What is it like to live in Calvert or Anne Arundel Cos and commute to downtown DC? (Baltimore: house)

[carlymac17]

We are moving to the area and feel the west and north burbs of DC are too congested/expensive. We wouldn't mind some property and can only find that in our price range in the east counties.

What would commute time be from Dunkirk or Edgewater?

Schools look pretty good.( We have middle and highschoolers) Is there a community feel or do people live out there to isolate themselves? If people don't work in DC, where DO they work? It doesn't look like there is much in the way of services or industry out there.

Is it logical to even consider those counties?

Pros and cons?

[North Beach Person]

Both areas are rural so you need to define "services". Over 60%, closer to 70%, of Calvert workers commute outside of the County for work. It's similar for southern Anne Arundel, although many there go towards Annapolis and Baltimore.

The commute from either can be smooth or a ball of snot. Calvert has only one road in and out, RTE 4, so an incident on it, which happens every ten days to two weeks, below Upper Marlboro ties traffic up for miles and miles.

Coming out of Anne Arundel is a bit better due to a couple alternate routes but not much if there's an incident.

The further south in Calvert you live the more choke points there are that slow traffic down, going to DC on Central Avenue (RTE 214) from Anne Arundel is similar.

[kcmo]

Edgewater/Annapolis is a pretty easy commute to Downtown DC, especially when compared to trying to commute from nearly any other direction. That is unless you were to live close to a Metro/MARC/VRE line.

For example 270, 66, 95 etc are all much more congested than 50. Annapolis, Severna Park etc has good coach express bus service to Downtown DC. You can also drive to New Carolton and take Metro.

I would stay away from the rural parts of AA County (anything south of Edgewater). The roads just can't handle the volume of traffic and it can really tack on a lot of extra time to commute on those two lane country roads. Not to mention they are dangerous. If you want rural, Davidsonville is the best option due to easy access to 50.

[slowlane3]

It depends greatly on WHAT PART of downtown D.C. you work in. Commuting from that direction to Capitol Hill, Navy Yard, or L'enfant Plaza.....is MUCH easier than commuting to the western part of downtown such as Dupont Circle, Farragut Square, or West End/ Foggy Bottom where you will have to crawl literally inching along thru a couple more miles of gridlocked downtown congestion, twice a day.

I agree that the highways from Annapolis are less congested than from other directions - but I would still NOT say it's an "easy commute" to D.C. - at least during rush-hour. I guess it's all relative. Route 4 can be a madhouse of scary, fast-zooming traffic, with no alternative routes if the road is blocked by an emergency.

Information and maps of the commuter busses for Southern MD, are on this link http://mta.maryland.gov/commuter-bus . To see a detailed timetable of a specific route, look at the overall Map, and then enter the bus route number in the search box.

Calvert County also has a very high participation in Van pools, which pickup at designated commuter lots. Information on ride-sharing is on this site http://www.mwcog.org/commuter2

Calvert County is very attractive aesthetically, as the shopping areas are set back off of Route 4 in designated "town centers." Things are rather spread out, with many large "estate homes." The town of "Chesapeake Beach / North Beach" has more of a town feel to it. The public schools in both Calvert and Anne Arundel are excellent, and there are also parochial elementary schools and the private "Calverton School".

You are correct about the lack of industry of employment center out that way. The few major ones are Joint Base Andrews, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power plant. In a nutshell, employment centers are extremely unalanced around the Washington suburbs/ exurbs, with most of them to the north and west of D.C., and very few to the east and southeast.

[carlymac17]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

It depends greatly on WHAT PART of downtown D.C. you work in. Commuting from that direction to Capitol Hill, Navy Yard, or L'enfant Plaza.....is MUCH easier than commuting to the western part of downtown such as Dupont Circle, Farragut Square, or West End/ Foggy Bottom where you will have to crawl literally inching along thru a couple more miles of gridlocked downtown congestion, twice a day.

About a mile north of Capitol Hill. Basically right off 50, so that would be convenient.

[ZomZom]

I live in Davidsonville (the first exit in AA county on 50 outbound). I leave my house at 6:10am to be at my office in Chinatown by 7am. It is very consistent. I used to live in Fairfax, VA and compared to the hell that is 66, 50 is heaven.