I have to drive through the NYC area on Easter weekend. Mandatory visit on Friday night and Saturday in Connecticut. I am free to leave the Baltimore area as early as necessary on Friday morning and can leave Connecticut for my return to Baltimore early on Sunday if required. Does anyone have a perspective on traffic on those days and could help me with a plan to minimize delays? I cannot take the train. Driving is unfortunately required.

What is your destination in CT? If it is Danbury/Waterbury/Hartford (North CT), then you can avoid a lot of the potential NYC mess by taking I87/NYS thruway north to exit 17, then I-84 over to CT.

If it is Greenwich, Norwalk, New Haven, etc along the coast then your most direct route (unfortunately for traffice) is I95/across the GWB. You could avoid some of this by going across the Tappan Zee. A little longer route, but would avoid GWB traffic.

There are a couple of ways to look at it. This Friday being Good Friday may be a much lighter than usual commute date, which would work in your favor. Some schools are off, but not all. Fridays can often be a big get away day, leading to more cars on the road. Ski conditions aren't great north of NYC, so there may not be a huge demand there. My guess (and it's a guess) is that Good Friday will not be any worse than a normal Friday, and may in fact be lighter. If you are hitting NY area by mid day you should be ok.

Sunday traffic, esp if you leave in the morning, should be ok around NYC area.