Slug line to the Pentagon and Ft Belvoir....a Washington DC institution.
A few days ago I wrote a blog post about transportation options for folks
moving to a duty station at the Pentagon. An alert reader, Nancy Murraya retired Navy commander who was stationed at the Pentagon some years back left a comment that she had "slugged in from Fairfax Station". I had forgotten about THE SLUG LINE.
Slugging is a cross between organized hitch hiking and random carpooling. It is human ingenuity at its best. As my friend Rich who slugs to the State Dept. says: "Slugging is an example of a government policy (HOV lanes) creating the desired government result (cheap alternative transportation) without government involvement".
What is slugging? Well, slugging has become so organized and entrenched that is has its own superb website that explains the whole thing better than I can. http://www.slug-lines.com/:
" The system of slugging is quite simple. A car needing additional passengers to meet the required 3- person high occupancy vehicle (HOV) minimum pulls up to one of the known slug lines. The driver usually positions the car so that the slugs are on the passenger side. The driver either displays a sign with the destination or simply lowers the passenger window, to call out the destination, such as "Pentagon," "L’Enfant Plaza," or "14th & New York." The slugs first in line for that particular destination then hop into the car, normally confirming the destination, and off they go."
For a local interest story of real life slugging visit: Congressman joins the slugline
If you or friends are moving out of Northern Virginia ...away from Slug 
Central to the more peaceful climes of Colorado Springs and you need real estate assistance....a good place to start would be our alert reader friend Nancy Murray. Nancy is a Realtor in Colorado Springs with knowledge of DC and miltary relocation...from both sides. You can see Nancy's profile at: Nancy Murray once you are at Nancy's profile, you can check out her Colorado Springs real estate blog by clicking on it over on the left side of the profile page. She and her partner Ann Knoll would be happy to help make your relocation a smooth one.
Comments(2)