West Point from DC or Baltimore
 

Driving to West Point for a promotion ceremony in early Dec. (Driving up on a Saturday, and back on a Monday.) One passenger won't travel on I95. Don't know if we'll be leaving from Baltimore or Northern Virginia. Any I95-alternate drives to West Point? Thanks. (Go Army!)

Take I81 to I87, but you'll be adding about 100 miles each way.

From Baltimore take 83N to 81N to 78E to 287E/87S to the Pallisades Pkwy North to 9W north. Depending on traffic it should take around 4.5-5 hrs.

From NoVA, get to Harrisburg and do the same thing (can go up 15 through Pt of Rocks-Gettysburg to Hbg)

gb944. Thank-you. I think, however, that if I81 to I87 is like I81 in Virginia, I'll pass. Between the hills and the 18-wheelers, that stretch scares me! Telechick I've been 15, and it's attractive. That might be the way we do it.

"One passenger won't travel on I95"

How silly.

You could always take Amtrak to Poughkeepsie and drive from there.

78E will probably have a lot of tractor trailers. 81N to 84E and then south on 17 or 9W would likely have the least truck traffic (well 84E would). The problem is that all of those routes go towards NYC/Newark/New England at some point and therefore will have a great deal of truck traffic - you just can't avoid it.

If you really don't like traffic, then the suggestion to take the train and rent a car in Poughkeepsie would be a good one. It will cost a lot more, but your sanity may remain intact.

Haven't made the trip in a few years, but we go up from pa and the drive up over stormking mountain is worth the stress. we always went 209 to 81 to 17 and over the mountains to Highland falls. Enjoy.

Thank you for the fine suggestions. Why don't the darn trucks take the trains? Sigh. My sister did the train thing the last time we went up to West Point, and we drove. It was too confusing, so that is why we're going to try to all go together (by car!) this time. My experiences with Amtrak leave much to be desired.

What's so confusing? A change of trains at Penn Station NY? Even including the half-hour to one-and-a-half hour layover in New York, the overall duration of a Baltimore-to-Poughkeepsie rail trip is not all that much longer than it would take to drive, particularly if you must avoid I-95. None of those pesky trucks enroute, either.