NON HOV tips

Well if you get stuck driving down 95 after HOV hours like I did yesterday in rush hour... Here are some tips. I drove for two years from Georgetown to Woodbridge so I'm used to the patterns.

People start cheating about 10 minutes till 6pm. You could try that. But it'll bottleneck down by Springfield at the multiple exit/entry points as everyone gets on at 6pm. So if you get on at the Pentagon at 5:50pm you're still going to get stuck at Springfield.

Or you could wait 15 minutes and wait for the bottlenecking to get better at 6:15pm. It'll get bad at the entry points at the Pentagon though and be bad until you get to the Little River Turnpike exit. Then HOV starts moving and regular 95 lanes start backing up.

But, it opens up again at Edsall Road as everyone is jumping off onto HOV.... So if you are patient then go regular 95. There are three lanes vs. two, and everyone is jumping on HOV so it clears up non HOV lanes. As with the case yesterday, after the mixing bowl I hit no traffic to my exit; it starts to get backed right at the 156 exit right where the rest area is.

That's good for Mondays thru Wednesdays. Thursdays are just a pain in the butt to drive for some reason so try not to drive in non HOV lanes or Friday afternoons.

It's a gamble once you get down to the mixing bowl as to which route you should go. I used to jump on HOV, then jump off at Springfield. There are three entry points which really backs everything up and it's a lot faster in non HOV from Monday-Wednesdays.

If you are traveling by yourself south on 95 on Friday, I would suggest picking up a slug or two and dropping them off at Potomac Mills. Then jump on Route 1 and get off where 234 is back to 95. It's always backed up b/c of the HOV merge (ends), and thest fastest lane is the right lane. If you come off the exit it's right there.