I-95 NJ to North Carolina Easter Weekend? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

For those that know I-95 better than I...

Easter this year is Sunday, March 31st.

What kind of problems am I looking at traffic-wise when traveling from NJ to North Carolina on Saturday, March 30th? Looking to get an early start of 6 am, but that means hitting the usually heavy DC area around 9:30 -10:00 am.

Am I better off leaving on Good Friday or would it be the same traffic situation?

Alternatively, if there is no way to beat the holiday traffic, I would be willing to drive overnight Good Friday - Saturday. I would imagine the roads would be completely clear from 11pm - 9am

Thanks for any advice

 

[dana martin]

which part of NJ (ballpark) to which part of NC (ballpark), is the first question? and DC never has good traffic, even late-night it's a bit of a mess

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Hi Dana!

Central NJ ->Turnpike ->Delaware Bridge -> I 95 to Petersburg Virginia -> 85 to Greensboro

Your thought on day travel Saturday.

And you feel that overnight travel would have traffic issues around DC or otherwise?

 

[Chip_HT]

Last few times I've gone that way, 95 between Fredericksburg and DC has mostly sucked in both directions. I'm not sure if that was mostly due to the construction extending the hot lanes further south or just general bad driving.

Get an EZ pass and hope that the express lanes are open in the direction you're travelling.

And also....I've learned that whenever you're trying to plan very specifically on travel like this, the universe throws a curveball that you can't plan for.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

A close friend who lives in Raleigh was making the commute between there and Philadelphia every couple of weeks for a couple of years (his wife had to be in Philly half time for work), and they always tried to time things so they hit the D.C. area late at night. Driving I-95 is never fun, but you stand a better chance of getting through D.C. overnight, especially on a holiday weekend, IMO.

Fortunately, our commute between Michigan and South Carolina can avoid I-95 altogether. I only have to take it for about 35 miles if we stop at the above friends' home in Raleigh on the way down or back -- otherwise, we just cross it on I-74.

 

[dana martin]

Hi Dana!

Central NJ ->Turnpike ->Delaware Bridge -> I 95 to Petersburg Virginia -> 85 to Greensboro

Your thought on day travel Saturday.

And you feel that overnight travel would have traffic issues around DC or otherwise?

well live in Norfolk, so all trips north NYC or NJ usually go along the eastern shore VA peninsula 13 to I-95 , yep there are a few smaller Speedtraps along the way but never heavy traffic, Chess Bay Bridge tunnel dumps out onto 64 Norfolk, from there to Greensboro is about a 3 1/2 hour drive. If you time it right and drive through NJ to Cape May you can hope the Ferry for about $22 and it drops you off in Lewes Del, cuts out driving, and you get an hour or so nap.

Thinking DC would be the same as any other weekend, since Easter is a Religious Holiday instead of a Federal one, different when every Gov employee know they don't have to be back to work on Monday.
Late Sat night should be good though,

 

[dana martin]

Get an EZ pass and hope that the express lanes are open in the direction you're travelling.

think that is the go-to for most who have to do a lot of long comutes , I'm just finally happy that Florida's Sun Pass takes off of my E-Z pass as well

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Thinking DC would be the same as any other weekend, since Easter is a Religious Holiday instead of a Federal one, different when every Gov employee know they don't have to be back to work on Monday.
Late Sat night should be good though,

That's a good point I didn't think of. It's not like Thanksgiving or Christmas where you have an extended weekend/vacation. It's just a normal weekend holiday which is not federal. That could be a plus.

If I don't do overnight, I am thinking instead of leaving NJ around 4 am and getting through DC by 8 am before morning traffic ramps up.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Yes, the E-Z Pass is a great thing. I got mine from Illinois, as they do not charge any administrative fee for the device. We have to travel through three toll booths on the West Virginia Turnpike (I-77) between Charleston and Beckley (at $4.25 each) on our commute between Michigan and South Carolina. We also used to take the Ohio Turnpike (I-80), but for the past few years I've been cutting diagonally across Ohio via US-23 and US-33 instead. It saves about 30 minutes, but does take us through Columbus, which can be a pain in the butt to drive through.

I do wish the E-Z Pass worked for the toll on the Mackinac Bridge, but Michigan has no toll roads (just a few bridges, some of which are privately owned), so this state doesn't support E-Z Pass.

 

[dana martin]

Yes, the E-Z Pass is a great thing. I got mine from Illinois, as they do not charge any administrative fee for the device. We have to travel through three toll booths on the West Virginia Turnpike (I-77) between Charleston and Beckley (at $4.25 each) on our commute between Michigan and South Carolina. We also used to take the Ohio Turnpike (I-80), but for the past few years I've been cutting diagonally across Ohio via US-23 and US-33 instead. It saves about 30 minutes, but does take us through Columbus, which can be a pain in the butt to drive through.

I do wish the E-Z Pass worked for the toll on the Mackinac Bridge, but Michigan has no toll roads (just a few bridges, some of which are privately owned), so this state doesn't support E-Z Pass.

Oh dear lord, use the outer belt in Columbus, that is unless you know your way through the city, its' kind of jacked up at times. I know 33 and 23 all to well, got to do my drivers education on those 2, as a teenager in a 1970 F-100, where my only goal was to make it to the river every weekend- and fish!

 

[Chip_HT]

That's a good point I didn't think of. It's not like Thanksgiving or Christmas where you have an extended weekend/vacation. It's just a normal weekend holiday which is not federal. That could be a plus.

But then you have the wild card known as spring break. Not so much for colleges (where Spring Break usually happens in early to mid March), but for local school systems. If the schools are timing their break to coincide with Easter, about half of them take the week before Easter, and the other half take the week after Easter. Usually, Good Friday through Easter Sunday is the main overlap.

I learned this lesson the hard way driving through South Carolina on 95 a few years ago. It should have only taken about 3 hours to get through the state, but instead took 6.

Of course, the exact length and dates of spring break could change for many school systems depending on how much bad weather happens in the meantime.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Oh dear lord, use the outer belt in Columbus, that is unless you know your way through the city, its' kind of jacked up at times. I know 33 and 23 all to well, got to do my drivers education on those 2, as a teenager in a 1970 F-100, where my only goal was to make it to the river every weekend- and fish!

I do use the "bypass" around Columbus, but traffic still sucks, especially if we hit it during rush hour (which we do if I drive straight through on the way back to Michigan). The past 2-3 times, though, we have broken the drive into 1.5 days and stayed overnight -- in Mount Airy, NC on the way south, and Logan, Ohio on the way north. It leaves me with about 4-4.5 hours on the 2nd day instead of 13.5 hours in one day (I do all the driving). As I get older, that long one day drive gets tougher.

 

[dana martin]

I do use the "bypass" around Columbus, but traffic still sucks, especially if we hit it during rush hour (which we do if I drive straight through on the way back to Michigan). The past 2-3 times, though, we have broken the drive into 1.5 days and stayed overnight -- in Mount Airy, NC on the way south, and Logan, Ohio on the way north. It leaves me with about 4-4.5 hours on the 2nd day instead of 13.5 hours in one day (I do all the driving). As I get older, that long one day drive gets tougher.

I so know the feeling of doing the long hull as I get older , Scott you just put a big smile on my face grew up about 15 miles from Logan/Circleville/Chillicothe in the middle of Hocking Hills , beautiful area