Commute Silver Spring to Owings Mill? (Baltimore, College Park: travel, home, college)

[Leo2708]

Hi,
Does anyone have any advice on the commute from Silver Spring (near Colesville Rd and Georgia Ave) to Owings Mills? Any shortcuts or ways to avoid highway traffic?
Is public transportation definitely out the of picture?

Thanks

[CHIP72]

I'm pretty sure public transportation is LARGELY out of the picture, though you could use either MARC Washington-Baltimore line (Camden or Penn) to get to Baltimore from DC (or College Park or Greenbelt in the case of the Camden Line), then use the Baltimore light rail to a spot where you easily walk to a Baltimore subway stop (like Lexington Market), then use the subway all the way out to Owings Mills (the last stop on the line).

As for driving, I'd guess either I-95 (plus both the Washington and Baltimore beltways) or US 29 (in which you'd still need to get from I-70 to Owings Mills) would be your best bets.

[cmacf1]

You could avoid the DC beltway (and should by all means try to avoid it) by going north on Route 29 all the way up to Route 70, east on 70, then north for a few miles on the Baltimore beltway to Owings Mills. You may also need to go on Route 795 (depending where in Owings Mills you need to go.) Once you get to the north end of route 29, there is no easy short cut to get to Owings Mills (that I know of.)

The only part of this route that I used to commute was the Baltimore beltway part. It could be stop and go or totally clear on the morning commute. There was rarely a rhyme or reason for the holdup, but it wasn't always bad. I was usually traveling on that part of the highway about 8:15. Coming home around 4:30 or 5:00, that part of the beltway was nearly always stop and go.

[CHIP72]

Yeah, I think the southwestern part of the Baltimore Beltway between I-70 and I-95 is probably the worst section, though it seems like from the times I've driven on that Beltway during/near rush hour the section near I-70 and north of there is a problem at times.