Highway collapse in Philly - will it affect commute from DC to New Jersey/ NY?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t drive that way. Once you get close to Wilmington, DE you cross the bridge into NJ and take NJ Turnpike. You don’t drive into PA at all.

NP I always take the turnpike. But anyone have an idea if the turnpike would be an alt route for 95 in that area? Or would 295 be first choice?

It probably depends on how heavy the traffic is on surrounding roads. The whole region was a sea of red yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t drive that way. Once you get close to Wilmington, DE you cross the bridge into NJ and take NJ Turnpike. You don’t drive into PA at all.

NP I always take the turnpike. But anyone have an idea if the turnpike would be an alt route for 95 in that area? Or would 295 be first choice?

Everything had been a mess, even in the city. It’s a huge disruption.

[Anonymous]

I live in Loudoun but we always go to NYC via 340 and 15 in Gettysburg up to the Poconos/Allentown. Much prettier, less traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t drive that way. Once you get close to Wilmington, DE you cross the bridge into NJ and take NJ Turnpike. You don’t drive into PA at all.

NP I always take the turnpike. But anyone have an idea if the turnpike would be an alt route for 95 in that area? Or would 295 be first choice?

No, I can’t see NJT being a viable alternative for anything. 95 collapsed in the northern part of Philly. There’s really nothing going that way except minor small towns. Wants to go to to Philly from the South will still take 95. Anyone going to NY will take NJT/GSP. Maybe there are Philly people who work in Trenton or something, but it really shouldn’t impact going up and down the eastern corridor all that much. People in the north of Philly who need to get down to the city will likely take local roads and RT1 rather than going alll the way east to NJ then having to go back over into Philly and pay tolls every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t drive that way. Once you get close to Wilmington, DE you cross the bridge into NJ and take NJ Turnpike. You don’t drive into PA at all.

NP I always take the turnpike. But anyone have an idea if the turnpike would be an alt route for 95 in that area? Or would 295 be first choice?

No, I can’t see NJT being a viable alternative for anything. 95 collapsed in the northern part of Philly. There’s really nothing going that way except minor small towns. Wants to go to to Philly from the South will still take 95. Anyone going to NY will take NJT/GSP. Maybe there are Philly people who work in Trenton or something, but it really shouldn’t impact going up and down the eastern corridor all that much. People in the north of Philly who need to get down to the city will likely take local roads and RT1 rather than going alll the way east to NJ then having to go back over into Philly and pay tolls every time.

Anyone, including shipping trucks, traveling between places north (NYC/New England) and PA between the commodore barry bridge and north philadelphia are all more likely to get on 295 or NJT further south than they would have normally. There are other routes, but this will be diverting some additional volume to the NJT on a section with fewer lanes (before the split). 295 will likely be impacted more but if that gets backed up people will take the NJT.

[Anonymous]

No, take 95 up through maryland and delaware. After the delaware memorial bridge, stay to the right toward the signs that say NY/NJ.

[Anonymous]

Leave early and use Waze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - thanks everyone who responded. I have never driven it and could see 1-95 and 2-95 on the route but was not sure how much that highway disaster near Philly would affect it.

It sounds like extra time will be needed as the projected length of journey is an hour longer even now late at night and not with day time traffic.

We may end up going with a train ride instead.

Anyway, thanks for your inputs!

You are right to be confused because the news reports keep saying it will affect traffic up and down the east coast but that is misleading. As pps have said, it doesn’t affect the NJ take which is the route to NYC and up and down the coast. Sure, there may be spill over but the news makes it seem like all of 95 is affected, which is not the case at all. Now, a closure of the NJ tpke for months would be the mother of all sh!tshows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's no reason to even go into PA at all if you're driving from here to NJ/NY. You take 95 up to DE then get on the NJT or Garden State Parkway by taking the DE Memorial Bridge near Christiana Mall in DE. The 95 bridge won't affect anyone going to NY at all..

This is idiotic. It's correct that 95 through Philly is not the most direct route to NY. But there are huge swaths of NJ where you *would* take 95 through Philly. Before this, it's 50/50 whether you'd take it going to Princeton. And there is definitely going to be a spillover effect onto the Turnpike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no reason to even go into PA at all if you're driving from here to NJ/NY. You take 95 up to DE then get on the NJT or Garden State Parkway by taking the DE Memorial Bridge near Christiana Mall in DE. The 95 bridge won't affect anyone going to NY at all..

