Seeking Advice on Drive to Cape Cod

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are traveling to Cape Cod for 4th of July week. Current plan is to leave at 5 a.m. from NW DC in the hopes of beating at least some traffic (I know this is wishful thinking). My question for those of you who regularly travel to the Cape: what bridge do you take over the Hudson River, the GW or Tappan Zee? If you take the Tappan Zee, what route do you take to get there? Thanks in advance.

Tappan Zee. NJT to Garden State to 84E, over the bridge, to Wilbur Cross/Merrit. From there you can take 84 in CT. Into MA and drop south to the Cape on 495 from the MA Turnpike or cross over to 95N around Norwalk and then follow that into Providence, and take 195 to the Cape off 95N

THIS can be a nightmare due to Mass traffic coming south.

All of the options have been set down on the responses. I really think be able to adapt and adjust becomes the key. No route is perfect and all routes are very much subject to traffic/accident/construction issues.

Leave at 3 am for the best outcome!

OMG. The tool from the other thread is back. No one from MA goes south in the summer. In fact, most people I know from MA have a place in FL for Dec to March, and A place at the Cape for the rest of the year. Will you give it up and stop trying to ruin the MA threads? Jeff should have banned you by now.

This poster is such a strange GUY.

Wait, are you saying people from Boston don’t go to the Cape or MV/Ack in the summer? That’s idiotic. Some of them fly, many, many drive. Every weekend.

m

Clear reading comp problem as the important issue is the swing north and then getting in with Boston traffic coming south via 495 from the Mass Pike. That is as bad as some of the Conn traffic. The dummy pp assumed the other pp was talking about Mass traffic coming all the way south from Mass to Nj and beyond. Silly. Mass traffic to the Cape is an issue.

If we are talking about reading comprehension, the OP asked about the DC area to the Hudson river bridges - which one and route to them. So Boston traffic to the Cape seems irrelevant to this particular part of the route.

I hesitate to become part of this discussion but it’s pretty clear the original response was saying Boston to Cape traffic would make the CT to Mass Pike to 495 routing worse than the stay on 95 all the way to 195 route. (I don’t know that I agree but it is probably day/time dependent).

[Anonymous]

Friday morning as bad as Thursday night or Saturday morning?

[Anonymous]

Bumping this thread as we are about to attempt a 1 day drive from dc to mid cape. We have family in western CT so are used to going the tapped zee route, but are less familiar with 84 and the route past, say Danbury or Waterbury CT?

I would love to do the drive in two days, but spouse doesn’t have enough time off.

Any tips for the 2nd half of the trip? Also we will be on the roads by about 5 am

[Anonymous]

I think the thread mostly covers it— with the key being you may have to be flexible and keep an eye on the alternatives.

Basically from the Cuomo bridge there are two main alternatives— what I’d call the inland route which will take you through Danbury and up to Mass/495 and the more coastal route. The inland route will look longer on mapping software but the advantage is it misses traffic on 95 past New Haven and New London which often slows down enough to erase the natural time advantage. At the start of the other, coastal route you can choose to take the Merritt Parkway which is often (but not always) a little better (smaller road, no big trucks).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the drive to the ISLANDS (messing with a tool from the other thread) at least twice every summer. Drive up and drop off all the stuff and then pick it all up in late August.

IF you get out that early, go GW bridge and stay on 95 all the way as it is the quickest and most direct. That said, monitor the traffic from mid-Jersey up so that you don’t get clipped by something in the Bronx or up 95. You can also go through Westchester via various routes after the GW bridge if the cross Bronx and 95 are bad. Check WAZE.

IF you want to take the Cuomo Bridge (the name has changed), 95 to NJ Parkway to 287 to bridge is best.

All that said, I have gotten to Conn border from NW DC in less than 4 hours leaving that early only to get crushed by 95 or the Merritt in Conn. Plan for traffic to be awful there. It is always awful.

x100000

There is always some idiot who thinks they know about that are, giving bad advice. Be careful what advice on DCUM you heed about Cape Cod, OP.

OP, honestly, I know people who do this trip several times per summer - the ONLY thing you can do is follow Waze or another app - the DAY OF. seriously. It is that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the drive to the ISLANDS (messing with a tool from the other thread) at least twice every summer. Drive up and drop off all the stuff and then pick it all up in late August.

IF you get out that early, go GW bridge and stay on 95 all the way as it is the quickest and most direct. That said, monitor the traffic from mid-Jersey up so that you don’t get clipped by something in the Bronx or up 95. You can also go through Westchester via various routes after the GW bridge if the cross Bronx and 95 are bad. Check WAZE.

IF you want to take the Cuomo Bridge (the name has changed), 95 to NJ Parkway to 287 to bridge is best.

All that said, I have gotten to Conn border from NW DC in less than 4 hours leaving that early only to get crushed by 95 or the Merritt in Conn. Plan for traffic to be awful there. It is always awful.

x100000

There is always some idiot who thinks they know about that are, giving bad advice. Be careful what advice on DCUM you heed about Cape Cod, OP.

OP, honestly, I know people who do this trip several times per summer - the ONLY thing you can do is follow Waze or another app - the DAY OF. seriously. It is that simple.

