So where's all this traffic? (Reston, Herndon: school, income, living)

[Fern435]

With so many people from California flocking to northern Virginia these days, the traffic in California may return to a tolerable level.

As in any region, traffic here in noVA varies depending on time of day, direction, and routes. You are fortunate to have a commute that is not as heavily traveled.

[liloulou]

Exactly as others are saying... this person's actual routes aren't that bad- and if he travels 495 to 267 he's probably hitting a little traffic on 495 and then pretty decent ride on 267). He's lucky to have an easy commute. Yes, depending on where you live and work, you can make your commute decent, I venture to even say good. But if you have to go on any of the known highways in certain directions at the peak times, you're in for just sitting and sitting and sitting. I used to do 66 East at 8am into the city- need I say more....aarrgghh...

Glad to hear the OP has a good commute! Welcome to Nova.

[vivo]

well this is probably one area where moco beats fairfax though recently moco was reported to have a slightly longer average commute than ffx though that doesn't mean that traffic is worse in moco.

[yamota]

And with Northrop Grumman moving to Northern Virginia I think we'll have even more socal transplants snarling up traffic and not being able to drive in the rain

[vivo]

speaking of LA, I lived in Orange County for 2 yrs ('07-'09) . the major interstate on the west coast (I-5) is 3 lanes from the OC/LA county line to almost downtown LA. and surrounded by development with barely any trees and crappily maintained. not sure if it/'s typical but was driving back from beverly hills back to Irvine one day and rush hr was horrid! she basically threw up when we got home. She was very sensitive to the smoke from all the trucks surrounding us.

granted im not that familiar with nova rush hour traffic on a personal level though.

public transport is still better here. and probably will be even when LA gets a system due to the fact that at least downtown dc is a huge job center. dtn LA has a bit of jobs but it's not quite as central to the area as downtown dc.

[dod236]

You are right to an extent. Before we moved to northern va from the charlottesville area (we use to live in leesburg too), people complained about traffic at noon in Centreville. Whoever it was, was just exaggerating, we drove to that area, used the same streets the posters were talking about almost everyday of the week and there was no traffic. I think sometimes people just like to type.

Originally Posted by brymax

Yeah so I've been here for 2 weeks now (relocation from So Cal) and I'm working in Alexandria, right next to what you all call "The Mixing Bowl" and I've left for home @ 2:30, 3:30, 5:30 and yesterday I left @ 4:30pm, probably the worst traffic time known and I just have 1 simple question...

Where's all this traffic ya'll are always whining about?

No seriously! Is the traffic not on the beltway anywhere?

No offense and I mean this in the most loving way, but...

Ya'll are a bunch of whinny little traffic sissy's!

This ain't traffic! It's barely even mildly annoying.
I live 30 miles from work in Sterling and it takes me 30 minutes to get here and 45 minutes to get home.

For those of you potential relo's from other high traffic cities that are coming to this forum asking about traffic... Do not listen to these people! The traffic is absolutely no nearly as bad as everyone cry's about it being.

I was warned by others when I was in CA that VA folks get all whinny when they have a commute longer than 30 minutes and they were totally right on the money.

You people (and now me too) have it made so shut up about the traffic. Heck, this current traffic condition is going on during the largest roadway construction project know to man and it still ain't that bad. Every freaking road in 50 sq. miles is under construction and it's still moving.

Ya'll want traffic... Go to LA and then come back and cry about traffic!

[iColt1]

if you REALLY want to see traffic go to Tokyo, Japan it has a population of over 32 million making it the worlds largest city.

[Margery]

Originally Posted by arielmina

LOL I have to agree somewhat with the poster, yes the traffic can absolutely be bad, horrible even, but this area does not have the corner of the market on traffic. I moved here from NYC metro...now that's horrible traffic! Here at least you have some options. My husband commutes from 30 miles west into Herndon and it takes him 35-40 mins MAX. Yes he takes the Greenway, and yes he pays a ton for it but we factored that into our cost of living out here. At least there a few ways to get places around here. Try going anywhere west towards NYC and east away during rush hour. Good luck with that.

I can absolutely agree with this opinion. We lived in Morris County, NJ for 13 years and my husband worked near the WTC. He used to take the train to Hoboken, take the Path to the WTC and then walk a couple blocks to work. An hour and a half minimum each way! We were so happy when he was transferred back to this area and it only took a half hour to drive 15 miles.

[FLgirl367]

traffic gets much worse when schools are out for the summer, even on weekends

[SteelCityRising]

For what it's worth it only takes me 15 minutes to drive between Reston and Tysons Corner via Route 7, and I only speed slightly (the speed limit most of that stretch, after all, IS 55 miles per hour). However, I do tend to leave typically at around 5:35 AM. It takes about 20 minutes for me to get home in the afternoons.