Northern Virginia Traffic GuideLive map, rush hour, tolls, choke points and the ways around them

Rush hour by road: minutes on the main commuter routes.

The bar shows the same range on a 0 to 70 minute scale. These are the latest corridor times the TPB has published; it gives no hour-by-hour figures for single roads, and we found none from VDOT either.

I-66 inside the Beltway, 2025. The express trip averaged 10.5 minutes eastbound in the morning (59.6 mph) and 11.1 minutes westbound in the evening (57.1 mph), Tuesday to Thursday; Route 50 beside it took 17.4 and 20.7 minutes. Speeds dipped below 55 mph eastbound between 8:30 and 9 a.m. and westbound between 3 and 3:15 p.m.⁴

• WEEKDAYSBefore 6 a.m. or after 8 p.m.

  From Tuesday to Thursday, trips in the DC area took about 9% longer than on empty roads at 5 a.m. and 22 to 23% longer at 8 p.m., against 54 to 58% at 8 a.m. and about 72% at 5 p.m.² On I-95 itself, the southbound backup at Route 123 in Woodbridge is worst at midday and in the evening and lasts 9 hours 59 minutes on an average day; the northbound one is worst in the morning and evening peaks.³

• FRIDAYSMid-morning, before the early rush

  Friday mornings are the lightest of the workweek (37% extra at 8 a.m.), but the evening rush starts sooner: 50% at 2 p.m. and 61% at 3 p.m., peaking at 64% at 4 p.m. Between 9 a.m. and noon it stayed at 29 to 32%.²

• WEEKENDSEarly morning

  Saturday at 8 a.m. ran 14% over empty-road times and Sunday at 9 a.m. 13%. Saturday peaks at 41% at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 32% at 2 p.m.² Going south on a Sunday, the 95 and 395 Express Lanes run north all day, so you are in the regular lanes.⁵

The operator changes the schedule for holidays, events and crashes, and its website shows the current direction. On weekdays a detour sends northbound express traffic back to I-95 near Route 123 at the start of the switch, about 10 to 10:30 a.m. in summer and 11 to 11:30 a.m. the rest of the year.⁵

1. 1

   I-95 south at Route 123 (Exit 160)

   Woodbridge, Prince William CountyWorst: Midday and eveningTPB No. 1

   Backs up an average of 4.12 miles and lasts 9 hours 59 minutes on an average day: 940,426 hours of delay in 2025, the most in the region.³

2. 2

   I-495 south (Outer Loop) at the GW Parkway (Exit 43)

   McLean, Fairfax County, off the American Legion BridgeWorst: EveningTPB No. 2

   4.38 miles of backup, 4 hours 38 minutes a day, 634,697 hours of delay in 2025.³

3. 3

   I-95 north at Route 123 (Exit 160)

   Woodbridge, Prince William CountyWorst: Morning and eveningTPB No. 4

   3.55 miles of backup, 4 hours 59 minutes a day, 240,781 hours of delay in 2025.³

4. 4

   I-95 north at Backlick Road (Exit 167)

   Springfield, Fairfax CountyWorst: MiddayTPB No. 5

   3.97 miles of backup, 3 hours 18 minutes a day, 240,306 hours of delay in 2025.³

5. 5

   I-495 north (Inner Loop) at Clara Barton Parkway (Exit 41)

   Maryland side of the American Legion BridgeWorst: EveningTPB No. 6

   The trip home to Maryland: 3.81 miles of backup, 1 hour 51 minutes a day, 210,335 hours of delay in 2025.³

6. 6

   I-495, west side

   Tysons to the Potomac, Fairfax CountyWorst: Peak hoursATRI No. 18

   The 18th worst truck bottleneck in the US in ATRI’s 2026 list: trucks averaged 32.9 mph, and 26.9 mph at peak hours.⁹

7. 7

   I-495 east (Outer Loop) at US 1 (Exit 1)

   Alexandria, the approach to the Wilson BridgeWorst: Most daysTPB 2023 No. 5

   3.52 miles of backup, 3 hours 8 minutes a day in 2023 (the latest list with this spot).⁸

8. 8

   GW Parkway north at Route 123 (Chain Bridge Road)

   McLean, Fairfax CountyWorst: Most daysTPB 2023 No. 6

   4.11 miles of backup, 2 hours 39 minutes a day in 2023.⁸ VDOT reported a multi-year project with a southbound lane closed between Route 123 and the Windy Run bridge in 2025.⁴

9. 9

   US 15 north at Stumptown Road and Lucketts Road

   North of Leesburg, Loudoun CountyWorst: Most daysTPB 2023 No. 7

   7.23 miles of backup, 1 hour 26 minutes a day in 2023.⁸ The Route 15 widening north of Leesburg is on the road projects page.

10. 10

    I-495 at I-66, and I-95 at I-495

    Merrifield and Springfield, Fairfax CountyWorst: Peak hoursATRI No. 65 and No. 75

    Trucks averaged 42.1 mph at I-495 and I-66 (31.8 mph at peak), and 43.3 mph at the Springfield interchange (31.4 mph at peak), in ATRI’s 2026 list.⁹

• METROFour Metro lines reach into Virginia.

  Silver from Ashburn, past Dulles Airport, Reston and Tysons; its six newest stations, on 11.4 miles of track, opened November 15, 2022.Orange from Vienna through Arlington.Blue from Franconia-Springfield.Yellow from Huntington.All four run into DC.¹³

• VRETwo commuter rail lines, weekdays only.

  The Manassas Line (Broad Run, Manassas, Manassas Park, Burke Centre, Rolling Road, Backlick Road) and the Fredericksburg Line (through Quantico, Woodbridge, Lorton and Franconia-Springfield) meet at Alexandria and run to Crystal City, L’Enfant and Union Station. VRE ran a one-day Sunday service on August 23, 2026; regular weekend service waits on rail projects including the Long Bridge, due in 2030.^14,15

• BUSCommuter buses to DC, the Pentagon and Rosslyn.

  OmniRide runs express buses from Prince William County (for example 971 Dale City to Washington, 563 Woodbridge to Navy Yard, 622 Haymarket to Rosslyn via I-66); its Local buses are fare-free until June 2027. Loudoun County Transit runs rush-hour buses from park and ride lots to Rosslyn, Crystal City, the Pentagon and DC, and Fairfax Connector’s express routes serve the Pentagon and DC at peak hours for a higher fare.¹⁶

• SLUGSlugging: free rides in the express lanes.

  Drivers pick up riders at known slug lines so the car has three people and rides the express lanes free; no money changes hands. Morning lines form at lots such as Horner Road and Route 234 in Prince William County; evening lines are in DC and at the Pentagon and Rosslyn.¹⁷

• PARKPark and ride lots.

  Commuter Connections lists nearly 400 lots with 160,000 spaces across the Washington and Baltimore areas, and parking is free at 89% of them.¹⁸ 511 Virginia shows the lots on its map.