Need Advice 9am White House Tour

We've got a 9am White House tour on Friday, I'm thinking the best bet is to take the Metro in, but I'm not sure what time I need to leave Broadlands.

If we leave at 6:30am what time do you think we'll get to the Metro stop at Vienna/Fairfax-GMU? I'm thinking that's the closest, but I'm guessing traffic on 50 and 66 will be crazy.

Any suggestions?

 

If there's more than one of you in the car you can use the HOV lanes on the Dulles Toll Road. I would go to the West Falls Church station to park.

 

Yep, I've got a car full of people, that'll work out well! What time would you suggest leaving Broadlands? 6:30? Looks like the stop is right off the toll road.

 

Can you get into WEST Falls Church from the toll road? I didnt think so...
I go to EAST Falls Church

 

You can take the toll road and stay straight as if getting onto 66 East, but then take the Mclean exit before actually getting to 66. Once you merge onto 123 north, you take the right at the first light (I believe) and follow down to Haycock to get to the Metro. You avoid Rt. 7 and the construction mess there, you just have to get through the main toll at the 495/66 intersection.

 

The East Falls Church is an option but West Falls Church has a big parking garage so it might be easier to park there. I think if you leave Broadlands at 6:30 you should be fine. Escalator tip, especially during rush hour: standing on the right, walking on the left.

 

If you can use HOV, I'd skip Metro and drive on down. Especially if you have a bunch of people. It probably would be cheaper to pay for parking down town (high end $18 for whole day) than paying for everyone's round trip Metro. I would leave about 7:00AM to make sure you're there in time. Tough compute would be 90 minutes.

 

Parking might be cheaper but finding a space is the trick!

 

You leave at 630, take precautions, the toll plaza area gets bad at 630 and is a mess till about 900 am.

 

Agree with afgm...driving in will save $$ you can spend on lunch, instead. However, if your guests are out of town and they have never experienced the metro system it may be worthwhile to take the train in. Grab a day pass and you can save yourself a lot of walking, depending on what you plan to see.

Also, due to the holiday, many Government workers will probably take Friday off, so you may experience lighter than normal traffic on the roads and on the trains.

 

If it is a Friday, and as you are likely to be there well before 9 AM there are plenty of garages that you'll find room in... if you take the E st. expwy, and make a left on 18th, there are a couple of garages where you can park (near G st. and Penn Ave). The white house is less than 4-5 blocks walk from there.

 

One other thing, by having a car down there you can give them the grand drive around tour. Cover more ground.

 

Awesome advice from everyone! Thanks so much!