I ran a search of the thread to make sure I didn’t already say all this, but I noticed the whole earthquake day showed the difference between Baltimore and Washington, (and probably Richmond). I was working in Catonsville back then and commuted past BWI to get home, so listened to the Baltimore traffic report on maybe 98Rock radio, and recall Dave Sandler saying that there wasn’t much traffic today, because after the quake many workers went home, and everything was sort of winding down at 5:30 or so. Meanwhile, I wanted to listen to Redskins radio on 980am so changed stations, and Steve Czaban (a jokester) was wailing about how we’ve had a terrible earthquake and the Beltway is stopped, and the Metro is not running, and phones are not calling, and all of D.C. is a mess. I really, really, thought he was making his sarcastic jokes. Then as time went on, looking at the traffic map, and talking to people who were there, I realized he was not joking.
As an old guy who has worked in both Washington and Baltimore I can tell you there are certain differences to both urban areas, but the earthquake day was the biggest. In some minor defense of D.C., I think the quake was worse there, but it was quite significant in Baltimore too.