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Old 08-20-2012, 08:21 AM
 
121 posts, read 469,599 times
Reputation: 37

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Quote:
Originally Posted by NC211 View Post
It took me nearly 5 hours yesterday to get from DC to 295 in Richmond. It was painful! Radio guy said "typical Saturday traffic". So, I'd suspect some of that on Sunday is the return trips.
College move-in weekend for most of the VA universities. You also get "double" traffic with the kids who bring a car on campus and their parents driving the mini-van full of their stuff behind them.

VA schools are sought after for students from up north so you'll see plates from NY/NJ/PA and the new england states, not to mention all the kids going back to school in the Carolinas.
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Old 08-20-2012, 09:11 AM
 
Location: NC
1,225 posts, read 2,420,025 times
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Well first off 95 is the primary N/E corrider which is always busy. Then you throw in the summer months and its very congested.We tried to go to Fredricksburg last August and took like 2.5 hrs. Wait till after labor day when schools start.
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Old 08-20-2012, 10:58 AM
 
Location: DMV
10,125 posts, read 13,982,384 times
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Something that I haven't seen anyone mention in addition to what has already been said, but 95 gets tons of back ups just from rubber necking. Let there be a police officer out there, a police officer pulling someone over, or someone break down. Everyone and their mama will be looking to see what happens. That's one of the reasons why I believe the congestion is inconsistent. It will be slow one minute and then moving the next.
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Old 08-20-2012, 11:19 AM
 
48 posts, read 52,461 times
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I don't have a lot of experience with Sundays but I used to play music at a club in Ashland fairly frequently on Saturdays. I learned quickly to allow 5 hours for the drive from Alexandria. I've also learned that it can be quicker to take Rt. 1, through a few hundred traffic lights, south as far as Stafford then cut over to I-95, than to Take I-95 to Stafford. I think a lot of the reason is that weekday rush hours are in the morning and evening, but on weekends people are out doing things all day, so the rush hour lasts all day.
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Old 08-20-2012, 11:28 AM
 
979 posts, read 1,775,507 times
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I agree it's not just during the summer months. I lived in Woodbridge and have family in Virginia Beach, so I travel back and forth all the time, and Sunday traffic on 95 South from our area ALWAYS sucks. And yet, the HOV lanes are heading NORTH at that time...though, I suppose if they changed the HOV lane direction, the traffic would just get backed up heading north instead.
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Old 08-20-2012, 11:41 AM
 
248 posts, read 700,777 times
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Here's an easy solution: Make the drive back at an extremely late time such as 10pm or so on Sunday. Then you won't have to deal with any traffic at all.

That's what I do all the time when visiting my hometown on the weekend. Just drive when NO ONE wants to drive.
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Old 08-20-2012, 01:12 PM
 
18 posts, read 96,088 times
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No clue but it's annoying and the reason why I NEVER head south on the weekends unless it's VERY early in the AM.

I honestly don't know how folks in Woodbridge and beyond put up with the traffic everyday...
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Old 08-20-2012, 01:17 PM
 
Location: Fredericksburg, Va
5,404 posts, read 15,991,884 times
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Too many cars for the road to handle....it's a volume thing....and of course, the fender-benders that come with packed highways.
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Old 08-20-2012, 02:37 PM
 
12,905 posts, read 15,655,576 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 80sbabe View Post
No clue but it's annoying and the reason why I NEVER head south on the weekends unless it's VERY early in the AM.

I honestly don't know how folks in Woodbridge and beyond put up with the traffic everyday...

We learn to work around it. I have no issues unless I don't plan.

Like I said upthread--I go to Tyson's on Saturdays if I need to. I head north when it's early (9:30) and there's no traffic and I make sure I leave Tyson's no later than 2PM so that I can fly home on HOV while it's still running south. If I want to go out to dinner in Kingstowne, which I did last weekend, I wait until HOV points north on Saturday (after 3PM) and head north--no problems.

I generally stick around Woodbridge on Sundays; however, I have been know to hit the exchange at Quantico on Sunday and after the summer is over, I rarely have a problem traveling from Woodbridge to Quantico via 95.
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Old 08-21-2012, 06:58 AM
 
Location: Blacksburg, Va
55 posts, read 144,763 times
Reputation: 15
Yeah I was gonna do a short trip to Stafford coming from Arlington on Sunday and saw the backups and said forget it. I figure I need to do it early in the morning if I want to head south on a Sunday. Traffic not only wastes time but also gas so I try to avoid it if all possible.
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