Commuting/living away from DC traffic

[yamota]

Any daily commute where you have to cross over from VA to MD I imagine would be tough

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by leger1cn

I want to live in Clarendon, Va and my company will be relocating to Silver Springs area. I checked the metro commute and it said about 3 hours. How bad will my commute be if I am driving?

Thanks!

Don't do it. The commute will be terrible.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by leger1cn

I want to live in Clarendon, Va and my company will be relocating to Silver Springs area. I checked the metro commute and it said about 3 hours. How bad will my commute be if I am driving?

Thanks!

It does not take 3 hours on Metro. Silver Spring is a big area, but I would guess 45 minutes to an hour if commuting Metro and transferring to a bus. It could take a bit longer but 3 hours is ridiculous. Something's wrong if wmata's trip planner told you 3 hours. Metro will be easier than driving. So, I agree with the others that you won't want to do the drive.

[robbobobbo]

I agree that a Clarendon to Silver Spring commute is not going to take 3 hours one way on Metro. I used to commute Pentagon City to White Flint, and then take a bus, which is at least as far and also involves a change of lines, and I could get to work in an hour. Are you having to add in a bus commute once at Silver Spring?

If you really like Clarendon, I'd say do it and use Metro. If Metro were not an option, I'd say don't do it. You may wish to look at living in Silver Spring or Bethesda however, for it might be similar enough to Clarendon for you.

[marie5v]

I have to agree more with your friend than Google maps. I used to drive from Alexandria down to Woodbridge (near Lake Ridge), and even though I never drove during traffic the trip ranged from 40 minutes to nearly 1.5 hours. Traffic is just unpredictable along that route (I'm assuming 95 or route 1). If you were hoping to live in more city-ish area, then there aren't many places better than Alexandria, but you might also take a look if there is anything available in Occoquan. It's a quaint little river-side town near Lake Ridge. Doesn't have many apartments, though. Further north is Burke, which is affordable and would give you a decent commute. Then of course there is Lake Ridge, which has a lot of affordable apartments (when we were younger and poorer we lived in Springwoods Apartments there, and it was pretty nice, but of course boring). Although I'm not sure if any of those locations would work for you because I'm not sure where Lake Ridge/Springfield really become one area - they seem pretty far apart to me. If we were talking about Springfield instead of Lake Ridge, then I would say Alexandria is a good choice.