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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.