NOVA traffic can eat a dick

[John]

there is no "opposite way" on the beltway.

Actually there is no opposite way on 66. I take the Beltway to work every day to Old Town, and 90% of the time I can drive 80mph the entire way. That's mainly because nobody commutes in the morning on the outerloop going east/north, and vice versa in the evening. On the western and northern side of the beltway, that's a different story...