Davidsonville/ Ellicott City to downtown Silver Spring commute (Columbia: homes, live in)

[chemist895]

Hi all,

What will be the better commute to downtown Silver Spring (20910) from Davidsonville (in Anne Arundel Co.) or Ellicott City (Howard co.) assuming both homes are at the same distance (28 miles).
Anyone out there that can provide information about traffic or how long will take drive in the mornings and afternoons?

Thanks!

[MarthaBrown]

Well I would think Ellicott City might be the better choice. I live in Davidsonville and getting to Silver Spring from here requires a large usage of the capital beltway that bottlenecks at rush hour. There may be alternative routes but not sure they are that much better. I love it here but not sure I would love the commute

[chemist895]

Hi MarthaBrown,

Can you tell me how long it takes you to get to Silver Spring? one hour? 45 min?...more?

Thanks

[GotBackHome]

It's been a very long time since I've gone this route, but from EC to Silver Spring, you can just go straight down Rt 29. In Howard County, they've removed nearly all of the traffic lights at the intersections (putting in overpasses and exits) to make the drive easier, but it still gets congested. Closer down towards Silver Spring often suffers backups from heavy volume (esp when you get near those traffic lights). I can tell you, cause I see it every day, coming north on 29 through Columbia and into EC, around 4:30-5:30 is darn near impossible from the traffic backups. I see the traffic just stopped or crawling there all the time.