help me plan my drive to Boston

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you hit New York, Hutchinson Parkway to Merritt Parkway (non-commerical traffic only).
Avoid I-95 after New York. It's not well maintained, gross & crowded.

Yes, and generally I like taking the Garden State Parkway up to the Tappan Zee, then 287 to the Hutchinson Parkway. It's slightly longer than taking the GWB, but I really dislike the GWB/Cross Bronx. I'd only go GWB if there was a major traffic jam on the Tappan Zee route.

This!!! Was coming here to say this.
Also, I did the trip twice in January and if you can stand a very early departure, leaving at 4:45 in the morning on a Saturday was amazing. I was motivated to do it by bad weather, but felt like I discovered a secret portal, ok a bit of an exaggeration but still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do tapenzee bridge how do you avoid Hartford ct which is where I hit most my traffic

Surprising- I have driven between NYC and Boston many times and rarely hit traffic in Hartford. Pretty much every route eventually puts you on 91 into Hartford, then onto 84 to the Mass Pike. You could divert onto 95 before you get to New Haven- there is another parkway connecting the Merritt Parkway to 95- the Milford Parkway about 5 miles before New Haven.

Most people don't go that way because 95 through Rhode Island is a little bit longer, but that is a normal way to go if your end destination is in the south or southwestern parts of the Boston area.

I grew up in central ct and the traffic is nowhere near as bad as the other metro areas like nyc and jersey dc and Baltimore that OP will go through.

I regularly drive to central CT at least twice a year—boston would be an additional 90 minutes (if lighter traffic) beyond where I go. Best advice I have is what another has said—leave very early and you’ll cut 2 hours off the drive. 5:15am the absolute latest, but 4:30-5 is a good aim. This allows you to avoid DC and Baltimore traffic before rush hour begins. Then you reach Delaware and Jersey just after rush hour.

You stop at a rest area on Jersey turnpike. I like the one just after bordenton because for us that’s halfway. We use bathroom and grab a quick bite. Never Starbucks because line is ridiculously long and not worth it—if this is a must, do mobile app well beforehand. Just remember in Jersey at gas stations, they pump the gas for you! I also like that in Jersey the turnpike splits at some point so there’s a cars only side and a trucks and cars side. I hate all those big tractor trailers so I always choose car side unless the traffic is significantly worse on that side.

This route gets you to NYC mid morning and after rush hour. Taking Tappan Z almost always adds time for us (but maybe doesn’t make difference if going to Boston). There have been a couple times where traffic is extremely bad on GW bridge that we get routed to tappan z/cuomo and I can see why folks choose that option even if it adds on time—I find GW bridge much trickier and frazzling to navigate.

Merritt is great to take but as another poster mentioned be careful because if there is any road work or accidents it can get much slower than 95. Usually if it’s bad you’ll get rerouted anyways.

We’ve been leaving at 5:30 (we have two young kids and it’s hard to leave earlier), stop on Jersey turnpike for about 30-40 minutes, and usually get to central Connecticut in about 7 hours. I miss the Covid years when we got it down closer to 6. Worse was when we left at 3pm once and it took 11 hours. You really need to leave at the right time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a storage locker, leave most of her crap in it. She only needs MEDICINES, toiletries and clothes she will wear in DC SUMMER. PUT IN DUFFEL BAGS.
Take Amtrak home or fly.
She can go up herself in fall.
Thousands of kids do just this.

Some people actually like a road trip and enjoy helping their kids get set up in apartments.

Road trips can be great. DC to Boston is not a road trip. It is a slog thru 20 choke points across the most densely populated part of the country.

[Anonymous]

Do these directions generally apply if we are driving from the Maryland suburbs to Mystic, Connecticut?

Boston is our ultimate destination, but, first, we are stopping in Mystic for 2 nights and then in Newport for 2 more nights before Boston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do these directions generally apply if we are driving from the Maryland suburbs to Mystic, Connecticut?

Boston is our ultimate destination, but, first, we are stopping in Mystic for 2 nights and then in Newport for 2 more nights before Boston.

Yes