commute from fairfax to bethesda (Arlington, Burke: house, transfer, private school)

[boodjit]

my husband will be transferred to bethesda, md. however, we are thinking of living in northern virginia because of its excellent high schools. can anyone tell me about the commute from burke, fairfax, or falls church to bethesda using the metro?

[memiller]

The interesting thing about a Falls Church/Bethesda commute is that it's shorter by car than it is by train. To take the train from Falls Church, you'd have to take the orange line to metro center and change to the red line to bethesda. If you can imagine pie piece. Falls Church is the lower corner, Bethesda the upper corner. The drive would be going around the arc. The train ride would be going to the pie point and back out again. The short distance from Falls Church to Bethesda isn't terrible by car. I did it in reverse for a while and it was mostly fine. From Burke and Fairfax, your proximity to the metrorail is limited.

[claremarie]

Bethesda and the surrounding communities have excellent public and private high schools. (There are many more private school choices in and near Bethesda than in northern Virginia, if that is an option for your family). You will not necessarily be getting a "better" high school by living in Fairfax County, but you will certainly be getting a longer commute.
The previous poster is correct that it's much quicker to drive than to take Metro between northern Virginia and Bethesda. I drive from McLean to Bethesda every day during the school year, mostly on the GW Parkway and the Beltway, and it takes about 20 minutes at, except during the worst rush hour periods (say, from 5:30-7 pm), when it takes closer to 40 minutes.

[metclubin]

I live in Falls Church near Tysons Corner and commute to Bethesda. Driving is much better than Metro. I leave around 9am and 20 minutes I am at work. Recently, one lane on the bridge is closed that adds another 5 minutes.
Evenings it all depends on what time you leave. The bottleneck at I-270 spur can be bad. It can easily take 30 - 40 mins worst case commute back to Falls Church.

[jb124]

I live in Arlington (Ballston) and had an assignment in Bethesda for 2 weeks in July; going to work it took about 25 mins (leaving around 8:15), coming home it took about 45 mins (leaving around 4:45).

[boodjit]

Can anyone tell me about the commute from Manassas, Bristow, or Haymarket going to Bethesda,MD?

[ZorroRojo]

I live in Woodbridge and work in Bethesda. It takes me between 1 hour and an hour and a half to get to work or to go home in the afternoon. I usually leave aroung 6:15 or 6:30AM so I am sure it is worse after that.

Manassas is a little further West and so I would think it would take at least the same amount of time to go from Manassas to Bethesda if not more time.

In any case unless you really like spending time in traffic you won't like the commute and an accident on your route can cause major delays.

[irisheyes13]

I did the Burke to Bethesda thing for about 8 months. I drove a good portion of the time, left my house at 6:15 and arrived between 50-60 minutes later. I only drove though because I often needed my car during the day. When I could, I took the metro and as everyone said, it was longer (about 1 hour 15minutes) but so much more relaxing. The metro was a much easier commute at the end of the day unless I was out of the office by 3. We loved Burke though so it was worth the commute for me.

[notfromDC]

Driving to Bethesda from Fairfax is a nightmare while on 66. Your commute time will largely depend on what exit you enter 66 and the time you leave. Tuesday is the worst traffic day if you have to be anywhere by 9 AM. A morning drive to the Beltway (495) via 66 could take 30 minutes to an hour on a good day with no incidents. That's not including another 15 to 20 minutes on the Beltway to Bethesda. Coming home is worse because not only do you have traffic on the Beltway you have to fight the traffic on 66 again. It's just not worth it to live that far from work if you have a choice. Bethesda is a lovely area. It's a great place to raise a family, has multiple choices of restraunts and entertainment venues and the public schools are highly recommended. Also some other things you have to think about, in VA you have to pay personal property taxes on vehicles every year. You do not have this tax in MD. And VA residents will now incur an additional fee for traffic violations such as violating the HOV or speeding which can run up to an additional $2500 plus regular fee of the ticket.
However, Fairfax has the best grocery stores in the area;Wegman's,Whole Foods, Harris Teeter.
But the commute is not worth the time and frustration spent on 66.