Disagree. I normally love Waze, but, as several others have mentioned, it seems to have a glitch for purposes of this trip. For some reason, it will avoid the Tappan Zee/Cuomo Bridge and the Merritt Parkway, even when it’s clearly the best choice. I followed Waze’s advice there twice, much to my regret, and will never do it again. If Waze suggests GW, take a look at the Cuomo Brudge and see if there’s a wreck or something — if not, ignore Waze.

[Anonymous]

For some reason, it will avoid the Tappan Zee/Cuomo Bridge and the Merritt Parkway, even when it’s clearly the best choice.

+1

Monitor the traffic as you approach NYC but we usually have the best luck with this route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

For some reason, it will avoid the Tappan Zee/Cuomo Bridge and the Merritt Parkway, even when it’s clearly the best choice.

+1

Monitor the traffic as you approach NYC but we usually have the best luck with this route.

Yeah traffic often builds on 95 so unless you are driving through CT at 6am, 95 is probably the wrong choice.

Also just know you can't beat traffic by leaving early when you are going to the cape. Yes you'll get a few hours of clear roads but you just hit too many bridges and major metropolitan areas along the way. It's not like going to OBX.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

For some reason, it will avoid the Tappan Zee/Cuomo Bridge and the Merritt Parkway, even when it’s clearly the best choice.

+1

Monitor the traffic as you approach NYC but we usually have the best luck with this route.

Yeah traffic often builds on 95 so unless you are driving through CT at 6am, 95 is probably the wrong choice.

Also just know you can't beat traffic by leaving early when you are going to the cape. Yes you'll get a few hours of clear roads but you just hit too many bridges and major metropolitan areas along the way. It's not like going to OBX.

That was not the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

For some reason, it will avoid the Tappan Zee/Cuomo Bridge and the Merritt Parkway, even when it’s clearly the best choice.

+1

Monitor the traffic as you approach NYC but we usually have the best luck with this route.

Yeah traffic often builds on 95 so unless you are driving through CT at 6am, 95 is probably the wrong choice.

Also just know you can't beat traffic by leaving early when you are going to the cape. Yes you'll get a few hours of clear roads but you just hit too many bridges and major metropolitan areas along the way. It's not like going to OBX.

That was not the question.

It is related since that GW bridge makes more sense of you are planning to take 95. Why all the hostility?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

For some reason, it will avoid the Tappan Zee/Cuomo Bridge and the Merritt Parkway, even when it’s clearly the best choice.

+1

Monitor the traffic as you approach NYC but we usually have the best luck with this route.

Yeah traffic often builds on 95 so unless you are driving through CT at 6am, 95 is probably the wrong choice.

Also just know you can't beat traffic by leaving early when you are going to the cape. Yes you'll get a few hours of clear roads but you just hit too many bridges and major metropolitan areas along the way. It's not like going to OBX.

That was not the question.

It is related since that GW bridge makes more sense of you are planning to take 95. Why all the hostility?

Yes, that part is related. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the drive to the ISLANDS (messing with a tool from the other thread) at least twice every summer. Drive up and drop off all the stuff and then pick it all up in late August.

IF you get out that early, go GW bridge and stay on 95 all the way as it is the quickest and most direct. That said, monitor the traffic from mid-Jersey up so that you don’t get clipped by something in the Bronx or up 95. You can also go through Westchester via various routes after the GW bridge if the cross Bronx and 95 are bad. Check WAZE.

IF you want to take the Cuomo Bridge (the name has changed), 95 to NJ Parkway to 287 to bridge is best.

All that said, I have gotten to Conn border from NW DC in less than 4 hours leaving that early only to get crushed by 95 or the Merritt in Conn. Plan for traffic to be awful there. It is always awful.

x100000

There is always some idiot who thinks they know about that are, giving bad advice. Be careful what advice on DCUM you heed about Cape Cod, OP.

OP, honestly, I know people who do this trip several times per summer - the ONLY thing you can do is follow Waze or another app - the DAY OF. seriously. It is that simple.

So you don’t have any personal knowledge driving from DC to Cape Cod yourself? Did you just google about it?

[Anonymous]

OP, I don’t find that Waze avoids Mario Cuomo bridge. We go to CT a few times a year from NJ and Waze works well in general. I find that I look at the routes option and then see how different are the times between routes to decide. Also, it always takes longer than anticipated at the start of the journey.

A couple of other posters have done a good job on 2 routes through CT. I will say that we take the Mario Cuomo bridge through route 287 in NJ more than GW bridge. We find that it is slightly more predictable than GW bridge.

[Anonymous]

I regularly made the trip from DC to visit relatives in south coast Massachusetts and then up to Maine during my law school years. For a holiday weekend I absolutely endorse going to bed early and departing at 3am - it will make ALL the difference in the traffic and you can enjoy a 45 minute nap when you arrive and be right back to normal for your vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I regularly made the trip from DC to visit relatives in south coast Massachusetts and then up to Maine during my law school years. For a holiday weekend I absolutely endorse going to bed early and departing at 3am - it will make ALL the difference in the traffic and you can enjoy a 45 minute nap when you arrive and be right back to normal for your vacation.

+1

Try to get past NY/CT by 9am. 4am works for me.