Garden State Parkway
 

Hi! We are leaving our home in Bowie, Maryland on Thursday to start our trek to Maine. We will be stopping over in Worcester, MA. Have been told by many to get on the Garden State Parkway and go over the Tappan Zee Bridge, thereby avoiding 95 and the George Washington Bridge. How is the traffic on the GSP? Would it be better to head up 83 to 81 in Pennsylvania and then take 84 East to the Mass Turnpike? Just wondering what the traffic is like in New Jersey.....

Many thanks!

Narmeen

Traffic on the GSP northbound is really nothing to be concerned about. No trucks, and it's a limit access highway so no entrance/exit slowdowns. You'll take the NJ Turnpike/I-95 from MD/Delaware, then switch to the GSP at NJ Turnpike exit 11.

Once you cross the TZB you'll continue on I287, connecting to I684 North then I84 East.

I81 to I84 would probably add about 30miles to your trip.

An EZ Pass will make your trip faster on the GSP as there are tolls every 20miles or so and you can just zip through with the EZPass

I tried the Pennsylvania route last spring on my way to NC - my usual route is GSP/Tappan Zee Bridge. I would go with the GS Parkway. Try to avoid rush hour and also Sunday evenings when everyone is heading north from the beach.

Thank you guys so much for your responses! They will help to make our decision as to which way to go!!!! :)

Beware of rush hour traffic. One of our DC to Westchester trips was extended by at least an hour for very congested and slow GSP traffic around 4 pm. If you leave Md. well before noon, you should be fine. You do have EZpass, don't you?

Hi everyone!

Thank you for your responses! We ended up going 83 to 81 to 84 on our way to Maine. Stopped in Worcester for the night and continued to Bar Harbor on Friday, July 31st. 300 miles of rain from Worcester to Bar Harbor that day! Coming home, we left Bar Harbor on Sat., Aug 8th and made it to Scranton, PA (after my long shopping at LL Bean in Ellsworth!). Coming down 81 yesterday we sat in traffic as the interstate goes to one lane south of Wilkes-Barre and then there was heavy rain as thunderstorms moved through and over the interstate. We still made it in 4 hours from Scranton, which wasn't bad given we pulled over twice to wait out the rain and then for a potty break in Harrisburg! The route is a bit longer, but we moved and didn't sit in traffic going up until we hit Hartford, CT!