🚀 go-pugleaf

Mike Scheinberg <mike.scheinberg@iname.remove-this.com> said something like:
: But today I decided to take I-395 to I-295 to Pennsylvania Ave., SE. 
: From there, I simply exited onto the Anacostia Freeway (DC 295)
: northbound,

Careful, last time somebody referred to that road as 295, our resident
psychopath blew a blood vessel in his head. Please use the proper name:
Kennilworth Ave. The fact that just about everybody in town calls it 295
is immaterial. :)

: That is, Eureka until I tried to find my way home... I decided to
: backtrack my DC 295 route.  I fell into some nasty construction, and
: couldn't get back to Pennsylvania Avenue inbound.  I eventually had to
: do the I-295/Howard Road U-Turn to get back to I-395.

Yeah, there's no westbound exit on PA Ave from 295 ^h^h^h Kennilworth
Soutbound. Never will be, apparently. Acutally the left turn you are
making from PA Ave Eastbound onto 295 ^h^h^h Kennilworth Ave NB is a
recent addition; it's about nine years old if memory serves. In the old
days we had to make a series of right turns through neighborhoods around
Minnesota Ave.

: - Which is really "the best" way (least congested, most direct,
: quickest) to get to South College Park and back? Any suggestions?

That depends on the accident du jour. It sounds like you are refining your
route, which is the best one can hope for. Stay tuned to WTOP and have an
alternate route planned.

: - If I like the DC 295 route, what's the most efficient way to get back
: to I-295 north from DC 295 south?

Instead of the U-turn, you could try the Suitland parkway exit. Stay on
the exit ramp and then merge back onto I295 NB and then stay right to
cross the 11th street bridge.

: - Is there some magical route I should be taking out of Rosslyn to get
: me through the traffic more quickly?

Yes, I95, when it's complete from the current terminus at New York Ave all
the way up to the (completed) 495 interchange west of College Park. While
construction hasn't actually started yet, I'm working on the politicians
slowly but surely... so far they think I'm a lunatic, but check back in,
oh, 30 years or so.

Ahem. In the meantime, no, you're probably doing the best you could. Try
the GW Parkway to the Beltway and see what it's like, it's technically a 
"reverse" commute, but I suspect it will still be worse than what you're
dealing with now. The simple fact is that there are only seven Potomac
crossings between Leesburg and Fredericksburg, and there probably won't be
any more in my lifetime. And there is no freeway route to go northbound
from the city, nor southbound into the city. This was a deliberate
oversight on the part of the highway planners of yore, as a way of
minimizing traffic on 295 and encouraging Montgomery and PG County
commuters to instead use I70 and I95, or at least the Barney Circle
bridge. Unfortunately those routes were never built, so folks like you
must make u-turns or ride ramps. 

You also might try New York Ave, as, again, you're doing a reverse
commute. Cross the Roosevelt Bridge, stay on Constitution until taking a
left on 6th St NW, then a right onto NY Ave. Follow that until you come to
the BW Parkway interchange. Worth a shot.

: Any suggestions?  Thanks in advance...

Welcome to Washington, the epicenter of dead freeways. But rest assured,
the fact that a) we have the country's best use of carpooling b) the
country's second best rate of mass transit use and c) the highest gridlock
expense in the country... all of those are coincidences. Trust me.

-- 
 > B E N T L E Y <     bentley AT digex DOT net
A long frisbee throw from the pungent and lovely Potomac River
www.access.digex.net/~bentley/remove-this-bot-blocking-part