Driving toOcean City, NJ What to expect?
 

Two of my girlfriends and I are driving to Ocean City, NJ for a long weekend with some friends. We will be attending a wedding in Andover then will head down to the shore. Never driven this far in my life! My motto is if it's over 5 then fly. However we thought this would be an adventure. I live in NC and it is looking like we will run into a few tolls. How much money should we expect to have on hand for tolls? When I got directions from mapquest it said something about a roundabout in the directions, what is that? I am confident we will be okay but this drive is a little intimidating to me. I guess I am expecting driving in areas that are totally different from NC. The NJ turnpike sounds scary. Is it that bad?

I think that the NJ Turnpike, from one end to the other, costs about $12 each way.

A roundabout is a traffic circle. You enter at 6:00, follow the signs around to the right to exit.

Do you mean you are driving from Andover, NJ to Ocean City, NJ? If so, you might find it easier to take the Garden State Parkway rather than the NJ Turnpike. Or do you mean from Andover, MA or Andover NY? Or are you talking about driving from NC to one of the Andovers (as above) and on to Ocean City?

Driving to the Jersey shore is not difficult but there can be very heavy traffic (read slow moving) if you are going in summer on Friday afternoons and evenings or on Saturday mornings.

As far as the NJ Turnpike is concerned, the northern section is heavily travelled by pasenger cars and trucks but it splits into two multi-lane spurs (east and west) which helps spread out the number of vehicles. The southern section is pretty much like any other major highway.

Sorry, without knowing exactly where you are travelling to/from it's hard to give you advice on tolls but I doubt you'd spend anymore than $20 or $25 even if you were going from Andover, MA to NC. I'd keep small bills and change handy as it makes things easier.

Finally, don't know what you mean by roundabout other than that generally means some type of traffic circle. If you could be more specific as to it's location perhaps someone could give you a better answer.

I couldn't begin to describe a roundabout to you. I drove through one yesterday while heading to Jones Beach (Long Island). Just be sure to pay attention to the yield signs.

For further explanation check out this site

http://www.alaskaroundabouts.com/mythfact1.html

The NJ Turnpike is not too bad - just has a lot of trucks.

You will be fine - just give yourself plenty of time - shore traffic can be brutal, especially on Friday.

In general you don't have to worry about roundabouts/rotaries until you get up to Massachusettes. [Or if you're driving in Washington, DC.] Very few in NJ.

The NJ Turnpike is simply a freeway with heavy, but fast, traffic. It's two lanes in each direction at the southern end, increase to 3 lanes in the middle, and then near NYC it seperates into cars-only "express" and cars-and-truck "local" lanes. 3+2, or 3+3. You have access to all exits from either, so no worry. I often find the flow better in the "cars-and-truck" lanes.

From NC to NJ, you pay toll at the Harbor Tunnel in Baltimore, on I-95 in Maryland just after the Susquehanna river bridge, and I-95 in Delaware. Coming back, you pay all the above plus Delaware Memorial bridge from NJ to DE. If you really need to know, you can find the exact tolls of each on the internet.

Note that I-295 parallels the NJTP in southwest NJ. You may take I-295 for a stretch and then jump back onto the NJTP at NJTP Exit 4 or 6. Check your map.

The biggest difference about NJ concerning drivers is that you don't pump your own gas in NJ. Full service only.

Thanks for the advice. We will first drive from Eden, NC to Andover, NJ for a wedding. After the wedding on Friday we will head down to the shore from Andover. We will leave around 7:30 p.m. and I was concerned about driving at night as the directions stated the driving time fron Andover, NJ to Ocean City, NJ was an estimated 2 hours and 45 minutes. The directions from Andover to OC are via the Garden State Parkway. However, we will encounter the NJ turnpike on our return trip from OC back home to NC. Wow this will be an experience. Thanks for the toll info and the gas pumping info. Any information or suggestions will help. Thanks
Audrey in NC

Friday night will be a traffic headache to get down to the shore (I hope that you're not going this weekend). The later you leave, the better.

From 80, the most straightforward method is to go 80 east directly to the Garden State Parkway or 80E to 287 South to the Garden State.

If you are leaving for OC around 7:30PM on a Friday you can expect to encounter traffic on the GSP so your trip will probably be at least 30 minutes and possibly 60 minutes longer than Mapquest is telling you. Traffic will thin out as you get further south. Depending on where you pick up the GSP you'll encounter 7 to 9 toll booths along the GSP (sorry it's been a while so I can't recall the exact number). You can speed your trip through the tolls if you use the exact change lanes (assuming you don't have a compatible E-Z Pass card) so bring lots of quarters and dimes.