Technology and Rare Earth Metals for National Security and Clean Energy
Transportation Information
Airports
The Washington, DC area is served by three different airports.
Residents of the Washington, DC area may use all of the airports
depending on their specific travel needs. Depending on your
destination, some airlines may offer better prices from one location
than another. You may also find direct flights from one airport and not
from another.
The closest airport to the venue is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and is located in Arlington County, Virginia. National Airport is the most
convenient of the area airports for visitors staying in the heart of
the city and residents who live in the downtown area. The airport is
accessible by Metro. During rush hour, National Airport can be
difficult to get to, especially from the suburbs of Maryland and
Virginia. A short runway limits the size of the aircraft that fly in
and out of Washington (the largest is a 757), so the airport only
offers domestic flights and a few flights to Canada and the Caribbean.
Dulles International Airport is located 26 miles from Washington, DC in
Chantilly, Virginia. The airport is about a 40 minute drive from
downtown Washington, DC in non-rush hour traffic. The Dulles Airport
Access Road makes the airport easy to get to once you get off of I-495.
There are plenty of shuttles and taxis to transport visitors around the
region. Since Washington, DC traffic is often congested, you should
plan ahead and avoid flight times near rush hour. Dulles Airport uses
mobile lounges known as “people movers” to shuttle passengers from the
terminal to the gates. This process can take extra time, so keep this
in mind and be sure to give yourself enough time to get the gate.
Baltimore Washington International Airport is located south of
Baltimore, North on I-95 toward Baltimore to I-195. Take I-195 East
(exit 47 off of I-95) toward BWI Airport. Follow the signs to the
terminal. Southwest Airlines has just built a new terminal here and
offers lots of flights at lower prices than some of its competitors.
The MARC and Amtrak train station is nearby offering train service to
Union Station in Washington, DC. BWI is a test site for the Department
of Homeland Security and is used to try out new airport security
screening methods. As a result, sometimes the security lines can be
quite long, so plan ahead for unexpected delays.
Getting Around
It's easy to get around DC, with its logically
laid-out streets and easy-to-use public transportation system, plus DC
has one of the highest ratios of taxis per citizen in the country. And
Washington, DC was just ranked the number 1 city in the nation for
walking.
One of the best ways to experience DC is on
foot. The city’s wide sidewalks meander past the inspiring monuments
and museums found on the National Mall as well as the intimate museums,
world-class theatres and splendid gardens in the neighborhoods. The
Brookings Institution ranked DC #1 among Walkable Cities in the U.S. for
2007.
The Metrorail subway system is one of the finest in the
world – safe, clean, efficient and easy to master. Metrobus provides
connections for locations not serviced directly by Metrorail. DC’s newest
transportation solution, the Circulator (with new routes launched in 2009), now
provides easy connections between Downtown and Adams Morgan, Georgetown and
Union Station, Union Station and the Capitol Riverfront, and the Washington
Convention Center and the Southwest Waterfront, as well as seasonal service
around the National Mall. Taxi service is plentiful and economical in DC.