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Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: Slow going ()
Date: October 04, 2007 07:24AM

Hello,
I just recently moved to Centreville, and have a job in Arlington near Fairlington Villages (I395 and Rt7/Leesburg Pike).

What I have been doing is taking Braddock Rd down to Guinea Rd, over to Little River Tnpk, up N Beauregard st, onto Rt 7. This has been taking me between 1.25 and 1.5 hours each way.

Are there any better routes than this? If I had realized how long this commute was, I might not have moved or taken this job. But it seems like people on this forum are pretty smart, so I thought I'd take a crack asking you all.

Thanks for any tips!!

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: centreville commuter ()
Date: October 04, 2007 07:41AM

It depends on what time of day you are traveling, but I would try staying on Braddock, hit the beltway, and hit 395 the next exit down. I travel pretty early in the morning to avoid traffic... if you were leaving around 6a you could probably get away with I-66 to the beltway to 50, right on Leesburg Pike and you're there.

50 goes surprisingly well in the morning. If I just miss the HOV cutoff for 66 inside the beltway, surprisingly heading off on 495 and taking 50 into DC is about as fast as if I had stayed on 66 and waited through the West Falls Church area delays.

To give you an idea of how time shifting affects commuting time, with the schedule I worked out (basically 7a-3p) the trip to and from is usually less than an hour each way, and that's commuting to and from DC.

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: Slow going ()
Date: October 04, 2007 08:47AM

Yeah, that's true. Unfortunately I have a fixed schedule of 8:30a-5:30p, so I've been leaving around 7:05 to get there on time. I wish my work had flex time, but they don't.

I might try one of those. I don't really understand how I-66 works though, I guess with traffic it's always HOV only?

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: Kiev ()
Date: October 04, 2007 09:09AM

66 is HOV 2, meaning two people in a car or more, until 9AM, going EAST, towards DC/Arlington

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: Slow going ()
Date: October 04, 2007 03:02PM

Ok, makes some sense. Hopefully I can trim down my commute at least a little.

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: centreville commuter ()
Date: October 04, 2007 07:27PM

Kiev Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 66 is HOV 2, meaning two people in a car or more,
> until 9AM, going EAST, towards DC/Arlington


Inside the beltway... that detail may have been lost.

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: stinkypoon ()
Date: October 05, 2007 12:01PM

29 to 29/50, then 50 all the way in. Or bail onto the beltway depending on which part of Arlington you're going to.

Warning: Though traffic usually moves fine, there is a 10% chance that you'll be stuck in the Fairfax Circle area for a long time.

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: Fairfax MF---er ()
Date: October 05, 2007 01:21PM

Slow going Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello,
> I just recently moved to Centreville, and have a
> job in Arlington near Fairlington Villages (I395
> and Rt7/Leesburg Pike).
>
> What I have been doing is taking Braddock Rd down
> to Guinea Rd, over to Little River Tnpk, up N
> Beauregard st, onto Rt 7. This has been taking me
> between 1.25 and 1.5 hours each way.
>
> Are there any better routes than this? If I had
> realized how long this commute was, I might not
> have moved or taken this job. But it seems like
> people on this forum are pretty smart, so I
> thought I'd take a crack asking you all.
>
> Thanks for any tips!!

1. Buy a hybrid. I did it and it now takes me about 40 minutes to drive a similar route. Just being about to drive 66 within the beltway is a huge time-saver.

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Re: Best commute route from Centreville to Arlington?
Posted by: Fairfax MF---er ()
Date: October 05, 2007 01:28PM

If you don't want to buy a hybrid, you may want to try Braddock to Columbia Pike instead of Little River. I've found that Columbia Pike moves much quicker than Little River (in the mornings, at least). There seem to be fewer lights. It also intersects with Route 7.

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