This is idiotic. It's correct that 95 through Philly is not the most direct route to NY. But there are huge swaths of NJ where you *would* take 95 through Philly. Before this, it's 50/50 whether you'd take it going to Princeton. And there is definitely going to be a spillover effect onto the Turnpike.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - thanks everyone who responded. I have never driven it and could see 1-95 and 2-95 on the route but was not sure how much that highway disaster near Philly would affect it.

It sounds like extra time will be needed as the projected length of journey is an hour longer even now late at night and not with day time traffic.

We may end up going with a train ride instead.

Anyway, thanks for your inputs!

You are right to be confused because the news reports keep saying it will affect traffic up and down the east coast but that is misleading. As pps have said, it doesn’t affect the NJ take which is the route to NYC and up and down the coast. Sure, there may be spill over but the news makes it seem like all of 95 is affected, which is not the case at all. Now, a closure of the NJ tpke for months would be the mother of all sh!tshows.

I would seriously consider canceling plans if NYT were closed.

For 95, just leave a little earlier and use nav w/real-time traffic routing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no reason to even go into PA at all if you're driving from here to NJ/NY. You take 95 up to DE then get on the NJT or Garden State Parkway by taking the DE Memorial Bridge near Christiana Mall in DE. The 95 bridge won't affect anyone going to NY at all..

This is idiotic. It's correct that 95 through Philly is not the most direct route to NY. But there are huge swaths of NJ where you *would* take 95 through Philly. Before this, it's 50/50 whether you'd take it going to Princeton. And there is definitely going to be a spillover effect onto the Turnpike.

Eh, the only areas cut off are those people would drive over the Betsy Ross or Tacony-Pamyra. Anyone form the South wanting to go to western NJ would just take a minor portion of 295 and go up 130.

The lions share of traffic in the eastern corridor doesn't go to those parts of NJ.

So much hyperbolic crap. Lol, I'm literally looking at real time traffic data right now. NJT and 295 are green. Time to NYC from DMV is literally the same it always takes. So much for your dumb hypothesis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no reason to even go into PA at all if you're driving from here to NJ/NY. You take 95 up to DE then get on the NJT or Garden State Parkway by taking the DE Memorial Bridge near Christiana Mall in DE. The 95 bridge won't affect anyone going to NY at all..

This is idiotic. It's correct that 95 through Philly is not the most direct route to NY. But there are huge swaths of NJ where you *would* take 95 through Philly. Before this, it's 50/50 whether you'd take it going to Princeton. And there is definitely going to be a spillover effect onto the Turnpike.

Eh, the only areas cut off are those people would drive over the Betsy Ross or Tacony-Pamyra. Anyone form the South wanting to go to western NJ would just take a minor portion of 295 and go up 130.

The lions share of traffic in the eastern corridor doesn't go to those parts of NJ.

So much hyperbolic crap. Lol, I'm literally looking at real time traffic data right now. NJT and 295 are green. Time to NYC from DMV is literally the same it always takes. So much for your dumb hypothesis.

You do realize that it’s mid-morning on a Tuesday, right?

Let’s take a look on the weekend. It would have been red at peak times regardless. Will it be red/black? Will it start earlier and take longer to clear?

It’s going to add some volume of cars and trucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no reason to even go into PA at all if you're driving from here to NJ/NY. You take 95 up to DE then get on the NJT or Garden State Parkway by taking the DE Memorial Bridge near Christiana Mall in DE. The 95 bridge won't affect anyone going to NY at all..

This is idiotic. It's correct that 95 through Philly is not the most direct route to NY. But there are huge swaths of NJ where you *would* take 95 through Philly. Before this, it's 50/50 whether you'd take it going to Princeton. And there is definitely going to be a spillover effect onto the Turnpike.

+1

+2. Could be a rough few months for that corridor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no reason to even go into PA at all if you're driving from here to NJ/NY. You take 95 up to DE then get on the NJT or Garden State Parkway by taking the DE Memorial Bridge near Christiana Mall in DE. The 95 bridge won't affect anyone going to NY at all..

This is idiotic. It's correct that 95 through Philly is not the most direct route to NY. But there are huge swaths of NJ where you *would* take 95 through Philly. Before this, it's 50/50 whether you'd take it going to Princeton. And there is definitely going to be a spillover effect onto the Turnpike.

It's not idiotic. I-95 in PA is a local and regional artery. Its closure will be a disruption in and around Philly for sure, but it's not going to impact long-distance traffic that much because the NJT has been the "through route" for decades.