Great article on the terribleness of DC area driving

[RawrImAMonster]

Re: Richmond (traffic, not jobs/cost of living/etc)

I'm talking a bit out of my ass too, as I work from home and my wife works weird hours, but I think it's safe to say it is a completely different beast than DC. I never even think about traffic when I go out, whereas whenever I'm in DC, I have to plan my day around it. Even if I want to leave the DC area on the weekend, it's generally a pain in the ass. At the risk of sounding like someone who got out of DC and is bitter about the area - I'm not, DC treated me well and RVA is doing so too - I think that being there causes you to accept it as part of life. I know that being away from it is a bit liberating - I'm just now realizing that it's something that we never really talk about down here, but feels like a constant subject when I go up to DC. Who knows, maybe my memory has exaggerated it a bit.

Short Pump is never really fun to go to, but it's only really a few blocks, and I kinda dislike that strip in general. Compare it to Tyson's or something.

That is the impression I've gotten. I've visited friends in Richmond on the weekends a few times and there hasn't really been any traffic going there on Friday evening, all Saturday or leaving Sunday. Granted I've only really ever been in the downtown/surrounding areas like the fan and church hill. Not sure if they're really considered downtown. I'm not that familiar with the city.

Taylor, you'll be fine. Honestly, Harrisonburg traffic and Charlottesville traffic can suck just as much as NoVA traffic if you hit it at the wrong times. Definitely come up for a weekend sometime and see what this part of the world is all about firsthand before getting all freaky.

I have NEVER in almost 10 years of driving in/around Harrisonburg seen it anywhere close to as bad as any of the less than 5 times I've driven in Nova. The only times it ever gets bad is if there is a major wreck on 81 and traffic gets diverted through the city.