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Old 11-09-2017, 01:46 PM
 
6 posts, read 5,012 times
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Hi,

I am relocating from Ohio to Alexandria with my wife and 1-year-old daughter . I will be visiting Alexandria soon.

1. How is the area near Alexandria Amtrak station? Meaning, is it secured to walk to the station?
2. Does anybody know if you can park for free near the station?
3. I found a few apartments online to live that are on King Street, North or South Kings Highway and Duke Street. On Google maps, it says as 15 minutes to the station from those places. During rush hour, are those really 15 minutes commute? Can they go as bad as 45 minutes? I want to know if it is that serious of a traffic issue.


We went to Elkridge, BWI, and Gaithersburg areas 2 weekends ago. But, the places we would have to live were more than 20 minutes drive to the Amtrak stations. To work in DC, I would spend more than 1 hour 30 minutes in travel. So, I thought Alexandria, though expensive, will save time to reach the Amtrak station.

Let me know your opinions friends. Thanks!
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Old 11-09-2017, 01:55 PM
 
89 posts, read 81,330 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dino73 View Post
Hi,

I am relocating from Ohio to Alexandria with my wife and 1-year-old daughter . I will be visiting Alexandria soon.

1. How is the area near Alexandria Amtrak station? Meaning, is it secured to walk to the station?
2. Does anybody know if you can park for free near the station?
3. I found a few apartments online to live that are on King Street, North or South Kings Highway and Duke Street. On Google maps, it says as 15 minutes to the station from those places. During rush hour, are those really 15 minutes commute? Can they go as bad as 45 minutes? I want to know if it is that serious of a traffic issue.


We went to Elkridge, BWI, and Gaithersburg areas 2 weekends ago. But, the places we would have to live were more than 20 minutes drive to the Amtrak stations. To work in DC, I would spend more than 1 hour 30 minutes in travel. So, I thought Alexandria, though expensive, will save time to reach the Amtrak station.

Let me know your opinions friends. Thanks!
I'm assuming you want to use the King St Metro (subway) and not the Amtrak. Metro is all over Northern Virginia if you are looking for places near one, just depends on budget. There are garages near the end of each metro line, but not really any parking near King St
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Old 11-09-2017, 02:07 PM
 
6 posts, read 5,012 times
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Thanks for clearing about the parking. Amtrak commute is free for me. I want to utilize that.
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Old 11-09-2017, 07:49 PM
 
9,719 posts, read 13,506,496 times
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Where are you commuting to, once you get to the station? I am assuming you mean the station that is right near the Masonic Temple. I don't live there, but I think it is a safe area, albeit expensive. You won't find free parking nearby.
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Old 11-09-2017, 10:15 PM
 
6 posts, read 5,012 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spencgr View Post
Where are you commuting to, once you get to the station? I am assuming you mean the station that is right near the Masonic Temple. I don't live there, but I think it is a safe area, albeit expensive. You won't find free parking nearby.
I will be working in DC. My work hours are 8 AM to 5 PM EST. I get a free Amtrak pass to work. I wanted to be close to DC and go to work only through Amtrak.
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Old 11-10-2017, 05:35 AM
 
Location: Central Virginia
6,303 posts, read 7,933,135 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dino73 View Post
1. How is the area near Alexandria Amtrak station? Meaning, is it secured to walk to the station?
It's a very safe area. You should have no concerns about walking in the area.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dino73 View Post
2. Does anybody know if you can park for free near the station?
The station itself has about 8-10 parking spaces, but they fill up early. You would be lucky to find an available spot at 7:00am. Other than that, there is no free parking. Street parking on the neighboring residential streets, although "free" is limited to 2-hour time limits with the risk of being towed for exceeding the limit (unless you're a resident in that district and have a permit). Parking on King Street is metered. There is a parking garage on Diagonal Road - of course, that's a daily cost.

