Commute from Bethesda or Silver Spring to Columbia? (Baltimore, Elkridge: private school, safe)

[dimitri1000]

Hi. We are thinking of moving to Bethesda or Silver Spring. My husband would be at the NIH and I'd be working in Columbia. Good public schools are extremely important, so we are leaning towards Bethesda (although I don't know much about Silver Spring schools yet).

What would the commute be like from either place to Columbia? I am hoping it is a reverse commute and would like to keep the drive to 30 minutes. Is 29 a congested route? Is that realistic? Thanks.

[7th Direction]

Originally Posted by dimitri1000

Hi. We are thinking of moving to Bethesda or Silver Spring. My husband would be at the NIH and I'd be working in Columbia. Good public schools are extremely important, so we are leaning towards Bethesda (although I don't know much about Silver Spring schools yet).

What would the commute be like from either place to Columbia? I am hoping it is a reverse commute and would like to keep the drive to 30 minutes. Is 29 a congested route? Is that realistic? Thanks.

Drive time between Silver Spring and Columbia is approximately 35-40 minutes and more from Bethesda. Of course, it depends where you are coming from in those two communities, it might take longer.

If you are going north on 29 in the morning and south in the evening, you will find you are going against the flow of heavy traffic, so it shouldn't be too congested.

[Joykins]

Drive time between Silver Spring and Bethesda is probably about 20-45 minutes in not-horrible rush hour situations, depending on where you are in Bethesda. You'd think Metro would be a better option, but on the red line you have to go all the way through the District first.

You can probably find something in Silver Spring (which is HUGE) that's about 1/2 hour each way--maybe Colesville?

[Marilyn Emery]

It is a reverse commute from Bethesda to Columbia. My husband used to commute from Kensington/Bethesda area to Baltimore in the morning and his drive was about 30-40 minutes. Schools in Bethesda area are wonderful. I am on the PTA for one of them if you want to "talk" send me an e-mail.

[laminmd]

I think the schools in Bethesda are preferable to the ones in Silver Spring and Columbia. As for the commute, I used to go from Bethesda to Elkridge to take my son to a private school, and I ended up driving north up Route 29 to the carpool meeting place at Burtonsville, about 1/2 way between 495 and Columbia. Most mornings, there would be a bit of a back up on 495 to the Colesville Rd/Route 29 exit, and then hardly any traffic to Burtonsville. I could usually do it in 20 - 25 minutes. (Occasionally, there would be an accident and it would take as much as 15 minutes more.) I'd say it's another 10 minutes from Burtonsville to Columbia, so on a good day you could get from Bethesda to Columbia in 35 minutes. Unfortunately, it takes longer doing the reverse commute in the afternoons/evenings due to the volume of traffic on the outer loop of the beltway between Route 29 and the Bethesda exits...and no matter what alternative routes you find to avoid the beltway back up you will run into traffic. I'd say to be safe plan on an hour to commute each way and be happy when you come in under. Hope this helps.