Commutes Out of DC... (apartment, how much, home) - Washington, DC - City-Data Forum

copperpence · 08-15-2011, 04:40 PM

Hi,

I'm moving to the DC area from the Midwest in a week and have been desperately searching Craigslist for a place to live over the past week. All of the cool apartment/studios that I am finding are actually in DC proper, but my new job is in Herndon...way out by Dulles...and I'm not sure I can stomach the commute everyday without turning into an irate driver or Metro zombie. But enough whining and onto my question: I have been using Google maps to kind of get an idea of how long my commute might be from A to B. From previous experience I have found that the time they give is actually longer than what it actually takes, but I am not sure how traffic is factored into this. Can someone please comment on this? I'm hoping that since it's a reverse commute it might not be as difficult or take as long.

Thanks!

Also...Does anyone know how much the Dulles Toll Road is? Thought I saw it was around $2 each way, but then ran across some article saying that they were thinking about raising it to $10 each way to cover the costs for the new Metro addition.

HurricaneDC · 08-15-2011, 05:50 PM

It's sort of a reverse commute but the thing is that a lot of people who work in the Dulles Tech Corridor also live around there as well as in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. So basically that whole area is a cluster**** of traffic (I think). Here are the DTR toll rates:

Toll Rate Table

terrence81 · 08-15-2011, 05:56 PM

I second Hurricane. I do the reverse commute out to Fairfax and it sucks. Mine is about 30 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes to an hour in the evening. This is coming from south Arlington. Living in the District you're looking at least an hour commute. Its taken me 90 minutes to get to after work functions in the city before. Thanks to major employment centers like the Dulles area where you now work and Tysons Corner there is no more reverse commute.

My recommendation would be to try to get something in north Arlington or Falls Church if you want to be close to city or just head out to Herndon itself. Commuting from the District to Herndon just isn't worth it in my opinion.

Either way congrats on the new job.

killabunnies · 08-16-2011, 05:38 PM

I do a "reverse commute" from DC out to Columbia, MD and while traffic isn't nearly as bad as it might be going from Columbia to DC and back each day, it is AWFUL. I love to drive but these freeways will destroy your soul and fast.

I would do everything you can to avoid it. Some days I come home from work and collapse on the couch, just burned out from being in the car for two hours a day. Plus the traffic is horribly unpredictable, meaning a 40 minute commute one day can be an hour and a half the next, with absolutely no rhyme or reason. I've never seen freeways like these in my life.

Teacher383940 · 08-21-2011, 07:30 AM

Speaking of reverse commutes. Anyone know how to get to Upper Marlboro from DC. Yes this does not sound like a smart question, but I dont drive and I did look it up, it said take the red line to the blue and then take a bus from there, about two hours. I was wondering if there was a MARC train that went there?

mixwell · 08-22-2011, 11:50 AM

I commute to Reston (next to Herndon) from downtown DC everyday. It takes about 45 mins to Reston and 65 mins back to DC on a normal day. I'm also from the midwest and the traffic is probably 100x worse than I've seen back home. It sucks, but I say it's worth the sacrafice to actually live in DC than the suburbs.