Brooklyn NY to Western PA, looking for route tips
 

We're driving from Brooklyn to Bedford off of 76 (the turnpike), the route I was thinking of was Verrazano Bridge to Staten Island, taking 440 south to 287, then getting on 78, changing over to 76 at Harrisburg.

Does anyone have any tips re: a better route? a) scenerywise and b) speedwise?

getting through the NYC is time consuming, that's why I'm not too keen on going up to the George Washington Bridge to get 80.
I know the NJ turnpikes get packed as well.

Thanks for any help.
Marge

If were driving it, I also would go over Staten Island, but then I would take the NJ TPK to the PA TPK.

It depends on the time of day that you're passing through Manhattan. Battery Tunnel to the West Side Highway and straight up to Lincoln Tunnel can be okay at certain times of the day but definitely not mid afternoon through early evening. Rte 3 to 46 to Rte 80 is generally fine throughout the morning and early afternoon but gets congested beginning around 3:30 PM and stays that way until after 7 PM. Not mcuh in the way of scenery except the Delware Water gap and that stretch of road is by you in a flash.

I've done plenty of driving in NJ, NY and PA on Iterstates in recent years. Going with the flowe of traffic is usally a safe bet but my rules are 73 - 74 max in a 65 mph zone, 68 in a 55 mph zone and no faster than the actual posted limit if I get off the highway and am driving through smaller towns. I've flown through a few hundred speedtraps at these speeds in the past four years and never had a problem. I generally find that I'm going faster than 1/3 of the traffic and about the same or slower than the rest.

Where in Brooklyn? I live near Brooklyn Heights and refuse to ever drive across Staten Island again - the traffic is atrocious! I can drive from home to Newark via the Brooklyn Bridge and Holland Tunnel in 30 minutes. The Holland Tunnel doesn't allow trucks anymore, which keeps the traffic moving pretty quickly.

However, if you're traveling during a weekday between 8AM and 7PM, traffic downtown may be bad...I don't know what route is best during that time.

For scenery, Pennsylvania has three somewhat famous east-west routes: Route 6 across northern Pennsylvania, which is supposed to be the most beautiful, Route 22 across the midstate, and the historic Lincoln Highway (Route 30), which generally runs close to the Penna. Turnpike. If you'd like a break from four-lane highways and time is not an issue, you might get a good Pennsylvania map and see if you can work short drives on one of these routes into your plan.

Brian Butko has written a couple of very detailed books about the sights along the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania. The drive is especially worthwhile between Lancaster and Bedford, and wouldn't be a huge detour off the turnpike, especially as you near Bedford.

Thanks for the replies :-)

We're going at about 10am on a Friday.
We're starting out from Park Slope in Brooklyn.

We did the route through Staten Island once before and did hit some heavy traffic at one point, I don't remember exactly where. I can't help thinking it would be worse going through Manhattan. My boyfriend thinks the NJ turnpikes at that time of morning will be fairly congested too, that's why I wasn't sure about taking that route.

Thanks, Linda, for the tips on the scenic routes and the book. If we don't
use one of them this time, I would definitely like to in the future.
Marge

If you are concerned about traffic on the NJ TPK you could take the Garden State Parkway to Interstate 195 and then take 195 to NJ TPK. You would then be on the NJ TPK for only a few miles. I make the trip from New Jersey to the Bedford exit once a month. Sometimes there is a lot of traffic and sometimes not. But once you get past Philadelphia it is generally pretty clear.

Thanks again, Susie.
Marge