joanna_00

Which border would be the most fastest to pass to get to Miami?

Patrick

I'd go through Detroit and get to I-75 all the way to Wildwood, Florida, then take the Turnpike to Miami.

joanna_00

Thankss!

jlm_mi

Sarnia is not a whole lot different from Detroit - about an hour north, entering Michigan at Port Huron I think. But mostly I'd think it depends where you're coming from! Where is that? And what time of day would you be crossing the border? Crossing into the US at rush hour in the morning on weekdays can be bad sometimes. Though if you're coming that way you can listen to AM760 WJR on your radio and they'll often give crossing times at both Detroit and Bluewater bridge (Sarnia) for cars and trucks.

joanna_00

I'm coming from Toronto. I also have a feeling that going through the Niagara border would be easier.

joanna_00

I'll be passing by probably at night.. Around 10 o'clock.

jlm_mi

Unless you'll be traveling on a day like July 4th (fireworks traffic at night) all those crossings should be easy at 10pm. You'd be going significantly out of your way to come through Detroit. On the other hand, the other route has you taking I-95. But I don't know enough about that to make a good judgment. When will you be going?

joanna_00

I'll be going on March 13th and coming back the 19th.

Patrick

Maybe I misread the question. I thought it was basically asking which route is the fastest to Florida, not just which border is easiest to get through. If that is the question, then I'd still say head to Detroit as going to Florida on I-75 is a whole lot quicker and easier than fighting the eastern routes including I-95 the whole way.

GeoNit

Go to mappoint.msn.com, click on directions, insert your starting point and destination, then print out out your route information. Takes less than a minute!

jlm_mi

That's how I understood the question also. Mapquest recommends the I-95 route (because it's the shortest distance). But going through Detroit only adds about 130 miles and 2 hours of time. Given the potential for traffic snarls on I-95, I'd definitely take the longer route for such a small difference in miles!

joanna_00

I did the whole mapquest thing also, but I just wanted some opinions about which borders best..I guess I'll be going through Detroit after all..Thanks

jlm_mi

GeoNit - The problem with online driving directions is that they lack a brain. They can tell you the shortest path between two points, or the quickest (assuming no traffic trouble), but they're not smart enough to know that I-95 is a nightmare, so they'll route you that way every time!

Patrick

Playing with the Mapquest site is really fun, because you have to play games to make it tell you what you really want to know.
If you enter Detroit to Miami, they don't route you down I-75, but give you an alternate route going over to I-95 for a total of 1402 miles and 22 hours/17 minutes. If you do it in two parts -- Detroit to Wildwood and then Wildwood to Miami so you do get the I-75 routing, it comes out to a total of 1391 miles (slightly less) and 22 hours/38 minutes (although there is some overlapping in Wildwood that you'd eliminate). If you enter Buffalo to Miami, they give you 1394 miles and 22 hours/24 minutes. So their calculations are all pretty much a toss up. But I still maintain I'd much rather fight the traffic of I-75 than I would of I-95!

kodi

My favourite way is to take the QEW to Fort Erie, then take I-90 to Erie, south on I-79 into West Virginia and then down 19 to Beckley. Then south on I-77 to Columbia, SC, across I-26 to I- 95 and south to Miami.It's a really pretty trip, although it does mean travelling through mountains further north than the I-75 route. So, snow could be an issue.
But the advantages, besides the beautiful country side, is you won't fall asleep having to travel through Ohio, and best of all, you avoid most of the big cities you'd encounter on I-75. So you aviod, Detroit, Cincinnati and Atlanta.

BTW , if you do go through Detroit, it isn't out of your way at all.

Good luck.