[s-cars] LAC: Need Advice From Boston Area Listers

[Kent McLean]

Brian Powell wrote:
 > Having just returned from my research cruise in the middle of the
 > sea-ice of the Weddell Sea of Antarctica, I am contemplating accepting
 > a joint position at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute/MIT.

Do it.

 > My questions for the area listers: Where on Cape Cod would be the best
 > (read most reasonably priced) place to live for 1 year?

You can get lots of places cheap for 9 months of the year; the
off season.  I'm not sure full year lease anywhere on the Cape
will be reasonably priced.  You might be better off looking
across the bridge, on the mainland -- Plymouth, Wareham, Marion.
Get a sea kayak and enjoy the commute across Buzzards Bay.

 > Does this make
 > for reasonable occasional commute to Cambridge (MIT)?

No. Not even close. From Bourne, the first town on the Cape
(and about 20 miles from WHOI), it's about 65 miles to MIT;
that's going up Rte 3, one of the only routes into the city
from the South Shore. You'll be on the road with 20,000[1] of
your closest friends.  Have you heard the term, "Boston
Driver"?  Do you know what a "beater" car is?

 > Do I have to
 > love the Red Sox and hate the Yankees

You don't have to, but you'll come to realize it's not
just baseball, but a metaphor for life -- Good vs. Evil.

 > Finally, as far as Audi content, would the Boston cronies
 > be better than my current CO s-car mafia?

Definitely.  We'll call a dinner at John Harvard's when
you get here.

--
Kent McLean
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy" up in smoke

[1] 
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:8r3FSlJe6tQJ:www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS/REPTS_TE/8CN01!.PDF+boston+traffic+southeast+expressway+%22traffic+count%22&hl=en
This was a study done in 1986.  It hasn't gotten better.
Quoting:
The Southeast Expressway is a six-lane, 8.3 mile segment of
Interstate highway (I-93) which extends from Boston south to
Route 128 (see Figure 2-1). The Expressway provides the only
major highway link to the rapidly developing southeastern
regions of Massachusetts. The facility was designed and constructed
in the late 1950s to carry an estimated 75,000 vehicles per day. In
1983, the MDPW reported that the Expressway had surpassed 160,000
vehicles in daily volume. On an average weekday, morning peak
period traffic between 6:00 and 9:00 AM reached 29,000 vehicles,
with 19,000 or 66 percent northbound and 10,000 or 34 percent
southbound. Evening volumes peaked at a slightly higher 32,000
vehicle average between 3:00 and 6:00 PM, but with a less
pronounced directional split of 20,000 or 62 percent southbound
and 12,000 or 38 percent northbound.