Live in VA or MD??

[Anonymous]

Moving back to DC area....Gf and I will be moving in together....She works in Silver Spring (near Loiederman Middle School), but I will be working in Reston on Wiehl Ave.....My hours will be longer than hers.....Should we live (renting) in Bethesda or Mclean (or another location for that matter)? I like Bethesda because its more urban and more young professionals.....however it is prob not worth it to have a commute from hell based on my desire to live in a more urban area...Thoughts and/or suggestions

[Anonymous]

Why don't you live in the District? You've ruled it out already? You'll be in between both work places. Believe it or not, it's a viable option.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP. I commute four days a week from Capitol Hill to Reston and it isn't bad. Almost never any traffic because it's a reverse commute. But you could find somewhere in the district that is closer to both places. And Bethesda to Reston isn't all that bad.

[Anonymous]

Hum....the district wasn't something I thought would be possible.....How long is your commute from Capitol Hill to Reston

[Anonymous]

You could do Fairfax County, just off of 495 - Merrifield/Dunn Loring or the Northwestern part of Annandale. It's a reasonable drive to Reston from there, and a reasonable drive to Silver Spring, and would likely be cheaper than living in the District. (I feel like DC to Reston would be a long drive - I used to commute from Arlington to Tysons and even that short reverse commute was not that easy.) It's not very urban, but you can get to a lot of stuff pretty quickly.

[Anonymous]

I don't agree that Bethesda to Reston isn't bad. There is often REALLY bad traffic from Tysons to 270 on the beltway. No reason for it but it is awful, almost daily. I live in Vienna and have family in bethesda and a trip from here to Bethesda at 5 pm or so on a weekday is often an hour (toll road to River Road). Reston is a longer distance. During the day, here to Bethesda is 15 minutes so I would imagine Reston would be 25 to 30 during the day with no traffic.

Maybe consider Clarendon? You could reverse commute out 66/toll Road. IN a year or so, you could take the orange line to the new silver line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't agree that Bethesda to Reston isn't bad. There is often REALLY bad traffic from Tysons to 270 on the beltway. No reason for it but it is awful, almost daily. I live in Vienna and have family in bethesda and a trip from here to Bethesda at 5 pm or so on a weekday is often an hour (toll road to River Road). Reston is a longer distance. During the day, here to Bethesda is 15 minutes so I would imagine Reston would be 25 to 30 during the day with no traffic.

Maybe consider Clarendon? You could reverse commute out 66/toll Road. IN a year or so, you could take the orange line to the new silver line.

If your GF's work is within walking distance of SS Metro on Red Line, this is what I'd recommend, if you can afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moving back to DC area....Gf and I will be moving in together....She works in Silver Spring (near Loiederman Middle School), but I will be working in Reston on Wiehl Ave.....My hours will be longer than hers.....Should we live (renting) in Bethesda or Mclean (or another location for that matter)? I like Bethesda because its more urban and more young professionals.....however it is prob not worth it to have a commute from hell based on my desire to live in a more urban area...Thoughts and/or suggestions

Which of you two is close to Metro (or future Metro?) Whoever has the longer commute should rely on public transit more ...

DC is perfectly fine if you have no kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hum....the district wasn't something I thought would be possible.....How long is your commute from Capitol Hill to Reston[/quot
35-45 minutes. It sucks, but only mildly. And the Silver Line is opening in Reston later this year. So if you lived near a Metro stop in DC (or elsewhere) you could rely on public transit. A 45-minute train commute is almost pleasant.

[Anonymous]

Look at Falls Church and N. Arlington as a good middle distance.

Or consider living in either Reston near the town center and just having one person suck up the commute until they can change jobs.

[Anonymous]

How old are you? Do you have kids?

I would live in the district if you have no kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP. I commute four days a week from Capitol Hill to Reston and it isn't bad. Almost never any traffic because it's a reverse commute. But you could find somewhere in the district that is closer to both places. And Bethesda to Reston isn't all that bad.

Bethesda to Reston usually isn't bad in the morning short of an accident. I was able to get to training out in Reston in 30 minutes leaving between 7:30-8:00am. The evening however is another story. It seemed no matter what time I left there was awful traffic and it took closer to an hour to get home with some sort of bottleneck from the toll road to Beltway and then again at the 270 split. If you are working late hours, possibly the traffic may clear up enough that you miss the evening rush hour.

[Anonymous]

Theres nothing near Loiderman, and it's not metro accessible. And if it's Loiderman or in glenmont r aspen hill, those aren't areas where you'd want your GF to walk or take the bus.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it matters a lot, but I do think Bethesda is nicer for younger people without children.

The traffic does get bad on the highway from McLean to 270, but you can take 123 to get back to the highway right before the American Legion bridge and then get off at Clara Barton and take back roads to Bethesda. She will reverse commute either way, so I would probably pick Mclean based on that. Honestly, it doesn't really matter that much. Bethesda is more walkable to bars and restaurants from the apartment buildings, though.

[Anonymous]

Live near metro in Bethesda. The Wiehle Avenue station will be open soon. Don't make anyone rely on the Beltway to get to work.