How bad is bad? (how much, house, living in)

[miko920]

I have been reading everybody's posts on the traffic in northern VA and how bad it is but I am really curious to know how bad is bad? Say you have to go 10 miles on the Dulles Toll Road during the worst time of rush hour, how long would 10 miles take? How about on the 66, Beltway, or 95? I am looking for the worst time of day, 10 miles of driving. Does anybody know this? Obviously I know it is going to vary depending on accidents, etc, but in general? I just ask because I think the idea of "bad traffic" is a different opinion for many people. Thanks in advance.

[vauser]

It could take upto 30 mts. The toll road in my opinion is far batter than I-66 where it could take that long on just about any day. I manage to do 20 miles in 40 mts or less on most days.

[dullnboring]

My morning commute is seven miles and it runs some 25 minutes on average if that is any indication, and that's not really considered a bad commute around here. It obviously depends on the roads and accidents and weather and such, but I've found the general formula to be that your average commute in Northern Virginia if commuting during the average workday rush hour, will take approximately 1.5 to 2 times longer. While it depends where these 10 miles are, I would say on average, a 10 mile commute will run between 25-40 minutes.

Traffic is pretty brutal here. We generally jockey with Atlanta and San Francisco for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots on the nation's worst traffic lists (LA is always first).

[DavidS827]

I think that what makes the traffic bad in NOVA isn't just the highways that are conjested. It's all of the roads leading to and from the highway system. Side streets and the roads leading to the highways are conjested quite a bit of the time here.
Timing is also important here. I live about 30 miles from DC and when I worked downtown 5 minutes made all the difference in the world. If I left my house at 5:40AM I was sitting at my desk by 6:30. If I left my house at 5:45AM, it would get to my desk at about 7:30 - 8:00.

[miko920]

Well I guess I have something to look forward to seeing as I am moving to northern virginia after living in Los Angeles for 2 years Thank you for your input everyone, I am wondering if you could tell me a couple more things related to your post?

Vauser - you mention 20 miles in 30-40 min on most days - is this using the toll road and would mind saying where you are driving to and from?

DNB - 7 miles in 25 minutes definitely is not a good time but compared to my 8 that took me 35 to 90 min (in LA), I will take it! Is your commute on freeways or is it surface streets? I ask because I live in SD right now and have been here for about a year since leaving LA and my commute to one client is only 7 miles but takes about 25-35 min becuse it is all surface streets and no freeways, I think I manage to hit every red light and while San Diego may not be known for traffic, I think it may have the record for the city w/ the longest red lights My other client is about 10 miles (approx. 8 on the freeway) and it takes about 15-25 minutes. That was kind of why in my original post I asked for average times on 10 mile drives relating to specific roads, because I know how much that can be a factor.

Again, thank you all for the information and any more information from you or others would be great. Have a lovely day.

[Golfinnova]

Dulles Toll road is good, the traffic seems to move pretty well even during rush hour. 66 is absolutely the worst road in the area, it gets congested every day. We went to the Caps game on Saturday, on the way back we noticed from our train that Westbound 66 was going about 10 mph. It doesn't help that they have the 4th lane closed during the weekends.

I try to avoid that road if at all possible.