Job at FDA - Moving near Mt Airy? (Columbia, Silver Spring: to rent, home)

[mrtwister]

Hello all,

I've read quite a bit about various places to live in and around the silver springs area.

I'm concerned about traffic. I imagine the beltway, and all interestates going to Balt. Including in and out of DC will be very busy. What are the actual "rush hours"? 7-9am and 4-6pm? Or is it always incredibly busy with traffic?

I've found places to rent in and around the Mt Airy region that I like. Is MD97 and MD650 (new hampshire) a busy route? If so which parts are " busy" and what type of time frames would you estimate to and from the FDA from Mt Airy?

I have a vehicle, but Ive looked into various forms of transportation...It doesn't look there are any good spots to catch metro etc. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Ive also done some google mapping to estimate travel times. They are saying around 50mins. Does this include traffic? For ppl who live in the area, how accurate is this or google maps in general at estimating your drive times??

Thx!!!

[tarheel_indc]

The Mt Airy area is pretty, but I think the commute (~40 miles each way) to the FDA would be too long for most people, unless you can work from home several days per week.

New Hampshire Ave gets a lot of traffic. The morning is not too bad (before 8), but the evening will be slow anytime after 4PM. If you like the Mt Airy area, I would consider Frederick. I know that it is farther away, but there is a bus route from Frederick to the FDA - I think it is route 204. You will still have a long commute, but at least you are not driving.

[troymclure]

I don't think the commute from Mt. Airy to Silver Spring will be that bad, traffic-wise. You could take 70->-97->New Hampshire. None of those roads will have much traffic, except maybe New Hampshire as you get closer to Silver Spring. But it will be long - I'd guess a little over an hour each way.

DC rush hour lasts from 6:30 am to 9:30 am and 3:30pm to 7pm, but you wouldn't be hitting real rush hour traffic (Beltway, 270, etc.) There's no train that far out. There might be some kind of van-pool or rideshare. I'm surprised there might be a bus form Frederick to FDA, but that's going to add another 25 minutes each way.

Is there a reason you want to live in Mt. Airy. What about some place closer, like Columbia?

[Mr Beco]

Originally Posted by mrtwister

Hello all,

I've read quite a bit about various places to live in and around the silver springs area.

I'm concerned about traffic. I imagine the beltway, and all interestates going to Balt. Including in and out of DC will be very busy. What are the actual "rush hours"? 7-9am and 4-6pm? Or is it always incredibly busy with traffic?

I've found places to rent in and around the Mt Airy region that I like. Is MD97 and MD650 (new hampshire) a busy route? If so which parts are " busy" and what type of time frames would you estimate to and from the FDA from Mt Airy?

I have a vehicle, but Ive looked into various forms of transportation...It doesn't look there are any good spots to catch metro etc. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Ive also done some google mapping to estimate travel times. They are saying around 50mins. Does this include traffic? For ppl who live in the area, how accurate is this or google maps in general at estimating your drive times??

Thx!!!

Is ALL busy durning peak driving times, rush hour. New Hampshire aint pretty either.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by Barry Rock

Is ALL busy durning peak driving times, rush hour. New Hampshire aint pretty either.

New Hampshire Avenue is way too narrow in many places to be a good commuter route. Route 97 (Georgia Avenue) has a one-lane kink in it at Brookeville to slow things down further. I encourage the OP to find some place closer to the FDA, like Columbia, Laurel or Clarksville.

If the OP really wants to live in Mt Airy, then the best route is I-70 to Route 32 to Route 29, to New Hampshire at White Oak. Google maps shows it as 47 minutes, but you should double that estimate for a bad day.

[mrtwister]

Hey guys

Reason for Mt Airy is I like more of my privacy. I don't want to rent an apt that's right beside someone else in DC. Its also what is available and meets my budget. From looking at google maps the drive down new Hampshire and 97 looks really beautiful.

