Routes through western Pennsylvania
July 18, 2011 12:25 PM Subscribe
What's the best driving route from Harrisburg, PA to Newburg, NY?
Once again I'm piling a good number of my worldly goods into my car, and driving hundreds of miles to a new job. This time around I'm driving three days from St. Petersburg, FL to western Massachusetts. My route is set for the most part; I'll be using I-77 & I-81 to avoid the major Eastern seaboard cities and the traffic they engender. However, Google Maps is offering me three possible routes between (the general vicinities of) Harrisburg, PA and Newburgh, NY:
My gut is telling me to go with Option 3, GMaps's advice be damned, but I figured I'd ask the hive mind: are either of the other two options viable alternatives? My main concerns are avoiding stop-and-go traffic, not being in the car for longer than I have to, and seeing nice scenery (roughly in that order.)
Once again I'm piling a good number of my worldly goods into my car, and driving hundreds of miles to a new job. This time around I'm driving three days from St. Petersburg, FL to western Massachusetts. My route is set for the most part; I'll be using I-77 & I-81 to avoid the major Eastern seaboard cities and the traffic they engender. However, Google Maps is offering me three possible routes between (the general vicinities of) Harrisburg, PA and Newburgh, NY:
- I-78 to I-287; I-287 to I-87; I-87 north from there.
- I-78 to the Bethlehem/Allentown area; PA-33 and US-209 through the Delaware Water Gap, to I-84; I-84 east to I-87.
- I-81 north to the Scranton area, and I-84 east to over to I-87.
My gut is telling me to go with Option 3, GMaps's advice be damned, but I figured I'd ask the hive mind: are either of the other two options viable alternatives? My main concerns are avoiding stop-and-go traffic, not being in the car for longer than I have to, and seeing nice scenery (roughly in that order.)
Best answer: I've done both 1 and 3 in your list and I think either one would be fine. I-81 gets pretty hilly between Harrisburg and Scranton, and I-84 is fairly hilly as well through eastern PA, in case that's a concern for you with a fully-laden vehicle, but it is scenic. You will pay more tolls if you take I-87 (but not vastly more -- probably on the order of a couple of dollars).
posted by Nothlit at 12:49 PM on July 18, 2011
posted by Nothlit at 12:49 PM on July 18, 2011
Pedantry: this is a route through EASTERN PA, not western.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:57 PM on July 18, 2011
posted by Chrysostom at 12:57 PM on July 18, 2011
Response by poster: Oh, for crap's sake. If an administrator could please hope me and make the appropriate correction, my own inner pedant would be grateful.
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:00 PM on July 18, 2011
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:00 PM on July 18, 2011
I used to do Harrisburg-Newburgh about twice a month. #3, no question.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 1:05 PM on July 18, 2011
posted by Doofus Magoo at 1:05 PM on July 18, 2011
I drive from VA to northern NY 3-5 times a year, and always take route #3, continuing on up 87.
posted by blind.wombat at 1:09 PM on July 18, 2011
posted by blind.wombat at 1:09 PM on July 18, 2011
Best answer: I've done all three routes you mention, as part of various drives from the DC area up to New England when I haven't wanted to go up I-95.
Option #1, taking 78 to 287 and then 87 north (presumably up to where it joins 84 and across the Newburgh-Beacon bridge) is probably the fastest. Probably because there might be road construction, so you'd be well-advised to check Google Maps or some other traffic service before heading out, and seeing if anything is red along the route. You can get cheap gas in NJ right when you cross the border from PA, IIRC.
Option #2 is the most scenic. Rt 209 through the Delaware Water Gap is not a road that you'll be able to make 70MPH on, like you will on most parts of 78 and 287 on a good day, though. I've only taken this route when I've had some time to kill and felt like getting off of the really heavily-traveled interstates on a nice day. There are lots of places to stop and diversions onto secondary or tertiary roads if you want. The Delaware Water Gap area in general is very nice. ("You Can't Believe It's New Jersey!" level nice.)
Option #3 up through Scranton and across 84 is definitely longer than #1, but it might be just about as fast if there's any sort of construction or congestion at all on 287. I sometimes take it if I think for some reason there's going to be an issue going up through NJ. But you can still run into construction and more than once I've ended up losing at least an hour sitting in traffic in the middle of nowhere, because they've closed all but one lane for paving. Beware. Benefits of this route is that it goes pretty close to Pottsville and the Yuengling brewery. And there's a cool National Park in Scranton that I've stopped into when I've been running ahead of schedule.
Anyway, you didn't say exactly where you're headed in Western MA, but there is a fourth option which you may want to consider, depending on the time you're going to be passing through the NYC area and where you are headed: go across 78 and then up 287 through New Jersey, but then instead of taking 87 north to the Newburgh-Beacon, take 87 south across the Tappan Zee. This puts you in a good position to jump on the Merritt Parkway or 95 (the former having the advantage of no trucks, but can also have bad traffic at rush hour and dangerously short merge areas), thence up 91 into Massachusetts. This is the route I would probably take if you have a Bostonian's view of "western" Massachusetts (which is to say, anything west of Worcester).
