Driving from Connecticut to DC Area - Avoiding Traffic
 

On August 4th, I am driving from the Hartford, CT area to Rockville, MD. I was wondering what time is best for me to leave CT so that I will miss a lot of the traffic in NY and DC. Any suggestions are welcome.

Assuming you are doing this all in one day and since you are traveling on Saturday, time will not be significant once you reach the Baltimore area.

I'm sorry. I am actually leaving Thursday, the 2nd of August. And yes, it happending all in one day. Any suggestions for times to leave Hartford, CT to avoid both NYC and DC traffic.

You should try to approach the Baltimore Beltway no later than about 3:00 in the afternoon...and that will put you in the midst of trouble and potential backups because of accidents once you reach the DC Beltway.

Do you have a route planned? I checked mapquest thinking you might be using that. There is a better way than their suggested route:

From Balt Beltway take

70W to
State Route 97 S to
State Route 28 W to
Downtown Rockville

That will be a shorter route (though on two lane highways along #97...not a problem as you will be going against traffic) and will avoid congestion once you leave Balt Beltway. A bit of heavy traffic along 70 at that time of day, but it usually moves well.

Do you have to get to Rockville by a certain time? The best time to arrive in Rockville to avoid traffic would be 9:30pm or later. That means you would drive through Baltimore around 9:00pm. Mapquest gives the total time from Hartford to Rockville as about 6 hours. Giving yourself time to stop a few times for gas, etc., I suggest you leave Hartford around 1:30 in the afternoon.

If you can arrive in Rockville that late, the quickest route to take once you hit Maryland is down Rt 95 to the DC Beltway (Rt 495 west towards Silver Spring). Take the Beltway around to Rt 270 northbound to whichever Rockville exit you need.

Leave about 8 AM. You will get a little tied up in Hartford rush hour, but that is a short distance. Hit northern NJ around 10, then onto Washington by 3 PM.

Do not take I91 from Hartford. Instead, stay on Rte 84 towards Tappan Zee Bridge. (287/684 - it will be obvious with maps and signage).

After Tappan Zee Bridge follow signs to Garden State Parkway and then NJ Turnpike. I am not as good at refining a route south of that.

And get a Fast Lane/EZ Pass transponder. Can save you some time at tolls, especially on GS Parkway.

Tasha, I need to correct my post. You should miss most of the Baltimore to Rockville traffic if you arrive in Rockville by 7:30pm. Arriving in Rockville any time between 10:00am and 3:00pm should be okay, too.

Agree with Gail. When I drove from VT to FL, we did the same route using the Tappan Zee to Garden State Parkway for that portion of the trip. We made it to southern Virginia by the end of the day so you should be fine traffic wise to Rockville.

I was thinking of leaving around 4 or 5 AM for my trip down. Will this work?

Agree with others, be in Baltimore area no later than 2:30-3. Washington beltway (495) can be awful from 3ish until 7 pm. If you leave at 4am or 5 am, you should be fine as far as Baltimore/DC goes. The route Pollyw suggestes is a good alternative for getting to Rockville from Baltimore.

4 is probably ok. 5 will probably put you in the middle of NYC metro rush hour.

:-) And yestravel...she will come within 3 miles of my house. :-)

Seriously, it is a good route. The 2 lane stretch is only about 10-12 miles and the route is much better than the Wash Beltway!

Sleep an hour later and leave at 6 - you will miss NYC area rush hour.

What are the heaviest times on 95 for NYC AM traffic?

Avoid NYC and I-95 by taking the Tappan Zee and GS Pkwy route. Experienced Mass.-to-Md. travelers swear by it (they swear AT the 95 route), even with tolls and a few extra miles it is much less hassle.

Don't forget that as you cross the Tappan Zee you will be heading into Rockland county(west). Most traffic in the morning is going Westchester Bound (east). You should not have any problem there.

Is the New Jersey Turnpike part of 95?

Tasha - The northern end of NJTP is I-95. But the southern end is not.

It's not very clear where the boundary is. Before, only around Exit 9 (E. Brunswick) to George Washington Bridge is I-95. But now, the southern part seems to extend to around Exit 6 (PA Turnpike).

There's this gap because the section of freeway between E. Brunswick and Trenton was never built (parallel US1).

I believe the current plan is to build the interchange between I-95 and I-276 near Bristol, PA. From then on, I-95 will mean (from the north) NJTP to Exit 6, then the current I-276 across the Delaware River to Bristol, PA, and then the current I-95 down Philly. The section of I-95 between Trenton and I-276 will be renamed something else.