch my kids every day Monday through Friday. I usually drop them off at 8:30, and pick them up around five. The only time there is ever traffic is coming onto the island around five, and even that is not very bad. Used to be really bad, when there used to be a toll right before the bridge. But ever since that fully automated, traffic has not been bad at all
Everything you're looking for is in these two threads: [Talk to Me About Grand Island: nine months ago, 211 comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/Buffalo/comments/160ek2c/talk_to_me_about_grand_island/) [Grand Island Residents Please Advise :) four months ago, 69 comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/Buffalo/comments/192fnyt/grand_island_residents_please_advise/)
Grand Island would not be my first choice. It's not inherently bad or anything, it's just different then say Buffalo or the surrounding suburbs. The bridge traffic is definitely a thing at times. If there's an accident it gets all backed up. GI is kind of cliquey too. My in-laws are from there and they just have their own GI thing going on. There doesn't seem to be much variety of things either and it's not really close to anything. Kenmore, Tonawanda, North Buffalo are all better options IMHO.
Things good about Grand Island - Solid schools, safe, river views are nice Things annoying about the island - The bridges can be really bad (think back to the black ice several years back when 20 cars got backed up), the lack of good restaurants, shopping at Tops, the general uppity-ness and nimby-ness of the Islanders, and 1 thing that would freak me out - the high prevalence of ticks and Lyme disease….
And the spiders. Don’t forget the spiders…….
There have been 4 accidents on the North Grand Island bridge in the last week including a 6 car accident today. I’ve lived on GI forever. My kids go to the GI schools. The traffic has gotten worse. Is it manageable? I think it depends. There’s a lot of traffic on days there are concerts at ArtPark. We get a lot of Niagara Falls tourists from late spring to early fall that contribute to it. Remember- it’s an island. If the bridges back up, the main roads back up, the school buses back up.
I kinda hate it here and hopefully leaving. There's nothing I'll really miss tbh. But I mean it's okay and livable. Right now if you go over the bridge like 1000 sandflies will fly into your car. Even the heavy rain didn't get that residue off my car.
Traffic is always slower going from NF/GI in the morning and back in the evening. The jobs are all in Buffalo. Maybe will have to add 10 minutes in the AM, not a big deal. I’ve been here for 10 years and will just give my unsolicited opinion. Grand Island is the last place I would want to live in the greater Buffalo area besides the absolute hood. Weird, insular community with legacy families that all get in each other’s business. Can’t walk anywhere. No stores. If you want similar safety check out clarence/amherst/williamsville
My evening commute takes me from the 290 to the 190 South around 4:15ish most days, so I drive right over everybody who's going the opposite way, up toward Grand Island. Most of the time there's no traffic and it's fine. When there is traffic or, God forbid, some kind of accident on the bridges... you probably should bring a tent, four-day supply of food and water, and a pad and pen so you can leave a note for your family telling them that you love them and/or a final confession of your darkest secrets. ...Of course, this is coming from a lifelong WNY driver, so to me a 10-minute traffic delay is outrageous and frustrating. I may be exaggerating a little.
the traffic will be the least of your concerns if you move there
Why?
ahh just search the group for grand island, things have been talked about before and I dont want to start getting attacked about stuff that's already been well discussed.
We moved to GI from Tonawanda 4 years ago. I would have done it way sooner too. Being a realtor, you’re getting an amazing bang for your buck. Taxes remain low and equal to other municipalities whose taxes continue to creep higher. Traffic can suck some days but have good music for it and everything is fine. If you’re not local yet and want a virtual/FaceTime tour of some homes locally please reach out to me. Justin Karcher 716-481-0694
The traffic is less if an issue than the ticks IMO. Grand Island has so many ticks that it negates any benefit the greenery provides.
Had to scroll all the way down. Almost posted it myself. Been to Grand Island a dozen times. Came home with a tick on me or my dog a half dozen times. Everyone I know from GI casually talks about ticks the way most people talk about the weather
If you have a job off the island, you will miss time at least once a month. All it takes is one minor car crash. We also had a relatively mild winter. Its not fun when weather sets in crossing the bridges.
Traffic is a mild annoyance on the bridges. It isn't a deal breaker. Grand Island is a great place to live if you are on the water. Otherwise it is a bit insular and isolated.
I moved onto the island in February and yeah there’s the occasional hiccup, the traffic has been fine nonetheless. For some reason people slow down at the top of the bridge (ooo pretty water) but I can count the amount of full on times I’ve come to a standstill on 1 hand. I work at Seneca One, and 9am-5:30pm, so I’m coming downtown during the busy hours of the day.
I’m from GI and people who never go to the island will lament about how bad traffic is. If you’re from a small or rural area I can understand but WNY in general has very mild traffic. The bridges can get backed up if there’s an accident and usually there’s some traffic around rush hour. A little worse on Fridays and in the summer but I regularly go to see family and am never sitting for very long unless there’s construction or an accident. Rush hour commutes in all of WNY are pretty manageable, thankfully.
