LoJa

My family and I have ferry tickets, from Liberty State Park, for noon departure on Saturday to SOL and Ellis Island. We will be traveling from Toms River area and are wondering if we should drive to Liberty? Is it an easy route to drive to? We are also checking into bus or light rail transportation but feel it would be more convenient to use our car. Any advice? People have advised us to arrive an hour early to get through security and board the ferry.

MP07950

It's definitely an easy place to drive to...just take the turnpike to the turnpike extension to exit 14B. The only thing you need to be aware of is if there's any construction planned. This past weekend, there was construction and down to one lane between 14 and 14A....

doug_stallings

It will be more difficult to find parking at one of the Light Rail stops than at the park itself. Traffic may be a nightmare, of course.

LoJa

thanks for replying. How long did it take to get through the part of construction that was down to one lane? I'm allowing us 2 hours of travel time due to the unexpected, from Toms River to Liberty, is that realistic?

J62

Two hrs should be enough time - the stretch from 14 to 14A is relatively short if there is construction.

Definitely drive - you can park right near the ferry - there is plenty of parking at LSP. The only wildcard is shore traffic. Saturday is changeover day for week long beach rentals. The normal checkout time is around 11am, and Garden State Parkway can get quite busy in the afternoon. Since you're planning on leaving Toms River around well before 10 I don't think you'll have a problem. In my experience traffic going TO the shore on Saturday is much worse than traffic going north, especially in the morning.

If it's a rainy Saturday then you may get more traffic going north as nobody will be lingering at the beach for one more day in the sun (or rain).

The route is Garden State Parkway north to Exit 129/NJ Turnpike, then the Turnpike to 14B as above.