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philly to fredericksburg sat of memorial day wknd - bad idea?

philly to fredericksburg sat of memorial day wknd - bad idea?

Old May 1st, 2016, 11:19 PM
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philly to fredericksburg sat of memorial day wknd - bad idea?

circumstances dictate that we can't leave for our memorial day trip until 2 pm on the saturday of memorial day weekend. would traffic southbound from philly to fredericksburg be absolutely horrendous? or might most people already have made it to their destination?

better to take 301 or 95? or so bad that we should pick another destination away from DC?

Thanks for your advice!
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 12:57 AM
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It will be a lot better at 2 PM on Saturday than 2 PM on Friday when people will try to leave work early.

95 rather than 301. On a Saturday, 301 will have lots of suburban shopping traffic.

My big worry would be when you go home. If it is Monday afternoon like everyone else, the whole thing changes.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 05:21 AM
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Thanks - if the trip without traffic should take 3 or 3.5 hours, about how much longer might I expect on memorial day saturday afternoon?

By Monday we will be in Charlottesville, leaving there around 6 pm. Wondering if I can avoid traffic by going west to 81, up to the PA turnpike, then back to central jersey? We've never taken that route before.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 06:05 AM
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You might "avoid a lot of traffic" if you simply took 29 North from Charlottesville to 66 East.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 08:22 AM
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I've gone between Philly and Virginia a couple dozens times or so, and I wish I could give you a secret to avoiding traffic. Plain and simple: there isn't one. My only advice is to avoid DC traffic at all costs, as it has ALWAYS been atrocious. Neither US-301 or I-81 are great, but DC is invariably the worst.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 11:26 AM
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We recently drove from Fredericksburg to Phila. vie I 95 and the only place we ran into traffic was going through Chester. We've never had an issue taking I 95 through DC as long as we go when it isn't rush hour.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 11:50 AM
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And it won't be rush hour on Saturday.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 12:56 PM
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Yes, it won't be rush hour but traffic on I-95 is maddingly capricious. I've driven that route often: night, middle of the week, weekend afternoons, etc and encountered slowly crawling traffic at unlikely times. In summary, you are less likely to get stuck in traffic then but it's far from a guarantee that you won't.

schmerl, I hate that stretch through Chester especially on a Fri evening. The last time I drove to Philly, I went into NJ to avoid it and it worked well enough that I think I'll do that from now on.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 01:20 PM
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Funny thing is, I just drove through the DC area and didn't hit one traffic jam.
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Old May 3rd, 2016, 08:03 AM
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Bad idea. Sat PM heading south to Fredburg on 95 is always horrible from about Woodbridge all the way to Rte 3 at Fredburg. What I would do is take I-97 from Baltimore to Annapolis (take I-895 Harbor Tunnel and connect to I-97 off that), then get on MD 2 south to Prince Frederick, head west from there on MD 231, which then turns into MD 5, then a cutover on LaPlata Road which ends at the last stoplight on 301 in LaPlata. (on a map you'll see Bryantown where you turn off Rte 5 onto LaPlata Rd) From there it is smooth sailing to the 301 bridge. This is slightly 'out of the way', but not by that much. You will avoid all the traffic lights and congestion on 301 thru Waldorf, etc. and have a much more leisurely ride. Or just take 301 off I-97 and deal with the lights and shoppers-might not be that bad.
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