These are just a few stories from Tysons commuters. Submit your story today!
Sara M.
- Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
- Coming into the office in the morning: 45 minutes
- Going home at night: between 45 and 90 minutes
Fortunately I work from home two days a week and have the flexibility to leave the office earlier some days and work from home. If I am not able to leave the office before 4:30pm, I usually sit in traffic and it can double my commute time. I live in the city and feel like I am missing the benefit of living in the district and not being able to take public transportation to work. I would love to ride the metro, save gas money and the environment if I had the option.
Cherilyn C.
- Reston, Virginia
- Average commute time: 30 minutes door-to-door
- Route Taken: Dulles Toll Road from Reston to Tysons Corner
Generally, to avoid congestion and cut down on the amount of time I spend commuting I have learned when is the optimal time to leave my home. You might think that with a 30 minute commute I could leave at 8:30 to arrive by 9am – but at 8:30 it is 45 minutes or more from Reston to Tysons on the Toll Road. So I leave earlier or later to minimize the commute, and then adjust my work day accordingly. Another handy tool to avoid congestion has been my portable GPS system. If I get stuck, I can bail at the next exit and rely on the GPS to (eventually) get me to work through another route. Of course the best way for me to manage my commute has been to telecommute from home half-time – a strategy that has greatly increased my personal sanity and given me additional hours to improve the quality of my professional work.
In terms of getting around Tysons itself, the greatest frustration comes around the holidays when the mall/holiday shopping traffic turns area streets into parking lots and creates tremendous congestion on local highways and thoroughfares. In addition, it would be great if Tysons were generally more pedestrian friendly, with more office workers being able to walk to a local eatery for lunch instead of having to get back into their cars just to locate a sandwich or Starbucks.
A note on getting downtown – On the mornings when I have a downtown DC meeting first thing, I generally leave at least 2 hours for this trip and there have been times when I still didn’t make it. If there was a metro or good express-bus option from Reston to downtown, it would be a blessing for the commute to DC.
Rhonda W.
- Alexandria
I have developed three possible ways to commute home from the Tysons Corner area in order to give me some options around traffic backups – but as a mom, kid pickups often force me to select one way, even if there is horrendous backup using that route. So during the school year I use the Beltway, if I don’t have any kid drop-offs I take Route 7 the entire way, or use I-66 during summer camp season. It would be nice to have one reliable way to get to work! I have found some secrets – leaving around 9:00 a.m. usually shaves about 10 minutes off the time. However, leaving the Tysons area during rush hour is always a bear. It can take 15 minutes just to get ON the beltway from Chain Bridge Road. My only strategy is to factor in an extra 15 minutes if I have to be somewhere by a certain time, i.e. the kids school. If it’s raining, I add an additional 15 minutes.
Amy L.
- Reston, VA
- Average commute time: 50 minutes (includes daycare drop-off)
- Route or routes taken: Route 7
Because I have to drop-off my son on the other side of Reston, I have to take Route 7 to work, although the Dulles Toll Road would be much faster. Route 7 into Tysons can be great or awful. In bad weather, it has taken me almost 2 hours to get from Reston to Tysons. I have the opportunity to take the Toll Road home which is faster except that with the location of my office, I have to go back up to Route 7 to get on it. I can’t get on from 123 as it goes the other direction and no interest in getting on the beltway to cross over 5 lanes of traffic in a half mile. Recently our office moved from one side of Tysons to the other – a mere 2 miles. But this added 10 minutes to my morning commute and at least 15 to the afternoon.
