9:26 here. Hov is very fast if you leave before say 7:15 ish. Door to door 30 min or less. DD goes to preschool at DH's work near Rayburn building. There are either 2 or 3 of us in the car. I have also stopped by and picked up folks waiting for the bus that I know and they are ok with a drop off at lenfant instead of pentagon. We leave by 5:15 and get home quickly too, ESP 395 hov. We live off of Duncan so we don't get trapped on 236 if it happens to be slow. That said, if there is an accident then you are screwed, but that is just life.

Original poster. Thanks for all of the great feedback! Sounds like a great place to live (and re: specifying the neighborhood, I just want to get as accurate information as possible, since I imagine commute times vary substantially from neighborhood to neighborhood).

Any idea how long it would take to carpool or use a vanpool? Do the HOV lanes speed things up substantially?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Wakefield too, love it. Dh took the pentagon bus for years without issues. I used to drive down Columbia pike to lenfant plaza and it could take 45 minutes to an hour. There are lots of folks who carpool on 66 or 395. All three of us commute in now since now dd does to school downtown. While the commute is longer than closer in areas, there are lots of good trade offs.

Where does your DD attend school? We are thinking about private school options (7 - 12) in DC but are concerned about the commute factor.

Goodness, if you're going to do DC privates, don't move to the Woodson area. Just live in the District or South Arlington or Alexandria City. There are some fine elementary school options and the commute would be much better.

We already live in the Woodson area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Wakefield too, love it. Dh took the pentagon bus for years without issues. I used to drive down Columbia pike to lenfant plaza and it could take 45 minutes to an hour. There are lots of folks who carpool on 66 or 395. All three of us commute in now since now dd does to school downtown. While the commute is longer than closer in areas, there are lots of good trade offs.

Where does your DD attend school? We are thinking about private school options (7 - 12) in DC but are concerned about the commute factor.

Goodness, if you're going to do DC privates, don't move to the Woodson area. Just live in the District or South Arlington or Alexandria City. There are some fine elementary school options and the commute would be much better.

Anonymous wrote:What about commute times on the way home if you are on the road by 5pm at federal triangle? Does carpooling make a big difference incommute time?

The difference between getting on the road at 4:45 vs. 5:00 can be huge too, I find. Getting out of the city can be really dicey. But I'm sure the carpooling helps if you can take the HOV lane on 395.

Anonymous wrote:We live in Wakefield too, love it. Dh took the pentagon bus for years without issues. I used to drive down Columbia pike to lenfant plaza and it could take 45 minutes to an hour. There are lots of folks who carpool on 66 or 395. All three of us commute in now since now dd does to school downtown. While the commute is longer than closer in areas, there are lots of good trade offs.

Where does your DD attend school? We are thinking about private school options (7 - 12) in DC but are concerned about the commute factor.

What about commute times on the way home if you are on the road by 5pm at federal triangle? Does carpooling make a big difference incommute time?

We live in Wakefield too, love it. Dh took the pentagon bus for years without issues. I used to drive down Columbia pike to lenfant plaza and it could take 45 minutes to an hour. There are lots of folks who carpool on 66 or 395. All three of us commute in now since now dd does to school downtown. While the commute is longer than closer in areas, there are lots of good trade offs.

My kids go to Canterbury Woods. Great school and great neighborhood!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in this neiborhood and just want to say its AWESoME!

We feed to Wakefield Forest but are closer to Canterbury Woods. You?

I'm not the pp you quoted, but the "ditto". My kids go to Wakefield forest too.

We love the area.

Anonymous wrote:I live in this neiborhood and just want to say its AWESoME!

We feed to Wakefield Forest but are closer to Canterbury Woods. You?