Advise needed on traffic in McLean area at school drop off times! (Annandale: relocating)

[Melbourne Family]

Hi everyone,

We are relocating from Australia to Fairfax County in September with my husband's job (he works for Exxonmobil & will be located at their headquaters in Gallows Rd, Fairfax ). His transfer package allows for the cost of private school education for our girls so we are looking at The Langley School in McLean for our 10 year old (we know that the public schools in Fairfax are considered among some of the best but the class sizes are verging on double that of the private sector from what we have found & that is an issue for us, also we don't have to fund the school fees-seems crazy not to take up the option).

Could anyone please advise me what the traffic around this area would be like for school drop off & pick up times & what nice family orientated neighbourhoods would be within a 10 min drive from the school at these times of day?

We are hoping to rent (allowance of approx $4300 per month, need a single family home, 4+ brms) within an easy commute from the school & also within 20 min drive for my husband to work in Gallows Rd. Not sure if this is achievable? We are also interested in parts of Vienna (Vienna township plus areas to the west of Vienna below Tysons and also areas around Dunn Loring, Pimmit Hills etc) but not sure if the run to school would be feasible or if this part of Vienna/Mclean is nice? Also interested in parts of Mclean close to the school. At the moment we have a 5-10 min drive to school here in Oz & we really don't want it to be much more than that. Would like the area to be walkable if possible to local shops, playgrounds etc as our younger daughter is 2.
(So hard to work this out from way down here without knowing the area!)

We have also looked into Flint Hill School in Oakton but that is pushing the commute time for my husband as we would then need to base ourselves out towards Oakton to get our daughter to school. Other option we have looked into is Westminster School in Annandale (nice and close to my husband's work) but we haven't had any feedback from any of my husband's US colleages regarding the school so not sure.

Any advice would be great!

[smaug20000]

I would advise against pimmit hills. I personally don't like the area. Maybe you should look off Great Falls street and Westmoreland street. I think those are good family areas and still close to grocery store and all.

[Melbourne Family]

Thanks for that smaug20000! I put Pimmit Hills in just because of location on the map, so thanks for steering me away from there if it's not as nice an area as some. So hard to choose a location without being there! We've previously only spent a week in the area 4 years ago & we were staying at the Marriott in Falls Church so that my husband could commute to the Exxonmobil office. Apart from that immediate area of Fairfax county (& a shopping trip to Tysons) + sightseeing in DC we have no idea of the area.

Based on a previous question I had posted & the feedback I received I'm also interested in parts of Vienna & Mclean but can't find a map with suburb/zipcode bounderies on it. Anyone know of a web site I should try? If I knew which zipcode corresponded with the parts of the suburbs I'm interested in it would make the online rental search alot easier.

Any other ideas would be greatly apprieciated!

[claremarie]

Get an ADC street map for Northern Virginia. It has zip codes and neighborhoods.
As for traffic, you won't have issues in the afternoon.
I would try the Kings Manor neighborhood, located near the intersection of 123 and Churchill Road in McLean. It's a mix of townhouses and relatively small but very solid single-family homes. You can walk to shops, the library, McLean Central Park, and the drive to the Langley School would be less than 10 minutes. There is another neighborhood even closer, off Balls Hill Rd and Ozkan Street, with nice but not too expensive single family homes.
Vienna is more tricky, because you would be forced to travel on 123 through
Tyson's Corner, which you want to avoid. There is a lot of traffic headed to DC and the CIA on that road during the morning school run.
If King's Manor doesn't work out, try the neighborhoods off Dead Run and around Churchill Rd Elementary School in McLean.

[Melbourne Family]

Thanks for that info Claremarie! Alot of the houses we are interested in are in Vienna so I'm thinking if my daughter caught the bus in the morning it would save me the drive through Tysons. I could then just pick her up in the pm. Have to check out the bus timetable, she definately wouldn't cope if she had to be out of the house before 7.30am ( at the moment we don't have to leave home until 8.30 to get to school on time).
Thanks again!