RVER
West of Boston, MA
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WE are heading to Myrtle Beach with the car and have done it before but want the fast way we can find without hitting traffic in NY, Baltimore or DC. Will stay over one night after about 8 -10 hrs of driving. WE have done it by 90 to 84 to 684 to TappenZee Bridge out t87 to 78 t0 81 to 66 or 77 to 17 to MB. But some have given us other ways like 95 South after avoiding NY by going down Garden State PKWY and 74 at Lumberton but I do not see 74 going down to MB but goes out to Wilmington and then down but they thought it brought down to MB so need some good ideas please.
Thanks in advance.
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wa8yxm
Davison Michigan (East of Flint)
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Off hand I'd say the coast HWY. what is that I-95 But not this week.
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RVER
West of Boston, MA
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YES if you look at a map BUT the traffic going through NY MD and DC is HORRENDOUS so looking for ways others do it to avoid hours of traffic jams and faster ways of getting to MB. Thanks for your suggestion.
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way2roll
Wilmington NC
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Can't speak to points North of DC but you want to avoid DC and Northern VA I95 if you can. We used to live in MD and currently we live about an hour North of Myrtle beach and travel back to MD periodically. We avoid 95 between Richmond/Fredericksburg and DC at all costs. Your suggestion of 81>66>17>95 South of Fredericksburg is a good one. I've also taken 81 down to 77 on occasion. South of Fredericksburg - poof - traffic just disappears. Waze will tell you it adds about 45 mins, but you'd sit in NOVA traffic for hours by comparison. In 6 years of travelling that route every few months there has NEVER been a time when NOVA I95 wasn't a parking lot filled with drivers who continually cut you off. Day of the week or time of day doesn't seem to matter.
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BCSnob
Middletown, MD
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We live NW of DC along I70 and we always use I81 over I95 to head south. I’d rather deal with the trucks on the hills running I81 than the nascar wanna be drivers on I95. You don’t want to go through MD-DC-Northern VA on I95. US17 in Fredericksburg can be bad certain times of the day; another option is I64 to Richmond.
I endure a 40 mile one way commute (between 45min and 70min) towards DC every day. Even traffic on the reverse commute (going the other way) has gotten heavy over the past few years.
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mgirardo
Brunswick, GA
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RVER wrote:YES if you look at a map BUT the traffic going through NY MD and DC is HORRENDOUS so looking for ways others do it to avoid hours of traffic jams and faster ways of getting to MB. Thanks for your suggestion.
Yes traffic on I-95 through Northern VA is rough, but if you time it correctly, you can sail right through. Since you plan to stop for a night anyway, I would drive from Boston to say Baltimore. Leave Boston after Rush Hour and you should avoid Rush Hour every where else and get to Baltimore in about 7 hours. If you leave Baltimore at 4:30 am, you will drive right through the DC area and should get to Myrtle Beach in about 8 hours. If there aren't any accidents, you should be good to go. These estimates are based on as few breaks as possible and going a few miles over the speed limit (I usually do 64 in a 65, 72-4 in a 65, 74 in a 70).
I-95 is the quickest way south when your destination is along the coast. We travel from Coastal GA to Southern NJ frequently. I have tried finding a better way to go, but everything is far out of the way or smaller roads that take a lot longer. Any time saved by not getting stuck in traffic is lost going so far out of the way.
We always leave at 3 am and get to our destination in 12 hours (that's 1 stop; gas, potty break and food at 1 stop usually in Kenly, NC). Heading south DC is fine as we are usually in Richmond by 7-7:30 am. Heading north, VA/DC over the last few years has been becoming more problematic. If we can get through Northern VA before Noon, we are usually okay. For us, if traffic is looking iffy heading north after VA, we'll jump off onto 50 from the Capital Beltway and head up 301 to 13 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. We take 295 N, but for you the NJ Turnpike to the Garden State Parkway would be better. When we have driven north of NJ, we would normally take the Parkway to the Tappan Zee Bridge and then back to I-95. It's been at least 15 years since we've driven that route, so it may not be any better than going over the GW Bridge through NYC.
Good luck!
-Michael
Michael Girardo
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BCSnob
Middletown, MD
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Quote:If you leave Baltimore at 4:30 am, you will drive right through the DC area
4:30am is the beginning of traffic getting heavy; don’t leave any later than this. Traffic patterns in the DMV (News folks are using this now for DC-MD-VA) have been less predictable since the pandemic; midweek traffic can be light and moving fast one day and the next the lanes are full bumper to bumper at the same time of day with clear weather.
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bucky
Raleigh metro
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There is an airport in MB if you aren't heading elsewhere.
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Lumpty
Greater Gotham City
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Some tips for specific geographies, the NYC one very much car only due to low parkway bridges:
Around NYC: 684 south, to the Saw Mill Parkway to 287. Saves more than a few miles in Westchester County. Then, across the Tappan Zee/Mario Cuomo Bridge, take the Palisades Parkway south to Fort Lee, picking up I-95 just onto the NJ side of the GWB, then a few miles to the NJ Turnpike.
For the "DMV", with this route getting fine-tuned via needing to use 695 and the Key Bridge due to the Baltimore Tunnel Restrictions, take I-97 south of Baltimore, then continue on MD 3. That route turns into US 301, which has traffic lights but will move generally way better than 95, go over the Nice Bridge into VA, and follow 301 until it turns into VA 207 at Bowling Green, and then only about 10-12 miles to I-95 at Ruther Glen, MP 104 just north of Richmond.
Unless it is very much off-hours, I will drive around DC via that route. Very direct too, which negates much of the time lost on MD 3 and US301 at the traffic lights, irrespective of any traffic on 95, which frequently makes this way quicker.
Rob
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RVER
West of Boston, MA
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HOw do you get from the Tappen Zee Br to 78 West since I do want to go 81South to I 64 to get over to 95 far below DC. I want to avoid any Baltimore or DC traffic and am traveling in a car this time. Leaving tomorrow! More distance is better than sitting in traffic and dealing with bozos on 95 thinking it is a raceway.
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