I’ll be driving with my daughter to her Southern school. It will be a multi-day trip so we have some flexibility as to when we leave. What timing have people found good for a trip that will take us from the Boston suburbs and past NYC and Washington DC? I’d like to time it so we don’t sit in too much horrendous traffic.
My husband used to take the drive between DC area and our home north of Boston monthly. He says he never had a time without traffic, but what he did do was cut way west to Albany NY – sadly, I guess that would mean $$$ Mass pike for you – and drive down from there, eventually approaching DC from the northwest. I believe he was able to bypass CT and NYC area completely.
If you’re driving on a weekday, I’d say leave Boston toward the end of morning rush. If you are lucky, you will get to DC before peak evening rush. If you are driving on a weekend, I’d leave earlier. Anyway you dice it, not a fun drive and you are bound to hit some traffic.
It looks like it’s about a 7 1/2-hour drive. I’m weird. If it were me, I would leave at 9 or 10 pm and get past DC before rush hour. I despise sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic with a passion, and much prefer driving at night.
When we drive our daughter 500 miles to her school in central Pennsylvania, we leave at 3 am so we get past Hartford, CT by rush hour. If we wait to even 3:30 am, we hit traffic.
If you’re a night owl like me, 7 PM departure time.
Free advice. Don’t take 95 the whole way. There is no way around the traffic or the construction (much of the construction takes place at night).
Head towards 84 in CT. Lots of route choices from there that don’t involve 95.
I agree with @thumper1 , the Pike to 84 is the way to go. It would help to know the end destination. Is it south of DC by a lot?
Use your GPS. I recently went north toward Cape Cod middle of the day weekday. It was raining so no construction. However, a major accident blocked 95 (a friend going elsewhere sat for over 1.5 hours). Sent me up and around vis Mass Pike. Can you go on a Sunday? Leaving super early should reduce the potential for traffic. Going at night may help, but often that is when there is construction that shuts down lanes. Going west via Mass Pike and then south may help. I know folks that drive to Florida that leave at 2am to avoid traffic in DC area. Also depends on where in the south you are going. But be prepared for traffic and pleasantly surprised if there is none.
OMG , please don’t think that once you pass DC you’ll be free as a bird. I 95 all the way through at least Fredericksburg and sometimes through Richmond is frequently terrible. If at all possible, try I 81, although that route is clogged with semitrucks. It would be helpful if you could be more specific about exactly what college you are headed for.
I agree with trying a night drive, although night time is when most 1-95 road work is done, and traffic backups can be worse then, than during daylight hours, in which case an EZ pass will be your best friend.
We do a part of this run frequently - Boston to NJ. We find leaving Boston at 7 am (on a weekday) helps us to beat the traffic and make the best time. We do the mass pike to 84 to 684 to saw mill parkway to tappen zee bridge to 287. Boston to NJ at this time is 4 hours and change (we usually do a very quick pit stop for gas and bathroom). We don’t like to drive overnight (not night owls). That would put you in NJ by lunch and then hopefully in DC before the worst part of the rush.
Where is your destination? If you don’t want to name the school, I understand but how far past DC are you going? Since it’s a multi-day trip, I assume you are going much further past DC? If so, there are ways to avoid 95 in the DC area by coming through Delaware and down the eastern shore of MD to the Bay Bridge then down 301 toward Richmond. Depending on the time of day you leave Boston and when you get to the Bay Bridge, this would avoid 95 traffic which is horrendous.
And very free advice. If you are traveling around DC…figure out a way to avoid the Beltway. There is never a good time to be on that road.
The route above…mass pike to 84 to 684 to 287 over the Tappan Zee is what we take. I’m not a fan of the saw mill.
Tappan Zee to Garden State Parkway. My preference is the Merritt Parkway through southern CT but that’s been rough lately. Still more pleasant than 95, though.
If you can get through the New Haven area before 7 AM, traffic is pretty good. Lots of mid-day construction delays, and they seem to be doing night work as well.
I’d leave around 4 AM (ugh!) and have a nice breakfast break in north Jersey to allow rush hour to clear before continuing south.
There are no shoulders on the Merritt. Merging is ridiculous. I personally hate the road.
I agree with the 7 to 10pm time frame suggestion. However summer road projects heat up in the overnight hours in New England. Probably common everywhere. So use Waze and listen to the suggestions.
My relatives just did the reverse trip from Maryland to Connecticut. They used WAZE and oddly it did not give them good construction info. Plus they took 95 all the way to Bridgeport. Big mistake.
Thanks everyone for the input. We’re heading all the way to Auburn AL but we have a few days to make the trip and no set timetable so we’re playing things by ear once we get on the road. We may take a quick stop by Baltimore to see friends on the way. If it were just me I’d leave ultra-early but I don’t think the best way to start a long road trip with a teenager is to drag her out of bed at 4am!
We live 30 miles north of DC and visited colleges in Boston last year. We went west into NY and then south (I think it was 81) to 15. I would avoid 95 south between DC and Richmond, even on weekends. Vacationers leaving town, or passing through clog that corridor. We vacation on Alabama’s beaches and take 81 south (yes, there are trucks, but it’s not a bad ride). From Chattanooga take 75 south going through Atlanta. I haven’t lived in Atlanta for many years, but when I did, I avoided the perimeter and drove through the city if I was headed south. Atlanta’s traffic can be awful so hit it off-peak. Good luck.
Just accept somewhere along the way you’ll be in traffic. I’d suggest after going over the del mem bridge and catching 301.
We drove my d from the dc area to auburn quite a few times. The bed, bath and beyond there is wonderful and you can order everything online and just pick up there.
We went inland through nc and sc- on 85s not 95.
We stopped overnight in Greenville SC. Atlanta is by far the worst traffic. Brace yourself for that. Middle of the night is the only way to avoid traffic.
Head west…I believe it is 81 that we took south. The drive through western Virginia is gorgeous…and much more pleasant than anything closer to the eastern side.