Northern Virginia has one of the worst commuting delays of any region in the country. Housing is so spread out that commuters need to drive just to reach a bus pickup or rail station - and on the other end, after changing buses or trains at least once, you're still a mile from the office itself.
Most of the acreage at a shopping center is car habitat, not people-centered. To get around, curvy colonial roads are filled with cars and school buses - and then you have to account for delays from construction, rain and ice, little ol' ladies from Pasadena and other tourists that have no clue where they are going, 8-lane highways that are squeezed onto 6-lane bridges, and of course the accidents.
When commuters start to get blasé over everything short of a dynamite truck overturned at the Springfield interchange, and shout at police for closing highways to talk gun-wielding suicide candidates into surrendering, you know the Northern Virginia commute has reached the level of Los Angeles and Atlanta and Boston and New York driving.
So if you think about how this will change in the future, listen to the political candidates in any election (and for almost any office...) promise improved roads and more funding for public transit. Then think "more road construction" and "higher taxes to pay for public transportation."
At some point, think the public attitudes might shift - even the attitude about living in the District and having a reverse commute? If you watch the traffic on westbound I-66 at 7:00am, or eastbound at 4:30pm, you might assume that some people have already adjusted their perspective.
A groundswell of people moving into the District may not happen soon. More likely, the "work at home" revolution will spread more rapidly. There are already 17 Federal government telecommuting centers around Washington now, designed both to reduce traffic and to retain/attract high-value employees. Employees drive to these facilities in part because they lack computer equipment and high-speed Internet access at their home, and in part because managers want some assurance that their staff are actually working during scheduled hours.
60% of Washington-area households have at least dial-up access to the Internet now, in contrast to the 25% rate nationally. Though government bureaucracies may be slow to adapt to the changed work environment, high-tech employers are likely to support work-at-home arrangements, especially where a company is creating productivity- enhancing software.
So in the next 20 years, a commute in Northern Virginia may consist of padding in slippers to the dedicated room over the garage or in the basement, and require no use of the automobile.