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I wanted to reach out to see if anyone in RTP regularly commutes to the DC area. I am moving down to RTP in the next 60 days with my company and they are asking me to come back up to DC twice a month. I am interested to know what the commute is like and how long in typically takes.
I haven't commuted but have gone back and forth a lot. Without traffic, depending on your exact location both places, it is about a 4 1/2 hour drive. However, the traffic situation on I-95 is always iffy though. The flight is about an hour so if your company will pay for you to fly, that isn't so bad.
Depending on what part of DC you're travelling to, Amtrak might also be an option. Its no faster than a car, but at least you can spend your transit time productively.
Takes me 4 hours even to get from Raleigh (Leesville area) to Fairfax, VA (15 miles west of DC). Twice a month you could hack it, but hopefully they compensate you fairly for it.
I agree with what other people have said - depends on where you're starting from in NC, and where in DC you're going to. The shortest you can get (without breaking too many laws) is about 4 hours.
My husband and I live in Cary, but we both kept our DC-area jobs (in Tysons and Merrifield), so we usually end up going up there at least every month or two. If your company is going to be reimbursing you for your miles, I'd definitely look into the flying option. If you can get by without having to rent a car when you're in DC, you can usually find a plane ticket for about the same cost as they'd end up paying for your miles (assuming they go by the gov. GSA rate). That would save you a LOT of headaches on 95, and it would be no more cost to your company.
Also, you can usually avoid most of the traffic if you travel during the right hours in the winter. But during the summer, it's almost impossible to get around the beach traffic in VA - it's been known to turn that 4 hour trip into close to 7 hours.
Oh, and we also tried Amtrak once. If you don't run into any delays, it's acceptable (takes longer than driving, but at least you can do work during that time). But that's certainly no guarantee. Our return trip ended up taking us 10 hours! And it's not even a cheap option... I don't think we'll be trying that again.
Last edited by MrsBTA; 01-30-2008 at 01:38 PM..
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