safe to drive to Cincinnati this weekend?
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Anonymous
| I am thinking about driving to Cincinnati this Friday and coming back by Sunday night. I really need to drive because my ears are too sensitive to fly and my grandmom is very close to dying. I'm not sure how to go about checking the weather for a road trip. Anyone in a similar situation? My friend will be driving with me as well so I'll have support. The weather looks a little iffy in Columbus because there is a chance of snow. I wonder if we can take a detour? |
Anonymous
| No detour. Drive carefully through the mountains and you will be fine. If you want to add time and hassle but avoid mountains, use the PA turnpike. If you want to add small roads, go via Athens. If you go 70-68-70-71, you'll be fine. |
Anonymous
| Check the weather closer to Friday, and you should be fine as long as there's not a big storm system forcast. Take the PA turnpike to 70, not I-68 (which is pretty, but not as heavily plowed and salted as the PA turnpike). We often drive to Cincinnati for Christmas, and if we're supposed to get a lot of snow, we just shift our trip a day to avoid it. The interstates are usually very well salted and plowed in the winter. Snow showers are no big deal--they won't stick to a salted road. There's really no detour from here to Cincinnati that would get you out of the path of a significant storm, but you should be fine. |
Anonymous
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Around Wednesday, go to weather.com. Enter the cities that you'll be driving through. Check forecast.
Don't check forecasts too early. Forecasts are notoriously bad 5-7 days out. And weather.com LOVES to promote snow like it will be the end of the world. You can also check the NWS site (weather.GOV), but it is a bit more cumbersome than weather.com. I'm glad you'll have a friend going with you. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| If things start to look really bad, could you take Amtrak? It would take longer though. |
Anonymous
|
http://www.weather.com/activities/driving/interstate/
I use the Weather Channel's interstate forecast page to get an idea of how the weather will be a day or two out and plan accordingly. My folks live on the KY side of Cincinnati, so I typically go the southern route (either 66-81-64 or 70-68-79-64). But it is not unusual this time of year to hit a little snow in the mountains. As PP said, just drive carefully - the roads are big and well maintained. |
Anonymous
| 9:07, the PA turnpike only adds time and hassle during peak travel times (Labor Day weekend, around Thanksgiving), but is better in the winter than 68. Unless traffic is bad (which it won't be this weekend), they take an equal amount of time. Stay away from small roads near Athens Ohio in the winter. |
Anonymous
| Southwest flies into Columbus and Louisville if it is an option to fly and rent a car to save some money. |
Anonymous
Did you read OP? She doesn't fly because of ear problem. |
Anonymous
| Thanks, 1710. I missed that. I agree with the turnpike recommendations since OP is unable to fly. |
Anonymous
| Amtrak to Cincinnati is via Chicago. |
Anonymous
|
My wife has a team of medical specialists that we see in Cincinnati. We have traveled there 3-6 times per year since 2003. We have flown a grand total of 3 times, so we know the route to Cincinnati well. Warning, it's hard to do that round trip over that short a period of time. I have done it, but it's hard. It's 8.5 hours of driving each way (for us, it's 510 miles each way to get to the north side of Cincinnati) plus stops. We usually take about 11 hours each way.
I don't like the I-68 route for several reasons. First, it is less populated so if you have a problem, you are further from help. At least on the PA turnpike, there are call boxes every couple of miles. Also, I have found that there are more dead zones for cell service in the I-68 mountains where you can't get a cell signal (Sprint network for me). I don't have that problem on the PA turnpike. Last, there are far more parts of the I-68 to I-79 route that have no road lights than the PA-turnpike where every now and then something is lit up. When traveling, I use the weather channel and the following stops for sampling weather: Washington DC (or wherever you live), Hagerstown MD, Breezewood PA, New Stanton PA, Washington PA, Cambridge OH, Reynoldsburg OH, Lebanon OH and then your final destination. Each of these stops is between 1 - 1.5 hours apart and gives you a pretty good idea of the weather. |
Anonymous
| We drove to Cincinatti last summer and it took us 9 hours from NoVA but that was with kids. I always take I-68 and stop in Morgantown for a break. I hate the PA Turnpike. I hope your grandmother is ok. |
Anonymous
| have a great trip and be careful 'm from cincy and we prefer driving to flying most of the time. It should be ok by this weekend. Happy to see so many cincy folks on dcum |