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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I say this as someone who usually aims to get to the airport 60 mins before a flight and am often not there until 50 mins before (takeoff, not boarding time).

I would plan to be there by 10am. There is SO MUCH that can go wrong with your transit, there may be increased security, etc. I wouldn’t mess around tomorrow. [/quote]

Saturday is by the quietest day at DCA.  OP will be sitting around for 4 hours with this advice.  I agree it will probably take longer than normal and OP may have to cross the river on the beltway and maybe come in on 66 and then snake around the Pentagon, but this is over the top.

OP, just pull up Waze at say 11 AM and see how long it is taking to drive to DCA.  I am willing to bet it will be 10 minutes longer than normal because of the redirections.  Regular people will not be anywhere near the central part of the area tomorrow, most roads will be quieter than normal.[/quote]

Do not listen to this person. They are wildly incorrect with their assumptions about tomorrow.[/quote]

Right now Google Maps says 40 minutes drive from downtown Bethesda to DCA Terminal 2. I will check at 11 AM tomorrow, and will post back here, and take my blows if it's more than an hour. If I had the ability, I would easily bet $5k at even odds it will.be under an hour.[/quote]

And you’re absolutely positively sure that Google Maps is taking the parade and the military celebrations into account, as well as the as-yet uncounted numbers of people who may be unfamiliar with area roads in making this estimate?  If so, hats off to Google Maps. [/quote]

They use live data from actual travelers, so yes.[/quote]

OK I'm really curious about how this works - live data is for today, correct?  How would they anticipate what the traffic will be 24 hours in the future?[/quote]

Yes live data is based on people who have Google Maps running on their phones, it collects the GPS data as they drive, calculates speeds, collects it all to show lower speeds than normal, etc.

Projections for the future generally give you a range of time based on historic data for that day/time.  But yes that's why it would be hard to tell what tomorrow will look like, because it won't be a normal June Saturday.  Hence the need to look tomorrow at the specific time.

If you look right now for noon tomorrow, it says "typically 28 minutes to 1:05" and yes, does show a proposed route that avoids the GW Parkway where it is closed tomorrow.[/quote]

Even live data will be of limited use.  Just because someone made it through in 45 min and arrived now -- you can see building traffic but there are so many variables and other dynamics that are specific to this event.[/quote]

Truly curious as to what sudden things you think are going to happen in Virginia or outer DC tomorrow at 10 or 11 AM.  Per this map, pretty much all the road closures are already in effect today.

https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Army-250th-Birthday-Parade-Road-Closures.jpg

I don't understand the catastrophizing about this event.  It's stupid and annoying and aggrandizing, but simply won't be felt that much a few miles away[b] (with exception of things like the 395 bridges, etc).[/b]
[/quote]

That is a HUGE "except".

During any event like this there are hundreds of cars being driven by people who are completely surprised that roads/bridges etc are closed.  Maybe they don't watch the news, or whatever, but it happens.  Then you have essential workers who are just trying to take a route to work or wherever they MUST go.  Just these people can clog a major highway for HOURS.  I made the mistake of thinking I could do a quick jaunt into the city one Memorial day weekend in like 2004.  Which was peak Rolling Thunder.  IT WAS HELL. I was stuck on 395 for hours because I couldn't get off an turn around until I'd go through the city!  I was young and dumb, but I have made sure to pay attention to huge road closures like this every single time since then.[/quote]

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