There are a number of activities that one is to avoid before davening. The main issues are eating, drinking, doing work, traveling,[2] and greeting people.[3] Each of these rules has exceptions, either due to need (e.g., one must greet a dangerous person[4]) or because a certain activity is too minor to be considered significant (e.g., drinking water[5]). It seems, however, that the rule is intrinsically more limited regarding traveling.
Indeed, if we were to understand the prohibition of traveling before davening too broadly, the halachot would end up being inconsistent, as traveling to shul is clearly not a bad thing to do. On the contrary, the Mishna Berura[6] writes that if there are two shuls in town, it is preferable that one go to the shul that is farther away so that he can be rewarded for the extra travel. Furthermore, consider the halacha that if there is a shul within eighteen minutes from one’s house, he is expected to go there to daven with a minyan, but he is not required to travel if it is farther away than that.[7] We do not find any statement that if the shul is more than eighteen minutes away, it is preferable to daven at home because of the prohibition to travel before davening. In fact, if there is no shul in town and one is in any case going to be traveling in the direction in which there is a shul, he should wait to daven until he gets there if it is less than 72 minutes away.[8] It therefore, seems that your traveling to shul, even if in a different town or part of town, is permitted.
One might claim that there is a distinction: While it is fine to travel before davening if the primary purpose of the traveling is to go to a shul, if one is traveling to a place for personal reasons and, secondarily, there also happens to be a shul there, the situation could be problematic. If so, we would have to consider how to categorize your case. On the one hand, you need to travel to the area irrespective of davening, so maybe the traveling is really for your work obligations. On the other hand, the reason that you would travel at an earlier time is in order to get to a minyan.
We can ostensibly prove that traveling is permitted in this complex scenario, based on the halacha noted above that one who is traveling anyway waits up to 72 minutes to daven with a minyan. We see from here that an hour-plus of traveling before davening is preferable to davening first without a minyan, even though one is making a trip primarily for his personal, non-davening purposes. According to Ohr L’Tziyon,[9] one might be able to deflect this proof, as he argues that it is only travel of at least 72 minutes that is problematic; accordingly, up to this distance the travel is fine and beyond this distance it is not only unnecessary, but also improper. However, assuming your commute is less than that, he too would permit and likely require you to travel to the minyan.
Therefore, our analysis indicates that traveling to another area before Shacharit so that one will be able to join a minyan is permitted and proper, even if that is not the only reason he is traveling. This is also the practice of many people.
The Shevet HaLevi[10] discusses a case in which an individual can daven with a minyan near home but is reluctant to do so because he will encounter significantly more traffic if he starts out later on. Instead, he would prefer to daven near his place of work, which is farther than 72 minutes away. The Shevet HaLevi recommends reciting Birchot HaShachar before traveling in this case, as the Rama[11] cites an opinion that the prohibition on travel does not apply after these berachot have been said. Although the Rama writes that it is “good to act stringently in the matter,” the Shevet HaLevi reasons that it is acceptable to be lenient in the event of need, and the ability to daven with a minyan is a valid need.
We argued above that in your case (where there is no option of a minyan before traveling and the minyan you wish to attend is presumably not that far away), it is appropriate to be lenient on fundamental grounds. Nevertheless, it is slightly preferable that you recite Birchot HaShachar before starting out, if this is not too difficult for you to arrange.