directions from NYC to Cape Cod
 

Please Help!

I am considering alternative driving route from New York City to Cape Cod this weekend. Have to leave Friday at rush hour and would like to avoid 95!

Though longer in mileage would this way be better?
684 to Route 84, then Mass. Pike to 495????

Thanks for any input.

One accident on 84 and you are dead. You might as well just endure 95. Ther is no really decent alternative.

684/84/Mass Pike is longer, and as the previous poster noted, it can just as easily be backed up.

Thanks much for the replies.

I'll see if I can talk my husband into going out to dinner so we can leave a little later - Have a double espresso and deal with the traffic.

I-95 east of New Haven usually isn't too bad, and west of it, you can take Merritt Parkway as an alternative and jump back onto I-95 @ Millford (Exit 54, I believe).

how long do you think the drive from NYC to Cape Cod would be on the Saturday of July 4th weekend? We're thinking of leaving 5am from NYC, how bad will traffic be at the Cape?

Early Saturday afternoon on the weekend before the 4th? Put some whiskey in your espresso (but not the driver).

We and have sometimes driven out the night before and stayed at a hotel on the mainland. Early morning driving onto the Cape is not so bad.

The Merrit parkway is great, but can also be clogged by an accident. Turn on WCBS for a traffic report while on the road, and make your decision based on current information.

oh no... u're scaring me. I hate traffic but I know there's no way to avoid it on the weekend of 4th of July. I at least would like to minimize it as much as possible.
We'll be leaving NYC at 5am, arriving at the Sagamore Bridge in 4 hours if there are no traffic, which is possible right? it is 5am-9am!!! So how bad do you think traffic at the Sagamore Bridge will be?

You might be okay at that hour. (And I emphasize the word "might.")

If you can get there by 9am you should beat most of the worst of it.

Yes, If you can get there by 9am you should beat most of the worst of it.

Take some good music in the car and enter Zen when you approach the tie-up. The bad part is getting onto the bridge, and then traffic will improve.

July 4th weekend Saturday will not be an easy one--mostly because it's rental "turnover day" so there's lots of people going both on and off Cape in the morning.

We travel to the Cape from Boston (often) and know that we will usually be o.k. if we hit the bridge before 9. Every 15 minutes after that will add 20 to 30 minutes to the drive.

The other consideration (which has yet to be really tested under high traffic conditions) is that they have started constructing the "Flyover" to the Sagamore that is replacing the rotary. The rotary is still there but the roads have been moved a bit to allow for construction. It's been fine during my weekday drives but I'm sure it's going to add to the traffic.

I would encourage you to think about leaving after dinner on Friday night, stay at a cheap hotel Providence or later, and get over the bridge by 8 if you really don't want traffic. Otherwise, pack your patience :)