Outer Banks - Best Route?
 

I will be traveling to the Outer Banks (Duck) in two weeks on a Sunday form New Jersey. My question is the best route to take.

First, I can take 95 past DC or route 13 through Delmarva. I'm leaning toward route 13 since avoiding DC seems to always be a good choice, but I'm not sure how much construction is underway on 13.

Second, somone told me that route 168/158 can get very backed up and that it may be better to take route 17 through the Great Dismal Swamp, longer milage but actually faster.

Feedback from anyone who has made the trip recently would be appreciated.

If you can reasonably determine that Rt 13 won't be a construction nightmare, I'd opt to miss DC entirely. You've got a number of potential choke points which continue well past DC, onto Richmond and through the Hampton Roads area.

You might catch a small break because you are travelling to the Outer Banks on Sunday. Most of the rental places change over on Saturday. But if it's a nice day you'll pick up a lot of daytrippers.

Before the Va Beach Expressway was opened, the trip on Rt 17 through the Dismal Swamp and Elizabeth City could save you a little time. That's not really the case any more.

Glad you're staying for two weeks. You'll need the rest!

We use the Rt 13 route quite a bit cause we're out in Annapolis MD. You miss the nightmare of traffic around DC and the mixing bowl in Springfield vA plus the horrible traffic from Springfield down to richmond. You can tell that I'm used to driving around DC can't you?

If you get hungry going down RT 13 - somewhere near wachapreague VA there's a little carryout called Tammy & Sammys or Tammy & Johnny's - we stopped and it was fantastic fried chicken. The best we've ever had. Thought I'd pass that on.

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

We used to live in Norfolk, and often took 13 to avoid DC when going north. We found it much more pleasant than I-95 on all occasions. I don't think 168 will be that bad on a Sunday going south, though it will be busy going north. 17 can also get very backed up through the Dismal Swamp, particularly if there's an accident, since it's only 2 lanes through the swamp itself. The Dismal Swamp is pretty, but the road is also known to be dangerous- people get impatient to pass. Have fun!

I have heard stories from many people about long waits in traffic trying to get into Duck. What has always worked for us is to drive the majority of trip on Saturday and stay the night in the Norfolk area Saturday night. Then we get up early on Sunday and it's a short drive into Duck with no traffic. We spend the day on the beach near the house we rent and ususally can get into our house by 2:00. It gives you an extra day at the beach, you're rested with only a short drive, and there is no traffic.