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Wow, that's surprising. I doubt it's true though. It only takes me within fifteen minutes to get from Anacostia to downtown. I don't know if whatever source that's according to actually surveyed traffic in the district proper, or if they're counting the beltway.
If it is true, I attribute it to all of the darn Virginia and Maryland transients who refuse to take the Metro.
A gigantic increase in population over the past, say, 30 years. I'm probably wrong on this but I feel like neither the Beltway nor 66 nor any of the other major highways have been expanded in that time either.
It doesn't help that bus service is pretty bad outside of the denser urban cores. If a suburbanite had a bus that came every 10 minutes that took him straight to the Metro and he'd only have to wait 5 minutes at most for a train that's not packed like a can of sardines, he'd probably be much more likely to ride it.
Also geography (speaking only from a Northern Virginian's perspective): Nova is for all intents and purposes a peninsula as it is bound on two sides by the Potomac and the Occoquan. As you get closer in to the city, Nova's wedge-shape gets narrower and narrower as traffic, coming in from all parts of that wedge, gets forced into a smaller and smaller place (with few choices to cross). Throw in the Metro construction, the Beltway improvements, NIMBYs who don't want to widen I-66, the fact that you have through traffic traveling on the Beltway from NY to Fla, the toll road back ups, accidents, and its no surprise we won that accolade.
Wow, that's surprising. I doubt it's true though. It only takes me within fifteen minutes to get from Anacostia to downtown. I don't know if whatever source that's according to actually surveyed traffic in the district proper, or if they're counting the beltway.
If it is true, I attribute it to all of the darn Virginia and Maryland transients who refuse to take the Metro.
Do you drive or take the metro? My job is in VA and haven't really experienced rush hour coming from VA to DC. I've done the reverse "commute" to after work stuff in the District and traffic downtown was an absolute nightmare.
Also geography (speaking only from a Northern Virginian's perspective): Nova is for all intents and purposes a peninsula as it is bound on two sides by the Potomac and the Occoquan. As you get closer in to the city, Nova's wedge-shape gets narrower and narrower as traffic, coming in from all parts of that wedge, gets forced into a smaller and smaller place (with few choices to cross). Throw in the Metro construction, the Beltway improvements, NIMBYs who don't want to widen I-66, the fact that you have through traffic traveling on the Beltway from NY to Fla, the toll road back ups, accidents, and its no surprise we won that accolade.
Well I'm very surprised. I've always thought our traffic in the district is normal and moderate, even during rush hour. Nothing as bad as New York City, or even L.A., which I'm very surprised isn't number one instead (L.A.). Of course if we're counting the commute on the beltway... well, 270 at 6pm is the worst place I've ever seen.
Do you drive or take the metro? My job is in VA and haven't really experienced rush hour coming from VA to DC. I've done the reverse "commute" to after work stuff in the District and traffic downtown was an absolute nightmare.
Both, but mostly Metro if I'm going downtown. I don't have a car but often get rides almost everyday and traffic isn't extreme at all coming to and from downtown and Anacostia at rush hour. Maybe it doesn't seem that bad to me because I'm native and have grown accustomed to it.
The worst part of Metro is the red line. Blue, yellow, and orange lines from VA don't seem to be very crowded in the morning, so more NOVA commuters should take advantage of that...
A gigantic increase in population over the past, say, 30 years. I'm probably wrong on this but I feel like neither the Beltway nor 66 nor any of the other major highways have been expanded in that time either.
It doesn't help that bus service is pretty bad outside of the denser urban cores. If a suburbanite had a bus that came every 10 minutes that took him straight to the Metro and he'd only have to wait 5 minutes at most for a train that's not packed like a can of sardines, he'd probably be much more likely to ride it.
I've been riding the metro more these days. I've had mixed results with riding the train during rush hour. Last night around 6:30 (I realize that's not the height of rush hour) was fine especially the yellow line. I've had experienced the metro during rush after returning from a trip out of town and it was PACKED on the orange line. Rosslyn was just CRAZY.
Both, but mostly Metro if I'm going downtown. I don't have a car but often get rides almost everyday and traffic isn't extreme at all coming to and from downtown and Anacostia at rush hour. Maybe it doesn't seem that bad to me because I'm native and have grown accustomed to it.
The worst part of Metro is the red line. Blue, yellow, and orange lines from VA don't seem to be very crowded, so more NOVA residents should take advantage of that...
I both agree and disagree. See my previous post. Yellow = mellow. Orange at rush hour in VA? Wow. But you know I've rode the orange line after spending a night at my dude's house and it was just fine. But then again I wasn't coming from VA I was going back to VA so I was still reverse commuting.
Well I'm very surprised. I've always thought our traffic in the district is normal and moderate, even during rush hour. Nothing as bad as New York City, or even L.A., which I'm very surprised isn't number one instead (L.A.). Of course if we're counting the commute on the beltway... well, 270 at 6pm is the worst place I've ever seen.
Ah but you're not trying to leave the city or in my case coming into the city. The 14th street bridge is awful in BOTH directions for the afternoon commute. I think its because of all the PG county folk who work at the Pentagon and Crystal City. But I've spent many a weeknight in the District and didn't have a problem in the morning.
Trying to drive to a downtown thing at 5:30 was beyond stressful a couple months ago. So many cars and then I was late because I couldn't find parking to save my life.
K street was insane. 14th street is really crazy during rush hour too.
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