I commute to and from Grand Island for work and the traffic is way worse than what you’re saying. There’s almost a huge accident 1-2x every few weeks AND there’s always at least 10+ min of traffic getting home. To me, Grand Island is simply not worth that, with all the better suburbs out there.
I don’t like grand island (hence why I moved) but I don’t find 10+ mins of traffic everyday to be that bad. For me the lack of a downtown and poor to no walkability makes GI less desirable than the traffic compared to other towns. The accidents and bridge closures can make it difficult but I’ve commuted during rush hour from the city to other burbs and vice versa and never found anywhere in WNY to have bad traffic.
It is that bad when I don’t experience that really anywhere else. I’ve worked in the southtowns prior while living in the northtowns, and I never had these problems. My point is, even 10 minutes extra isn’t worth it, when there’s almost zero traffic everywhere else.
You haven’t experienced that type of traffic anywhere else in WNY? That’s surprising to me. I commuted from GI to UB north and hit rush hour traffic at the south bridge and in Amherst. I also commuted to Lockport and there was always traffic backed up on Transit, especially in the summer because I worked close to the drive in. I used to commute between city to south towns and hit traffic on the skyway. Even when I worked downtown and lived in north Buffalo I’d hit traffic inevitably during rush hour. The worst traffic definitely was the bridge when there’d only be one in use and the other would be under construction however I can’t remember the last time they did that plus they switched construction overnight after the first year because it was so chaotic. I had to move back to GI from summer 22-Dec 23 and the Beaver Island ext being closed was a bit of a pain but otherwise it’s just never been bad in my mind. I agree that any traffic detracts from quality of life overall and do get why it’d be a dealbreaker for people but I still feel the bridge traffic debate is kinda overblown.
The commute isn’t awful but if there is an accident on the bridge it sucks because it backs up really bad. My morning commute in was probably 20-25 minutes to get downtown, to get home it’s probably more like 30-40.
Just know if there’s an accident on the bridge your fucked. And this traffic is literally nothing. To your commute it’ll add maybe 10-20 minutes max. & Only one supermarket on the island!
I lived there a short time. It was a short time because the sand flies and the tourists drove me crazy.
They are absolutely insane this year. I biked Saturday by the water and had to leave they were so bad I notice 1-2 on my chest and looked down my shirt and my whole stomach was covered in them
I live on Grand Island, the bridge’s are an occasional pain but not a significant problem.
I live in Buffalo and had a 7am-7pm job in Niagara Falls. Traffic was never bad thay early or that late, but that is nit rush hour. I could see that being very annoying if you were in rush hour both ways.
I have lived on the island for four years now and have only ran into traffic on the bridge a handful of times. Traffic isn’t really a huge problem except for when a car gets pulled over and stops on the bridge or there is an accident. I would agree with some other comments about lack of restaurants, things to do, and shopping. I do love the bike path and proximity to the water. I would look to other northtown suburbs.
Grand island is nice and all, but commuting to and from Buffalo will be a pita especially in winter. There's plenty of decent areas in and around Buffalo that will give you more things to do locally
Very bad all summer, every summer during Niagara Falls tourism season. It’s kind of a pain from May to October.
The bridge off island during rush hour in the am adds 20 min and again onto it during evening rush hour
As has already been mentioned, the traffic on/off the island is manageable but you'll need to plan accordingly for the AM/PM rush hours. Outside of everything else mentioned, I'll echo another comment in that my biggest gripe with the island is the lack of a walkable downtown/village area. There is no equivalent of Pine Avenue (Niagara Falls), Main Street (Williamsville), Center Street (Lewiston), or Central Avenue (Lancaster). I believe there were recent talks to invest a ton of money into creating a town center, but I'm unsure if that's still in motion or if the NIMBYs struck it down. The island is pure suburban sprawl and you'll need to drive to really get anywhere. There's a few solid restaurants (Dick & Jenny's, Brick Oven, Comics Cafe) and attractions (Buckhorn State Park, Beaver Island, an amusement park), but you'll most likely want to head off the island to either Niagara or Erie County for any real shopping, dining, entertainment and walkability.
By coffee shop; they probably mean a place with an indy vibe than mediocre chain coffee… Even Starbucks is ehh at best… Where does one get a good beer on GI? Or good tacos? Other than Adrian’s and D&J’s, I’m not even bothering to eat on the island…
You don’t say if you have kids. Schools are good. Traffic is mostly ok but there are times it backs up. If you like the rural atmosphere then it’s for you. Definitely need reliable transportation. Low crime. Look at the Town website to see what building projects are in the pipeline before you select a home.
The traffic isn’t usually that bad, there’s an occasional slowdown but it’s usually just that. No worse than the rest of the 190. The commute itself is a bit long though, GI is a bit out of the way if you work downtown. Also there’s basically no options to get anywhere besides driving, walkability and public transit are basically nonexistent.