Commute from Fairfax to Alexandria (Annandale, Falls Church: house, neighborhood, construction)

[Vahome_ownr]

Hello everyone,

Currently i live in Fairfax, near by fairoaks. I commute to Park center, alexandria. What is the best route during rush hour?

Thank you,

[terrence81]

Ok I live near you and work near you. How about that? Here's the route I take.

I leave my neighborhood take Blake Ln down to 50.
Take 50 to the Beltway
The Beltway (outer loop) to 395
Go up 395 I get off at Shirlington you'll get off at King St My commute is 35 if I leave the house before 7. After 7 it's 40 minutes.

Now if traffic is really backed up I'll get off 395 at Edsell.
Take Edsell to Van Dorn.
Take Van Dorn all the way to King street

This only works if 395 is extra backed up or if it's raining. Otherwise it's a lateral move. Sometimes I'll still take it just because the stop and go wears on my nerves I'd rather move constantly for 20 minutes than be stop and go for 20 minutes.

Now you could take 50 all the way to 7 and just take 7 all the way down. For me this took 45-50 minutes. Taking 50 puts less miles on your car but I like the freeway because there are times where you're actually moving. 50 is just stop and go all the way to Seven Corners and just drives me nuts.

I have tried several other routes and the freeway works for me all the other routes were either lateral moves or made me late. Like taking Lee Highway seems like a smarter idea. But with the lights and low speed limits it was the worst route despite having hardly any traffic once you cross the beltway.

[DiderotsGhost]

I'm in Fair Oaks and commute to Falls Church every day. And I used to live in Annandale and commute to Alexandria every day. Terrence81's suggestion sounds pretty good, but I'd offer two more possibilities:

(1) Take US 50 up to the Fairfax Blvd red light. Instead of turning left to stay on 50, go straight onto VA-236/Main Street, which will take through downtown Fairfax and to Annandale. There tends to be less traffic down this way during the morning rush. From there, you can get on the Beltway and follow Terrence81's directions.

(2) Similiar to Idea #1, except instead of getting on the Beltway, you could try staying on VA-236 once it turns into Little River Turnpike, then head north on Beauregard Street once you're in Alexandria. I've never actually driven this way during the rush; but I have ridden the metro bus down Little River during rush and it didn't seem completely horrible. Not sure how bad Beauregard is in the morning.

[terrence81]

Take 236 to the beltway huh? Interesting. Beauregard is okay but it does get backed up during rush hour though. Van Dorn has a lot of cars sometimes but traffic usually keeps moving though.

[Vahome_ownr]

Guys,

Thank you soo much for your replies. I have just moved a week back and have been taking braddock rd to Beauregard St. It has been taking abt an hr each way. Braddock gets backed up at the I-495 exit, due to construction.

Terrence81:
How do you get on outer loop 395 from Us 50 ? Do you get on I-495 and then on I395.

[DiderotsGhost]

Originally Posted by terrence81

Take 236 to the beltway huh? Interesting.

I just moved up to Fair Oaks recently. One day, I wasn't pay much attention and accidentally missed the turn to stay on US-50. At first, I was like "oh crap!", but as it turned out, I was actually able to take 236 all the way up to some other road (can't remember which) and cut North on it to get back to 50. I got to work a few minutes quicker than I normally would have, despite the fact that I drove about 3 extra miles and went completely out of my way to get there.

From that, I know that VA-236 is fairly light during the rush (at least, it was at 7:00 - 7:30; not sure about after that). If I were going to the Beltway South from Fairfax, that's definitely the way I'd go. Unfortunately, my employer is right off of 50 in Falls Church, so my only real options seem to be 50 and I-66 to the Beltway --- I chose 50 and try to leave by 6:30 if at all possible.

[DiderotsGhost]

Originally Posted by terrence81

Van Dorn has a lot of cars sometimes but traffic usually keeps moving though.

I didn't realize Van Dorn went up that far north, but looking at Google Maps, I can now see that it does.

Hmmm ... so my guess is that the best route would be this then:

(1) Either US-50 or US-29 to VA-236
(2) VA-236 to I-495 South/East (towards Alexandria)
(3a) Exit at Van Dorn - OR - (3b) Exit at I-395 N
(4a) Take Van Dorn up to Park Center - OR - (4b) Exit at King St?

Google Maps says the A route takes 35 minutes, though, and I'm sure it probably understates it a bit.
Google says 31 minutes for the B route.

[terrence81]

Originally Posted by Vahome_ownr

Guys,

Thank you soo much for your replies. I have just moved a week back and have been taking braddock rd to Beauregard St. It has been taking abt an hr each way. Braddock gets backed up at the I-495 exit, due to construction.

Terrence81:
How do you get on outer loop 395 from Us 50 ? Do you get on I-495 and then on I395.

Yeah I would hate to have to get off at the Braddock it's always so backed up coming home during rush hour.

Yeah I go from 495 to 395. So basically I do 50 to 495 to 395.

[terrence81]

Originally Posted by JakilaTheHun

I didn't realize Van Dorn went up that far north, but looking at Google Maps, I can now see that it does.

Hmmm ... so my guess is that the best route would be this then:

(1) Either US-50 or US-29 to VA-236
(2) VA-236 to I-495 South/East (towards Alexandria)
(3a) Exit at Van Dorn - OR - (3b) Exit at I-395 N
(4a) Take Van Dorn up to Park Center - OR - (4b) Exit at King St?

Google Maps says the A route takes 35 minutes, though, and I'm sure it probably understates it a bit.
Google says 31 minutes for the B route.

Now here's the thing for me at least. I get off at 395 not the van dorn exit. I've only done this once but when I got 495 at van dorn very backed up at that exit. Now granted it was raining so traffic was bad no matter what way you took.