Some apartment complexes offer a free shuttle to/from the metro as an amenity. See if that's available in the complexes you're considering. If not, it may be worth considering paying a couple hundred more for an apartment that does offer a shuttle.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dino73 View Post
3. I found a few apartments online to live that are on King Street, North or South Kings Highway and Duke Street. On Google maps, it says as 15 minutes to the station from those places. During rush hour, are those really 15 minutes commute? Can they go as bad as 45 minutes? I want to know if it is that serious of a traffic issue.
Yes, you're looking at about 15-20 minute typical commute from those locations.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dino73 View Post
I will be working in DC. My work hours are 8 AM to 5 PM EST. I get a free Amtrak pass to work. I wanted to be close to DC and go to work only through Amtrak.

If your office is at or within walking distance to Union Station, you will need to take another mode of transportation. Also, have you looked at the train schedule? The earliest Amtrak train arrives at Union Station is 8:15am.

Unless you're mistaking the VRE train for the Amtrak train....

Last edited by HokieFan; 11-10-2017 at 05:58 AM..
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Old 11-10-2017, 05:14 PM
 
Location: Green Country
2,815 posts, read 2,576,183 times
Reputation: 4567
Quote:
Originally Posted by dino73 View Post
Hi,

I am relocating from Ohio to Alexandria with my wife and 1-year-old daughter . I will be visiting Alexandria soon.

1. How is the area near Alexandria Amtrak station? Meaning, is it secured to walk to the station?
2. Does anybody know if you can park for free near the station?
3. I found a few apartments online to live that are on King Street, North or South Kings Highway and Duke Street. On Google maps, it says as 15 minutes to the station from those places. During rush hour, are those really 15 minutes commute? Can they go as bad as 45 minutes? I want to know if it is that serious of a traffic issue.


We went to Elkridge, BWI, and Gaithersburg areas 2 weekends ago. But, the places we would have to live were more than 20 minutes drive to the Amtrak stations. To work in DC, I would spend more than 1 hour 30 minutes in travel. So, I thought Alexandria, though expensive, will save time to reach the Amtrak station.

Let me know your opinions friends. Thanks!
King and Duke Street are long streets so we can't really assess your commute just by the street names. For King Street near Fairlington I know there are frequent 28A and AT6 buses to Old Town. Those definitely take only 10-15 minutes to get to the station (especially the 28A which only has 2 stops).

Duke Street imo has more traffic.
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Old 11-10-2017, 05:21 PM
 
Location: Green Country
2,815 posts, read 2,576,183 times
Reputation: 4567
Quote:
Originally Posted by dino73 View Post
I will be working in DC. My work hours are 8 AM to 5 PM EST. I get a free Amtrak pass to work. I wanted to be close to DC and go to work only through Amtrak.
What king of employer just provides an Amtrak pass? Amtrak is not commuter rail or heavy rail. It's meant for long-distance travel and, as such, frequencies are not sufficient to be reliable (if you miss your train, you are screwed).

You really need Metrobus, Metro, MARC or VRE access in this town.
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Old 11-11-2017, 08:00 AM
 
1,159 posts, read 1,241,320 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by manitopiaaa View Post
What king of employer just provides an Amtrak pass? Amtrak is not commuter rail or heavy rail. It's meant for long-distance travel and, as such, frequencies are not sufficient to be reliable (if you miss your train, you are screwed).

You really need Metrobus, Metro, MARC or VRE access in this town.
Amtrak...
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Old 11-14-2017, 03:09 PM
 
Location: Beautiful and sanitary DC
2,416 posts, read 3,323,214 times
Reputation: 3110
Alexandria's Amtrak station is adjacent to the King Street Metro station. Both have only short-term parking and "kiss-and-ride" (loading) zones. It's also a major local bus terminal, including express buses that run along King St and Richmond/Kings Hwy.

Monthly garage parking in the vicinity is about $100/month.

Duke, King, and Kingshighway are all very long roads, so an address along one of those could be close to or far from the station.

Quote:
Originally Posted by manitopiaaa View Post
What king of employer just provides an Amtrak pass?
Um, Amtrak?

Their offices are indeed inside Union Station -- the other advantage is that once on board, it's the next stop, and there are plenty of daily trains. Friends who "work on the railroad" do claim that they can freely deadhead on any carrier, but I don't think that privilege applies to desk-bound workers.
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