Going down to LBI this weekend (and likely a few other weekends) - I'll be coming from Bergen County so GSP the whole way. What time Friday does the traffic get really bad and coming home Sunday...that I'm sure it depends on the weather - but when is a good bet to start heading home? I want to enjoy the day but not at the expense of a 4 hour ride back. I was thinking if I leave by noon Friday going and Sunday coming back I should be OK but could sure use some advice.

A friend of mine who lives in Bergen county and owns a home in Diamond Beach leaves early Friday morning (read 6-7am) and returns the same time on Sunday. She says if you wait til noon, you might as well wait til after dark, because you're going to hit the hordes returning.

From my bitter experience, traffic northbound from Long Beach Island starts building on the island by noon and by 2 p.m. extends all the way to the Newark tolls. That was before we decided the only way to beat the traffic was to travel on Monday. With the changes in the toll system, it might not be quite as bad, but it won't be fun.

We drove down to Stone Harbor on Friday night from NYC and hit NO traffic. It was bizarre. We made it in a little under 3 hours, which is pretty remarkable. I think the tolls are making a big difference. We usually drive back North around 6 PM on Sundays so that we can have a full beach day.

One would think leaving early would alleviate the Friday traffic problem but it never seemed that way. I used to leave NYC on Friday at 2:00 expecting little traffic and it never worked out that way. If you can get past the Driscoll Bridge on the GSP before 5, that's certainly better than hitting the NYC outbound rush hour traffic.

In terms of coming home, I think it's a question of what type of day do you want on Sunday. I always opt for the full day and dinner at the beach on Sunday night. Personally, I'd rather get home at 10 or 11 p.m. then at at 2 or 3 in the afternoon just to avoid traffic.