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Washington, D.C. by car


Washington, D.C. by car

D.C. is primarily served by the coastal superhighway, I-95 from Baltimore or Richmond. It does not go into the city itself, dodging the District by running along the eastern portion of the Beltway (I-495). Coming from the south, I-395 serves as a sort of extension of I-95 going past the Beltway into the city. The intent was to run I-95 straight through the city towards Baltimore, but locals scuttled the plan, leaving this section's terminus in the East End. I-495 is the Beltway. The Beltway is reviled across the nation for its dangerous traffic patterns and impressive congestion (particularly during rush hour, when it rivals the Cross-Bronx Expressway in New York City as the most miserable highway in the United States). Still, the Beltway is often the only practical way to travel between suburbs. Other particularly notable routes include: I-270, which connects I-70 in Frederick to I-495 in Bethesda; I-66 starts at the western part of downtown and goes 75 miles west, ending near Front Royal, Virginia; US-50 traverses D.C. primarily along city roads east–west, heading east toward Annapolis and Ocean City (the latter by way of the Bay Bridge), and west across the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge into Northern Virginia and then all the way cross-country to Sacramento, California; the Baltimore-Washington Pkwy (also "B-W Pkwy") starts at I-295 in Anacostia, crossing Central Maryland, passing near BWI Airport and terminating in Baltimore. Note that connections between the southbound B-W Pkwy and the Southeast-Southwest Fwy in D.C. are difficult due to incomplete interchanges. Inside the Beltway, I-66 is HOV-2 only (all cars must have at least two passengers) eastbound 6AM-9:30AM and westbound 4PM-6:30PM. The HOV-2 restriction applies to the entire highway, not just specific lanes. US-50, US-29, and the George Washington Pkwy are the alternatives. Parking deserves special treatment. On weekdays, visitors to the city will have to pay for a garage spot. On-street parking is limited city-wide by meter or by residential zone. Metered parking is present throughout commercial areas, and meters will be limited to two hours during, roughly, daylight hours. Zone parking is free, but limited to two hours (starting from when you first park) in each zone per day, until 8PM. So, presumably, you could move your car around the eight zones throughout the day and then find a metered spot to ditch your car overnight, but that clearly would not be practical. Weekends are more accommodating to guests, as parking restrictions ease a bit on Saturdays, and are mostly gone on Sundays. Be forewarned, though, that the city has potential near-term plans to extend zone and meter restrictions into the weekends. So if you are coming by car, what to do? Your hotel will likely offer you a spot in their garage for as much as $30/day, although you could probably get that rate down to $15 if you look around—the giant $20/day lot at Union Station is a good bet. If you have a friend in the city, they can go to their local district police station to get you a temporary visitor parking permit, good for fifteen days . You can usually find better parking rates just outside the city near outer Metro stops (three of which have a very limited number of multi-day (up to ten days) parking spots: Greenbelt, Huntington, and Franconia-Springfield). And if you just don't want to pay for parking period, head over to a residential area in the suburbs near a Metro station to ditch your car, then walk or catch a bus to the station and head into D.C.!

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Washington, D.C. Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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