The cut through traffic in my neighborhood has gone down drastically with the shutdown.

Umd is on break until late Jan too.

The funny thing for me is that 3/4 of my commute has gotten much faster but the last 1/4 has gotten worse! Wisconsin is a breeze, M Street moves along nicely, Key Bridge is a joy, Rosslyn is speedy, the GW Parkway is an absolute joy and has no slowdowns UNTIL National Airport and then the drive to Alexandria is stop-and-go from the middle of National Airport to Franklin. It is like they are doing it on purpose in Alexandria because no new cars are getting added to the road after the 14th street bridge and we're all just literally zipping along until DEAD STOP at National Airport and then bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go up to and through Alexandria. Then miraculously it opens up again.

Anonymous wrote:If you mean over the last week--please note: people were on vacation.

And school delays and cancellations.

Anonymous wrote:# of federal workers in Virginia: 144,295
# of federal workers in Maryland: 120,705

I'm afraid, OP, your argument rates FAIL on the scale of persuasiveness.

Source: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2018/05/who-they-are-and-where-they-work-the-federal-workforce-by-the-numbers/slide/1/

# of federal workers in Virginia: 144,295
# of federal workers in Maryland: 120,705

I'm afraid, OP, your argument rates FAIL on the scale of persuasiveness.

UMCP's winter break also greatly reduces traffic on 495 and 270. Break started about the same time as the shut down and will start up again soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, President Trump for shutting down the federal government! You’ve made my commute easier, and thanks also for that tax cut. Re-elect the President 2020!

Are you a billionaire or a large corporation?
Because those are the only two groups that benefited from that tax-cut-on-a-credit card, once you account for the service and earned benefit cuts that will be coming to pay back that two trillion dollar tax cut.

Anonymous wrote:I have noticed a drastic reduction in 495 traffic in Maryland in comparison with a slight reduction in traffic around Beltway Virginia. The notorious Silver Spring-Bethesda stretch of 495 has had WAY less traffic during the shutdown. What does this tell me? Maryland relies too much on federal employment whereas Virginia has stronger employment in private sector jobs.

Elected officials take notice.

If Defense department was part of the shutdown, you would see the same reduction in VA.