What is Kingstowne like?

[Yankeesfan]

Here's the Kingstowne website:

Kingstowne Residential Owners Corporation - Welcome to Kingstowne Online!

It's a great neighborhood for families, and conveniently located. You can also check out the schools here:

Fairfax County Public Schools

You can type the address you're interested in on the home page, then look at the school information under Schools and Centers at the top.

BTW, you may see references to Franconia Elementary being a year-round school, but this fall it will revert back to a regular schedule.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by slduvall

It might be easy, but depending on the time of day it isn't quick anymore. The interection of Van Dorn and Franconia can be brutal, people block the box and you can sit at the light there for 2-3 changes without getting through. In the afternoons with everyone coming off of 495, it backs up really bad on the hill up VD.

And with the move of thousands of people to Mark Center, that corridor will become very very busy.

Unless it's changed significantly in the past 2 months, it really is an easy drive. Yes, it backs up ~2ish days a week (generally Tuesday/Wednesday), but going down Van Dorn I never had a problem going straight through the light to Telegraph, only when I wanted to turn left onto Franconia. The horrible traffic is the people going the opposite direction on Van Dorn (trying to get to 495)

Van Dorn does back up something fierce to turn left onto Telegraph, but Belvoir is to the right, so that wouldn't be an issue.

Going home is cake. Take Telegraph to Van Dorn or Rose hill (lets you turn right onto Van Dorn to bypass that light at VD/Franconia) and then it's all the way up VD to home. It never took more than 20 minutes to get from VD/Telegraph to VD/Braddock.

The other option from Cameron Station is to take Duke East to the Carlyle area, and the get straight onto Telegraph all the way down. It's a little counter intuitive since you go the wrong direction, but it's also a really easy drive. i used to go that way sometimes to drop my dog off at day care during the week.

[slduvall]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

Unless it's changed significantly in the past 2 months, it really is an easy drive. Yes, it backs up ~2ish days a week (generally Tuesday/Wednesday), but going down Van Dorn I never had a problem going straight through the light to Telegraph, only when I wanted to turn left onto Franconia. The horrible traffic is the people going the opposite direction on Van Dorn (trying to get to 495)

Van Dorn does back up something fierce to turn left onto Telegraph, but Belvoir is to the right, so that wouldn't be an issue.

Going home is cake. Take Telegraph to Van Dorn or Rose hill (lets you turn right onto Van Dorn to bypass that light at VD/Franconia) and then it's all the way up VD to home. It never took more than 20 minutes to get from VD/Telegraph to VD/Braddock.

The other option from Cameron Station is to take Duke East to the Carlyle area, and the get straight onto Telegraph all the way down. It's a little counter intuitive since you go the wrong direction, but it's also a really easy drive. i used to go that way sometimes to drop my dog off at day care during the week.

Very true...I'm thinking about heading the other direction each morning and night, if they lived at Cameron theywould be headed south in the morning. .

[KingstowneVA]

Kingstowne is definitely a wonderful area to live in. Shopping, restaurants, good schools, close to Metro, close to Ft. Belvoir.

And if you live in Kingstowne, you don't have to deal with the van Doorn and Franconia intersection, which YES, can be a pain twice a day.

House prices had dropped, but are on the way up again. Bottom reached (not taking foreclosures and short-sales in consideration because they always 'mess up' the statistics). The price range you are looking at will give you a nice home in a place where families just like to live. 2 community pools, tennis courts, fitness center, party house, classes, chess club, 2 community yard sales per year and more.

I moved here 3 years ago to be close to DC and public transportation and chose Kingstowne over Mt. Vernon because it not just fit my family's desires better, I also liked to have the convenience of all the shops and entertainment in almost walking distance.