Commute from Mclean to downtown (Falls Church, Cana: moving, garages, train)

[james1224]

I will be moving shortly to Mclean. What realistically would be the commute time from the Dranesville District Park area to Pennsylvania Avenue at rush hour morning and evening? (Mapquest says 23 minutes but it seems a little optimistic). Thanks

[itrade]

At least an hour...

[Harulka]

I would say less than an hour, but depends on the time of day. What route is mapquest running you on? GW Parkway south? Chain Bridge?

[saganista]

Yes, 23 minutes would be optimistic unless you go to work at noon. From Dranesville, there aren't many more than the two options noted above...the GW Parkway to the Roosevelt Bridge, or Chain Bridge into DC right away, then Canal Road into town and the Whitehurst Freeway to skirt Georgetown. Either would be problematic but not terrible (in the DC sense) during rush hour. I would guess you'd be under an hour most days.

You might want to consider time and charges for driving in, though. If you don't have company-provided parking, check out commercial rates near where you work. Plenty of the garages along PA Ave NW are in the $20 per day range. You can cut into that some with a monthly contract, but that plus say $6 a day for gas can start to add up to some real money...

[Zack]

It will take you around 45 minutes. Just take the GW Pkwy down to 395 and get off at the exit close to where you work. The other alternative is to drive down to West Falls Church metro and take the train. The train ride would be about 30 minutes.

[Venna]

does anyone have a sense of driving times from McLean to Washington Hospital Center?

[saganista]

Add up to half an hour to the above to get to the WHC/Children's Hospital complex during rush hour. You still have the same two basic choices for getting into the District (Chain Bridge or Roosevelt Bridge), but you have to cross half the city once you get there. The simplest route would be the Roosevelt Bridge, then Constitution to Louisiana to North Capitol. Once you hit the latter, it's a comparitive breeze, but there may be some bullets to bite on those 25 blocks or so of Constitution. There are any number of zig-zag's you could add to try to cut that part out, but those won't be such a pleasure either. Via Chain Bridge, you could follow Canal Road to the Whitehurst Freeway, then finagle your way either crosstown to North Capitol or uptown to Columbia Road. You could also use Arziona-Nebraska-Massachusetts, then zig-zag to pick up Calvert Street which also hits Columbia Road, but it'll be some work anyway you slice it...