I'm headed to a concert at the Filene Center next week from a hotel at Dupont Circle. Start time is 6pm. Any guesses on how long the drive might take during rush? Google maps says under 30 min for both the I66 route and GW Parkway to the Beltway route. That seems terribly optimistic to me.

Would appreciate any input from DC/NoVA people on this and which would be the better route. Thank you!

I live at Dupont Circle and can say that 30 minutes IS terribly optimistic. There's been endless construction and delays on 66 for months and months, and the Parkway and Beltway are usually a mess at that time of day, especially since every one is trying to avoid the 66 mess. I'd take 66, but plan on at least an hour - or take the metro to Falls Church and then the bus to Wolf Trap, which we find far more relaxing than driving under any circumstances, even though coming home you may face up to a 20-minute wait for the metro late at night. We've tallied up the driving time versus the public transportation time a few times, and public transportation wins every time.

I second take the Metro to West Falls Church and then the Wolf Trap bus. You'll be happy you are on the bus when you see everyone lined up to get out of the parking lot. If you insist on driving you need to allow for 1 - 1 1/2 hours at rush hour, especially on a Friday.

Had not considered the public transport option!! As usual, Fodorites are the best!

It's not a Friday, so grateful for small favors.

StCirq and Flem04 write with great wisdom. I never even consider driving in northern Virginia after 4 PM. The sprawl has outstripped the road system and is likely to continue to do so.

OBX -
are you driving solo, or will you have a passenger? I-66 (and VA-267 inside the beltway) is HOV-2 only until 6:30. If you are driving solo, you can't even take the I-66 route. If you have a passenger, you shouldn't hit any backups from the TR bridge to the Dulles Access Road toll plaza, so long as you make it through before 6:30. I think 30 minutes would still be optomistic, but your big problem will be DuPont to the bridge.