If you are truly going to the Western part of the state (significantly west of Springfield), then certainly take the Newburgh-Beacon, or even drive up 87 to Selkirk and get on 90 (which becomes the Mass Pike) and cross the Hudson there. This might be the way to go if you are trying to get to someplace in the north-west part of MA.
Regardless of which route you take, the earlier in the morning you can do it, the better. I have done the same drive from the DC area up to New England in anywhere from less than six to more than nine hours, mostly depending on traffic conditions, and the fastest times were always attained by getting up and on the road at 3:30 or 4AM. Driving late at night, in my experience, won't help you as much as being up very, very early in the morning will, in terms of the traffic.
posted by Kadin2048 at 4:22 PM on July 18, 2011
Option #1, taking 78 to 287 and then 87 north (presumably up to where it joins 84 and across the Newburgh-Beacon bridge) is probably the fastest. Probably because there might be road construction, so you'd be well-advised to check Google Maps or some other traffic service before heading out, and seeing if anything is red along the route. You can get cheap gas in NJ right when you cross the border from PA, IIRC.
Option #2 is the most scenic. Rt 209 through the Delaware Water Gap is not a road that you'll be able to make 70MPH on, like you will on most parts of 78 and 287 on a good day, though. I've only taken this route when I've had some time to kill and felt like getting off of the really heavily-traveled interstates on a nice day. There are lots of places to stop and diversions onto secondary or tertiary roads if you want. The Delaware Water Gap area in general is very nice. ("You Can't Believe It's New Jersey!" level nice.)
Option #3 up through Scranton and across 84 is definitely longer than #1, but it might be just about as fast if there's any sort of construction or congestion at all on 287. I sometimes take it if I think for some reason there's going to be an issue going up through NJ. But you can still run into construction and more than once I've ended up losing at least an hour sitting in traffic in the middle of nowhere, because they've closed all but one lane for paving. Beware. Benefits of this route is that it goes pretty close to Pottsville and the Yuengling brewery. And there's a cool National Park in Scranton that I've stopped into when I've been running ahead of schedule.
Anyway, you didn't say exactly where you're headed in Western MA, but there is a fourth option which you may want to consider, depending on the time you're going to be passing through the NYC area and where you are headed: go across 78 and then up 287 through New Jersey, but then instead of taking 87 north to the Newburgh-Beacon, take 87 south across the Tappan Zee. This puts you in a good position to jump on the Merritt Parkway or 95 (the former having the advantage of no trucks, but can also have bad traffic at rush hour and dangerously short merge areas), thence up 91 into Massachusetts. This is the route I would probably take if you have a Bostonian's view of "western" Massachusetts (which is to say, anything west of Worcester).
If you are truly going to the Western part of the state (significantly west of Springfield), then certainly take the Newburgh-Beacon, or even drive up 87 to Selkirk and get on 90 (which becomes the Mass Pike) and cross the Hudson there. This might be the way to go if you are trying to get to someplace in the north-west part of MA.
Regardless of which route you take, the earlier in the morning you can do it, the better. I have done the same drive from the DC area up to New England in anywhere from less than six to more than nine hours, mostly depending on traffic conditions, and the fastest times were always attained by getting up and on the road at 3:30 or 4AM. Driving late at night, in my experience, won't help you as much as being up very, very early in the morning will, in terms of the traffic.
posted by Kadin2048 at 4:22 PM on July 18, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice, everyone! From the above, it sounds like it's probably going to be best to play it by ear in choosing between #1 and #3, depending on what I can find out about traffic conditions on the day. I will admit to having a vague desire to use option #1 just so I can bump up the trip to include eleven states rather than a measly ten.
If you are truly going to the Western part of the state (significantly west of Springfield), then certainly take the Newburgh-Beacon, or even drive up 87 to Selkirk and get on 90 (which becomes the Mass Pike) and cross the Hudson there. This might be the way to go if you are trying to get to someplace in the north-west part of MA.
The final destination is Williamstown, so yeah, from Newburgh I'm planning to drive up I-87 to I-90, take that most of the way to the state line, and then use NY-22 & MA-43 to get up to the final destination.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:46 PM on July 18, 2011
If you are truly going to the Western part of the state (significantly west of Springfield), then certainly take the Newburgh-Beacon, or even drive up 87 to Selkirk and get on 90 (which becomes the Mass Pike) and cross the Hudson there. This might be the way to go if you are trying to get to someplace in the north-west part of MA.
The final destination is Williamstown, so yeah, from Newburgh I'm planning to drive up I-87 to I-90, take that most of the way to the state line, and then use NY-22 & MA-43 to get up to the final destination.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:46 PM on July 18, 2011
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posted by DiscourseMarker at 12:39 PM on July 18, 2011