Silver Spring vs. Bethesda in terms of commuting to Baltimore? (College Park: lease, college)

[Bruins21]

I'm currently living in Baltimore, assigned here for a job. I was previously living in DC, and am planning to move closer to the District when my lease is up here in a few months. As much as I'd love to live in DC itself, I know getting out of the city in the morning would add significantly to a commute. I am therefore looking at Silver Spring or Bethesda.

My question, what would the commute time to Baltimore be like from Silver Spring vs. Bethesda? As I understand it, commuting from Bethesda is worse because you have to deal with the beltway, vs. Silver Spring where you have 95 right there. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[ksmoe]

Silver spring may be closer to you to get into Baltimore downtown. If you are still a few months away from ending your job assignment, you may want to consider other location like laurel or college park.

[CHIP72]

Silver Spring would probably be much better in terms of the commute, even though the commute would be only about 5 miles shorter.

[JackSpade]

The traffic between bethesda and silver spring is not too bad in the morning. If you live in Bethesda, take the east-west highway to silver spring and catch 95 that way instead of via conn ave or wisconsin.

[dkf747]

When did 95 get extended to Silver Spring? 95 went to Beltsville and College Park last I heard.

[JackSpade]

ah good catch dkf747, I tend to lump 95 and the beltway together. my bad

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by JackSpade

ah good catch dkf747, I tend to lump 95 and the beltway together. my bad

No problem. Couldn't resist posting it. Anyways, there is US 29 to commute from Silver Spring to Baltimore.

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by dkf747

When did 95 get extended to Silver Spring? 95 went to Beltsville and College Park last I heard.

I-95 needs to be extended to Washington DC(connect to I-395/3rd Street Tunnel) to take the Interstate Traffic Off the Beltway............

[laurelengineer]

Originally Posted by $mk8795

I-95 needs to be extended to Washington DC(connect to I-395/3rd Street Tunnel) to take the Interstate Traffic Off the Beltway............

That was the original plan. Takoma Park fought it, successfully. It's probably for the better. Large highways have a tendency to divide cities, such that one part grows at the expense of the other. See central artery in Boston, for example. The geographic concentration of jobs (i.e. in NOVA and Western MoCo) is the biggest single source of traffic on the beltway. But good luck getting all the large Jurisdictions to work together to compromise on this.

-LE

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by $mk8795

I-95 needs to be extended to Washington DC(connect to I-395/3rd Street Tunnel) to take the Interstate Traffic Off the Beltway............

I definitely agree, but from the looks of it, it will never happen.