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A friend and I are two young professionals moving to the DC area just for the summer. He's working right near the White House, and I'm working in Gaithersburg, MD. Would Arlington, VA or Alexandria, VA be too far of a commute for me? Also, what would the rush hour traffic be like in that commute? And lastly, what are the best, affordable neighborhoods? I know Capitol Hill, Dupont, Adams Morgan, and Georgetown are nice - but they're kind of pricey. What about Silver Spring, College Park, and Falls Church, or Petworth? Help! We don't know ANYTHING about the DC area!
Silver Spring would be a good bet. Convenient to the Metro Red Line to get downtown (Farragut North or Metro Center), and reasonably convenient to I-270 to get out to Gaithersburg. Falls Church would be an option also. Good access to downtown via the Metro Orange Line (Farragut West, McPherson Square, or Metro Center), and while you'd still have to deal with the Beltway for a bit, once you hit the I-270 cutoff, the run out to Gaithersburg would be fairly smooth. College Park I would say is too far east for where you want to go, and it's not all that great of an area. I'd cross it off the list, but others might feel differently. Petworth is in town, and one day (probably pretty soon), it's going to be a great place to live. It's one of my favorite "under the radar" DC neighborhoods. But right now, it still qualifies as an area "in transition", and it doesn't help much with the commuting either way, so for the moment anyway, I think I'd have to put it in a fairly distant third place...
Last edited by saganista; 05-24-2008 at 06:42 AM..
It's ridiculously safe. Although serious competition has grown up around it, McLean still stands as one of the most prestigious addresses in NoVa, and it has the real estate prices to prove it. Although the town center itself is something of a discombobulated jumble, it is still a very nice place. Lived there for six years before succumbing to the bucolic charms of the Vienna/Oakton area. Like its neighbor Falls Church (lived there for three years before moving to McLean), it does have easy access to I-495, and thus to I-270 for a run up to Gaithersburg, but it does not itself have access to Metro to get you into downtown. You would have to drive to West Falls Church or perhaps alternatively to Dunn Loring. Neither would be a terrible trip, but it would be more than just down the street.
You obviously want to live in Virginia. Ain't nothing wrong with that, but be warned that you will have to deal with the American Legion Bridge when heading to Gaithersburg. It can be done. I go the other way (Gaithersburg to Arlington) at times. There is going to be an awful lot of traffic until you get to 270 northbound. If that's what you want, fine. I would recommend North Bethesda or Bethesda over somewhere in Virgina because it is n easy Metro ride to DC. It's also easy to take Metro to Shady Grove and bus to Gaithersburg, or just take 270 by car.
I drive from McLean to Potomac, just off I-270 at Democracy Blvd, on a regular basis. There are really no traffic issues in the mornings, and we regularly make it from the GW Parkway to 495 to Democracy in about 20 minutes. If you can leave earlier than 7:30, it would be closer to 20; after 8 might be closer to 25.
Of course, various pending construction projects on the Parkway and 495 can change the traffic situation, but right now it's not bad at all.
I think we're going to go with Alexandria - is there any chance the commute from there to Gaithersburg will be within an hour and a half?
On a good day, possibly.
Depends on which part of Alex.
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