<p>First, thank you everyone for the Princeton to Boston advice. Mission accomplished: S has secured an apartment for his new job beginning in September, and his stuff has been moved from his dorm to a Boston storage unit.</p>
<p>Now we need help with the return trip. We fly home from Newark Saturday afternoon. I’d planned on driving Saturday, but with our business here finished and a tropical storm on its way, I’m leaning toward leaving Friday morning.</p>
<p>My first inclination is to do thumper’s route in reverse: 84 to 87 to 287 and then drive into Newark from the northwest or west. This will allow me to 1) avoid NYC traffic as much as possible, and 2) stay a little away from the coast, which should help avoid the impact of the storm.</p>
<p>Rain is supposed to be much worse today, at least in New Jersey. The hourly forecast shows the heaviest rain in the late afternoon today, with rain stopping on Saturday morning. I’d do the drive on Saturday rather than today. Either that or start early this morning to be sure to arrive in NJ before 2 PM or so.</p>
<p>I agree with dadx3. CT coastline has a flood advisory until 1am Saturday but should be dry early morning. (I realize that you will not be on the coast in CT, but same conditions throughout the tri-state area.) An early start out of Boston Saturday should offer much better driving conditions, and allow you to enjoy more time in Boston. Safe travels.</p>
<p>We don’t get much rain where I live (snow, that’s another story). How bad is driving in this kind of storm. Once I’m on 84 heading west, would the concern be heavy traffic or unsafe amounts of water on the road?</p>
<p>It’s not fun to drive in a heavy rain especially next to a big trailer. There are supposed to be some heavy downfalls in this storm. Note that there might be another patch of storm moving up from the south on Saturday afternoon, so plan accordingly.</p>
<p>I’m in a town next to Newark and it’s pouring here right now. The radar looks lousy and looks like it will only get worse. I would stick around Boston until tomorrow morning. Weather Channel forecasting rain will stop here by 5am. </p>
<p>Looking at traffic websites - there are accidents and delays all over the NYC metro area.</p>
<p>here’s the one for NJ and one for metro area:</p>
<p>If you end up going on Saturday morning, just go over the Tappanzee! It will be Saturday morning and that is not usually a bad time to drive over the Tappanzee…and if I’m saying that it’s at least worth considering. I usually hate the Tappanzee.</p>