Unusual Question - Moving to Springfield?

Shorty5646,

All Springfield slug line locations have townhomes nearby. Those locations include "Bob's", Daventry, Cardinal Plaza, Sydenstricker, and Rolling Valley. Bus lines go to either the Pentagon or the Franconia-Springfield Metro station.

Slugs at the "Bob's" and Rolling Valley slug lines can catch rides to downtown DC locations, while the other slug lines are mainly for slugs going to the Pentagon and maybe Rosslyn.

Not sure about any slug lines operating reliably in Lorton.

Check out the "Morning Slug Lines" tab on the home page of this website for details on each Springfield line.

Good luck. [:)]

Check out Newington Forest in between Silverbrook and Pohick Roads. Great High School a mile away, moderately priced town house and single family homes available for sale, great community. Our family has made that our home for twenty years and we couldn't have asked for a better location.

Flyby

The pickup point closest to Newington Forest is the commuter lot at Sydenstricker. Bob's is the next closest place on the way to 395 but Rolling Valley is also a possibility.


Flyby

I live in Kingstowne. Great area to live and there's easy access by either car or Fairfax Connector bus to two Metro stops (Van Dorn and Franconia-Springfield) and pretty easy access by car to Huntington. Both the Blue and Yellow Lines on the subway serve L'Enfant Plaza, though be aware that the subway from Franconia-Springfield to downtown can be expensive (potentially over $10 a day roundtrip plus parking).

The biggest limiting factor at rush hour for driving towards DC from either Springfield or the Kingstowne area is that you have to get across the Beltway and the ways to do that are limited. Between Braddock Road and the Wilson Bridge, your options for getting across the Beltway are (1) Backlick Road, (2) I-395, (3) Van Dorn Street, (4) Telegraph Road, (5) US-1, and (6) the GW Parkway. All of them can back up, some worse than others. (Van Dorn can be a crapshoot from day to day....I drive my wife to the Metro and some mornings it takes us 10 minutes whereas other days it can be 40 minutes. On those other days, I can usually tell by glancing up the road that it will be bad and we just turn around and go to Franconia-Springfield.)

The Bob's slug line is fairly easy to reach from Kingstowne, but when I worked downtown (I no longer do) I generally found that it wasn't worth my time to drive over there in the mornings because Springfield is not really the friendliest road system to use if you have to go to somewhere within Springfield (as opposed to going THROUGH Springfield en route to somewhere else). That is, I live off Van Dorn Street, and by the time I drove to Bob's and picked up slugs I'd be at least halfway downtown if I just headed downtown solo. If you look at a map you can see why that is.

In the afternoons, though, if you have to leave during HOV hours, the slugging system to Bob's is very helpful.

One caveat about these comments: I have not worked downtown since before the Mark Center monstrosity opened, so I do not know whether the changes in traffic around there might make going to Bob's in the mornings more effective.

My understanding is the "Bob's" and Sydenstricker lots fill up early (by 7 to 7:30). The Rolling Valley lot usually has parking spots available all day long and I've caught slug rides there as late as 8 AM. The commuter lots on Gambrill Road and Backlick Road do not have slug lines and are used by permanent car pools and bus riders. I do not know the parking situation at the Cardinal Plaza and Daventry slug lines, but maybe a slug who uses them can post some recent info. Hope this helps.