Traffic really that bad?
 

A longtime resident has told me he's moving out because the traffic has increased dramatically to the point that he cant stand it. Is it really that bad?

Depends on what the definition of "bad" is.

Winter months when the Snowbirds arrive, it is pretty busy here in The Villages and you have to adjust your schedules slightly if you want to golf or go to a restaurant for dinner. We have some aggressive driving here but no more or no less than in any city with 100,000 Plus in population.

Where is he moving to?

I agree, not any worse than other cities and it also depends on where you are coming from. After southern CA, even the winter months traffic is easier than it was on the west coast.

You may have to adjust your driving times in the high season, but so does everyone else, even the seasonal residents. With more people and more stores, comes more people and more cars....from our community and surrounding areas. The Villages isn't that sleepy little place out in the middle of Florida surrounded by grazing land, it is an alive, vibrant, active community, but easy to navigate, and we are fortunate, we can use cars or golf carts to get around...and some days, it is easier in a cart... ;)

I don't think traffic would be the only reason someone would leave The Villages - I do; however, believe it could be a contributing factor. I also agree it is no worse than any other city with 100k population - but lots of folks don't want to deal with that either anymore.

I'm from the NY/NJ area so this is not 'bad" traffic for me. Besides this means it is an active, healthy and vibrant community - I would rather have that than a sleepy, dead/dying and economically fragile community putting my home investment at risk.

NO, it is not.
Whoever it is that is telling you that has an altogether different ax to grind and is not so eager to tell you.

Or they just had a bad experience (they may or may not have caused) and it was just emotion talking.

Busy in the winter months? Duhhhhh....YES!

Busy in the summer months? Depends where you are from and what one calls "busy".

TV is easier getting around at any time of year than any city of comparable size.

Just shake the shorts or skirt and get the bug out and the outlook will clear.

Bill is right once again. It is worse in the high season, with drivers unfamiliar with how to get to places and with roundabouts, and it is worse after five with the two-rers being consumed around town and there are different expectations too. Such as Ohio people expect others to stop at stop signs and traffic lights and have maybe used their horns four or five times in their whole lives.

Not bad at all, even in season, compared to South Florida, Phoenix, New York, or Chicago, the places I've lived.

I like finding side roads that less known

I grew up in Boston and have lived in several large cities - Atlanta, Las Vegas, et al. Short answer - not even close.

Grew up in central NJ. You want traffic go there!

There are a lot of slow drivers that can back things up a bit, but if you could not see where you were going; you would hopefully drive slow too ...

While there are 100K residents, a lot of those do not use their car much (many use their carts more).

If you moved here 15-20 years ago (as we did), it sucks now days!! We would NEVER have moved here if we knew then that the greedy developer was going to keep adding and adding.