Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just looking into some prospective neighborhoods for my college buddies and I to move to, while splitting our commutes to work.
If I left DC about 5:30am for Columbia and left Columbia around 5pm, what kind of traffic patterns would I encounter? What routes should I look into? Any success stories?
My roommates would be commuting to the Herndon/Reston, VA areas... Any insight on that kind of commute would be great, too.
I know it's a pretty broad question but the more responses the better -- Thanks in advance!
I live in downtown Bethesda (one stop north of Friendship Heights) and worked in Columbia for about 2 years. It's an easy commute, more distance than traffic, because you're going away from the main traffic flow which is into DC. I usually took i95 in the morning and then 29 coming home with very little resistance, relatively speaking. The most traffic you'll hit is on the beltway and then Connecticut Avenue if you end up taking that. For Connecticut Ave, most of my traffic would be from construction more so than people heading into DC in the evening. On Thurs/Fri, you may hit more traffic heading into the city around that time.
Thanks swishplace, ideally I'd like to move into downtown Bethesda, but that'd be a pain to go West... into the Reston, VA area.. correct?
And JBPisah, I was seeing if anyone had any initial advice. Of course I'll try it myself, eventually, but I'm looking for "Definitely do-able" or "avoid at all costs" kind of responses.
Thanks swishplace, ideally I'd like to move into downtown Bethesda, but that'd be a pain to go West... into the Reston, VA area.. correct?
And JBPisah, I was seeing if anyone had any initial advice. Of course I'll try it myself, eventually, but I'm looking for "Definitely do-able" or "avoid at all costs" kind of responses.
northern virginia traffic is what gives this area it's reputation. i worked in chantilly a while back commuting from bethesda and it was unpleasant to say the least. i imagine reston is probably unpleasant as well, plus i think you need to pay tolls which should only add to the slow down.
If you leave at 5:30 am, you should be fine. Even the Beltway isn't that jammed that early. If it is, I would suggest heading east, through the park, and head up 16th St towards Colesville Rd (29). Like swish said, you'll be reverse commuting on 29 and it should be a breeze up to Columbia. In the afternoon, I would avoid the Beltway and take 29 back down, hop on 16th and jump through the park back to Friendship Heights. I would suggest the BW Parkway but that would a bit out of your way.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