I hear conflicting advice though.? First two are saying it should be an OK drive just a bit longer (maybe 45 min to hour?) Whereas last comment suggests longer??

[Leliko]

Hi,
I accidentally stumbled upon this forum and just registered my account with the sole purpose to reply to your post
So here is my response:
I live in North Bethesda/Rockville area and work in Rockville (near Shady Grove). My commute to work is northbound and 10-12 minutes via I-270, plus it's against traffic and enjoyable. On the contrast, my colleague lives and drives from Mount Airy. She hates her commute. She usually arrives at the office at 7-7:30am and tries to leave by 4pm. She says it takes her 50 minutes if she leaves shortly after 6am.
I, on the other hand, would not have been able to leave my home every day around 6am. No way. My alarm goes on at 6:30am and I needn't be in the office earlier than 8am. I can also leave anytime after 5pm and still get home in 10-12 minutes, while she will need 1.5 hours to get home if she leave the office after 5pm.
And we don't even work in Silver Spring.
Good luck with your arrangements! I would suggest to look closer to FDA though. Someone said Columbia, look in that area.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by mrtwister

I hear conflicting advice though.? First two are saying it should be an OK drive just a bit longer (maybe 45 min to hour?) Whereas last comment suggests longer??

It's good to see the comment from Leliko who says 50 minutes for Mt Airy to Rockville. What I meant by a bad day would be snow or icy rain, accidents or construction-- then it could be realistic to say 1.5 hours or more. This is based on my 30 years of commuting in the metro DC area. If you decide on Mt Airy, I still recommend using I-70 to Route 32 to Route 29, rather than Georgia Avenue.

[troymclure]

Originally Posted by Leliko

Hi,
I accidentally stumbled upon this forum and just registered my account with the sole purpose to reply to your post
So here is my response:
I live in North Bethesda/Rockville area and work in Rockville (near Shady Grove). My commute to work is northbound and 10-12 minutes via I-270, plus it's against traffic and enjoyable. On the contrast, my colleague lives and drives from Mount Airy. She hates her commute. She usually arrives at the office at 7-7:30am and tries to leave by 4pm. She says it takes her 50 minutes if she leaves shortly after 6am.
I, on the other hand, would not have been able to leave my home every day around 6am. No way. My alarm goes on at 6:30am and I needn't be in the office earlier than 8am. I can also leave anytime after 5pm and still get home in 10-12 minutes, while she will need 1.5 hours to get home if she leave the office after 5pm.
And we don't even work in Silver Spring.
Good luck with your arrangements! I would suggest to look closer to FDA though. Someone said Columbia, look in that area.

This is really comparing apples to oranges. The number of people commuting from Mt Airy to places in Montgomery County (Germantown, Gaithersburg, Rockville) is far greater than the number going to Silver Spring. And, there's really only two direct routes from Mt Airy to these places - 27 or Clarksburg Road. Plus, if you're going to Rockville, at some point you will have to get on either 270 or 355 - both parking lots at rush hour.

It's just not a good comparison to the OP's situation.

[troymclure]

Originally Posted by mrtwister

Hey guys

Reason for Mt Airy is I like more of my privacy. I don't want to rent an apt that's right beside someone else in DC. Its also what is available and meets my budget. From looking at google maps the drive down new Hampshire and 97 looks really beautiful.

I hear conflicting advice though.? First two are saying it should be an OK drive just a bit longer (maybe 45 min to hour?) Whereas last comment suggests longer??

I stand by my original comments. For my daily commute, I've driven the stretch of New Hampshire from Sundown to Ednor, and there's just not that much traffic. True, it's one lane both ways, but traffiic does move. And, you'd be getting on New Hampshire before the kink in Brookeville that another poster mentioned. Now, I can't vouch for New Hampshire south of Ednor, but it's not that much further to Silver Spring from there.

In theory, route 32 and 29 would be much faster; however, unless you leave early enough to beat rush hour, they get pretty jammed.