Weekday Commute: Falls Church <-> Bethesda?

[austindoxie1972]

You're right, acgood. I think the big difference is the OP is moving here. He has the choice -- and now is his chance to set down some roots. Knowing that he will work in MD, most of us are shaking AND scratching our heads over the choice of Falls Church as a "first choice" place to live.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by acgood

While I agree with the general recommendation that you should consider Montgomery county much more seriously, we have gone a bit off the reservation on this thread. Falls Church to Bethesda is relatively benign as far as cross-river commutes go around here. I do Fairfax to Silver Spring about 3x per week and have not imploded yet Many people do MUCH worse. However, most of us are 'forced' to by disparate work locations. If your spouse does not work, it becomes much harder to justify living in VA.

Well, if the OP lives in the eastern portion of FC (near Arlington) and is commuting to the outskirts of Bethesda (say near Sangamore), that would mean just taking Williamsburg to Glebe/Chain Bridge/MacArthur, which wouldn't be so bad (although the Chain Bridge has a ton of cars on it during rush hour). Given that most of the jobs in Bethesda are going to be downtown, I assumed the OP would be taking 495, which will be a lot worse. Even if it's just MacArthur to River Road, that's significantly more time and stress than a commute to the Sangamore/Carderock area.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by acgood

While I agree with the general recommendation that you should consider Montgomery county much more seriously, we have gone a bit off the reservation on this thread. Falls Church to Bethesda is relatively benign as far as cross-river commutes go around here. I do Fairfax to Silver Spring about 3x per week and have not imploded yet Many people do MUCH worse. However, most of us are 'forced' to by disparate work locations. If your spouse does not work, it becomes much harder to justify living in VA.

Agreed. Alot of people chime in threads like this and say the drive is not doable when they haven't consistently done it. They got caught a couple times on the beltway when it was horrible and assumed every day was like that. I did Tysons to Silver Spring from 2008 to 2014 and I survived. It was actually a fairly manageable commute by this area's standards, unless things have changed drastically since 2014. A lot of that time was during the construction of the express lanes too, which is not an issue anymore. I probably averaged 45-50 minutes, with some days being better and some days being worse. I worked right off the beltway which helped, not downtown Silver Spring so fighting downtown Bethesda traffic could add another 10-15 minutes vs what I experienced. The funny thing is I had a shorter commute than a lot of my MD co-workers who lived way out in the MD suburbs.

Take that for what it's worth, just my personal experience.

[cindymiller9]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

We decided to rent in Rockville so that the commute is manageable while we look for a place to set roots long-term. This will allow us to get a feel for some of the MD and VA areas and determine the best balance of commute/schools/vibe.

Thanks again!

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by cindymiller9

Thanks for the advice everyone!

We decided to rent in Rockville so that the commute is manageable while we look for a place to set roots long-term. This will allow us to get a feel for some of the MD and VA areas and determine the best balance of commute/schools/vibe.

Thanks again!

great idea!

[austindoxie1972]

Yay! That is very smart, and I'm wishing you good luck with the move!