Alexandria to Arlington commute: Quaker Lane, Telegraph Road? (Franconia, Vienna: construction, school)

[MrKite]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about moving to the Kingstowne area of Alexandria. I work in Arlington (Wilson Blvd.), so I'm concerned about the morning commute. Right now I commute from Vienna, and that takes me about 50 minutes. I'm used to that, so anything in that time frame would be fine.

I usually leave work around 7:00 in the morning and have to be at work by 8:00.

I'm pretty much convinced that taking S. Van Dorn St. up to 395 would be a mess: Both roads would likely be heavily congested. So I'm considering the following route:

Telegraph Road north to Duke St. west to Quaker Lane north into Shirlington, cross over (or under?) 395 to get to Shirlington Rd., then Shirlington Rd. to S. Glebe, S. Glebe to Walter Reed, and so on.

I know that the commute from Shirlington Rd. onward is fine as I did that for quite a while. What I'm concerned about is everything before that, i.e., Telegraph to Quaker.

Are Telegraph Road and Quaker Lane heavily congested in the morning?

Thanks for any input.

[Smoke_Jaguar4]

Quaker itself isn't that bad. The problem areas are Telegraph Rd and that stretch of Duke St. A couple of weeks ago I was driving from Ballston to Ft Belvoir. The best path I found was I-395 to Seminary to George Mason. Realistically, you probably won't have much of a change in commute time.

[MrKite]

Originally Posted by Smoke_Jaguar4

Quaker itself isn't that bad. The problem areas are Telegraph Rd and that stretch of Duke St. A couple of weeks ago I was driving from Ballston to Ft Belvoir. The best path I found was I-395 to Seminary to George Mason. Realistically, you probably won't have much of a change in commute time.

Thanks, Smoke. If my commute ends up being around the same amount of time, that would be all right by me.

[HokieFan]

Telegraph Road at the 495 interchange is under construction and has been for years. That area typically gets congested and can be a headache to navigate through.

[MrKite]

Originally Posted by HokieFan

Telegraph Road at the 495 interchange is under construction and has been for years. That area typically gets congested and can be a headache to navigate through.

I wouldn't be on Telegraph Road near 495 but near 395, but I know the construction area you're talking about--it's in Merrifield, I think.

[weezycom]

They're still working on the Eisenhower and Telegraph Road interchanges on 495, the next 2 east of the Franconia Road exit, so things can get bottled up some days. Telegraph to Duke to Quaker shouldn't be too awful because you'll be mostly running opposite the biggest traffic flow. School buses are going to be your biggest timing obstacle on that route. Otherwise, I think your commute time sounds reasonable, but with the buses you may have to switch your start time by 5-10 minutes one way or another.

[MrKite]

Originally Posted by weezycom

They're still working on the Eisenhower and Telegraph Road interchanges on 495, the next 2 east of the Franconia Road exit, so things can get bottled up some days.

You guys are right. In my earlier post I was thinking about Gallows Road in Merrifield near 495. My mistake.

Telegraph to Duke to Quaker shouldn't be too awful because you'll be mostly running opposite the biggest traffic flow.

Really? See, I figured there'd be a lot of traffic that way on Telegraph because it heads north to the beltway (toward DC), and on Quaker Lane because it is heading north toward 395. I've never driven those routes at peak times, so I don't know; just going by the fact that 395 and the beltway are major commuting routes.

[robbobobbo]

Originally Posted by HokieFan

Telegraph Road at the 495 interchange is under construction and has been for years. That area typically gets congested and can be a headache to navigate through.

Originally Posted by MrKite

I wouldn't be on Telegraph Road near 495 but near 395, but I know the construction area you're talking about--it's in Merrifield, I think.

No, he's talking about right where Telegraph passes over Eisenhower, and then ends at Duke St - precisely the route you're proposing to use (right?). That area is a mess.

I've never experienced the traffic in that area in the morning, but there have been rush hour evenings when I've dealt with very heavy traffic leaving Alexandria (city) on Telegraph, with slow crawls from the bridge over Duke heading all the way down to N. Kings Hwy.

I've seen Quaker get very backed up coming down the hill to Duke, from cars heading for the Telegraph Rd ramp, and similarly bad traffic for those using Taylor Run Parkway to Duke, to Telegraph. They put up a barrier a few years ago to keep the Telegraph Rd ramp separated from the through lanes of Duke, to prevent line-jumpers.

One other jam that I've seen: evenings on Quaker between 395 and King St, but not until the little shopping center with the CVS and Spokes Bikes. The intersection at Quaker/King/Braddock can take a while to get through.

All that said, I don't know how bad the entire trip would be and whether traffic flows better once you get past those clog points I've identified.

[slduvall]

I live in Kingstowne - and personnally I would suck up the commute up 395, rather than head up Telegraph (which is a two lane road at points) and deal with the various lights, construction etc you will face having to get to Wilson. It wouldn't be ideal, but at least it would be predictable...i.e. slow.

And as more people are headed to the Mark Center there will be more westerly flow in that general direction..of course they will also be on 395.

[MrKite]

Originally Posted by slduvall

I live in Kingstowne - and personnally I would suck up the commute up 395, rather than head up Telegraph (which is a two lane road at points) and deal with the various lights, construction etc you will face having to get to Wilson. It wouldn't be ideal, but at least it would be predictable...i.e. slow.

Delays on 395 would not be the only issue; there would also be S. Van Dorn St. to contend with, because I'd have to take that straight up to 395. So about that I have two questions:

1) What is S. Van Dorn St. like in the morning around 7:00? I'm sure there's traffic on it, but does it move fairly well?
2) About how long would it take to get from the Seminary Rd. exit on 395 to the Glebe Rd. exit on 395?

Thanks.