Help me avoid Memorial Day weekend eastern seaboard gridlock!

May 20, 2009 8:22 PM

Traveling Baltimore to Boston Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Help! Best time to leave Baltimore to avoid gridlock? (I'm flexible) Best or alternate routes?
posted by inkyr2 to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

Leaving early is tough because you can potentially hit rush hour in Delaware, Philly, Jersey and/or New York if you time it poorly. I'd probably leave around 10 am or so if I was taking the Turnpike.
posted by electroboy at 8:49 PM on May 20

Can you take Amtrak?

If not, the one thing I can suggest is to take the Tappan Zee bridge north of NYC rather than the George Washington Bridge through the city. From the Tappan Zee, take the Cross-Westchester Parkway to the Merritt Parkway, which becomes the Wilbur Parkway and runs into 91 North between New Haven and Hartford. That way you miss not only through-NYC traffic, but also the stretch of 95 between NYC and New Haven, which is always the worst part in my experience.
posted by The Michael The at 3:52 AM on May 21 [1 favorite]

Thursday!
posted by bensherman at 5:14 AM on May 21

The Michael The has some very good ideas.

The Sun's Michael Dresser wrote a column about this some time ago that may also be of help. I've taken the 83/30/222/78 route several times and in my experience it can take a little longer than 95 does (on a normal trip), but NOTHING could be worse than 95 on a holiday weekend. Good luck.
posted by cheapskatebay at 5:24 AM on May 21

cheapskatebay's route is right-on, and from 78 you can hop on 270N long before NYC. 270N goes right over the Tappan Zee.
posted by The Michael The at 5:59 AM on May 21

One point about getting to Boston through NYC... do NOT take I95, as people here have mentioned. Make sure you're taking 84 north of NY. To do this, after the Tappan Zee take 684 N to 84 E to 90 E. I am from NJ and went to school in Boston. This was the regular holiday route I took to avoid traffic.
posted by teabag at 6:39 AM on May 21

There might be a reason that you *have* to drive, but otherwise I second the Amtrak suggestion. Don't forget to consider the tolls you won't be paying (both ways) if you're pricing tickets.
posted by davextreme at 2:23 PM on May 21

Thanks to one and all. We left early, Mr. Inkyr2 (a/k/a/ Magoo) drove. Beautiful drive. Errata -- 270 should be 287. Thanks to the great advice, we missed the tractor-trailer fire on 95 in Ct. Also, we may try teabag's route another time. (We're actually south of Boston). The Merritt was somewhat congested due to the tractor-trailer fire, but again a beautiful drive. Regards,
posted by inkyr2 at 9:22 PM on May 22