July 9, 2004
The Road Warrior
This was my challenge, and I chose to accept it. Yesterday, rush hour. From my office in the Judiciary Square/Capitol Hill area to the VW Dealer on Butler Road (off River Rd.) in western Bethesda. The ultimate cross-town run.
But how to get there?
The first instinct and the Mapquest instructions said to take Massachusetts to Wisconsin to River. The route minimizes distance and the number different streets taken. Given that Mapquest said it would take 28 minutes, a rush-hour drive up Mass. could end up taking closer to an hour, given need to snake around Mt. Vernon Sq. and wind through traffic circle after traffic circle.
It just wouldn't do.
I had a better idea. To avoid the Massachusetts crawl, avoid it alltogether. But not by sitting on K Street or doing something rash like taking First street to Florida to Connecticut to Calvert - but by going the wrong way.
Would it be faster to cut across the mall, go down Independence Av. to Rock Creek Parkway to Massachusetts above Dupont to Wisconsin to River? Sure, it's longer, but there are fewer lights, no traffic circles and it avoided the Bermuda Golden Triangle of Driving Doom altogether. It was worth a shot.
At first, it didn't go as well as I thought it would. Five minutes into the journey, and I still hadn't crossed into Southwest. Ten, and I got stuck at a nasty merge by the WWII Memorial. But I kept the faith, and I arrived at my destination in 35 minutes, on time and cool as a cucumber to boot.
It's adventures like these that make driving around here worthwhile.
Posted by rj3 at July 9, 2004 9:11 AM
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Comments
Here's how I would have gone ... Third Street tunnel to I-395 to Maine Avenue to Independence Avenue to Rock Creek Parkway to Kennedy Center/Potomac Frwy/I-66 tunnel to Whitehurst Frwy. to Canal Road to Foxhall Road to Nebraska Avenue to Mass. Ave. (via Ward Circle) to Little Falls Parkway or Goldsboro Road to River Road.
Less traffic toward the second half of the trip ...
Posted by: Oculus at July 9, 2004 12:59 PM
Touche, Doc Oc, touche.
Personally, I ruled out 395 because that would have meant looping around the Labor Dept. and possibly hitting some nasty traffic by the Maine Av. exit. Luckilly, my second half wasn't much of a problem, as Mt. Vernon Sq. and Dupont Circle were the main bottlenecks I wanted to avoid.
But I'll keep it in mind.
Posted by: Randolph at July 9, 2004 1:09 PM