That area is effectively just north of me, so whether I'm going east or west on the Custis, I skip the S-curve.

Heading east going home at night, I take the "exit" just before the S-curve (green section) and then stay on Lee Hwy to Highland.

However, I DON'T recommend making that left across Lee Hwy there...if you wait until East/Westbound traffic already on Lee has a red light, you're looking at people FLYING off 66 onto Lee turning both directions. I have almost been nailed multiple times heading East on Lee by people coming off the highway and taking the right on red at full speed and see people make that left as/after their light turns red on a nightly basis.

Your better bet might be to, at the bottom of the ramp, carefull get to the leftmost Eastbound lane on Lee, and wait until the westbound traffic is clear, though I don't think it's any safer than the S...