Holiday traffic survival guide
If you're headed out on the roads Wednesday here are a few ways to avoid the worst of the worst backups. No promises that these routes will be hassle-free, but at least you can avoid the routes with the most miserable track record.
Below are links to previous columns I wrote about holiday travel.
Detour around Delaware: How to avoid to avoid the dreaded tolls when traveling northbound
Interstate instinct: Headed to northern New Jersey, Westchester County or Connecticut? Here's how you can bypass I-95
A Nice way to bypass Northern Virginia: Instead of taking I-95 toward Richmond, try U.S. 301 via the Nice Bridge, with a nifty Waldorf bypass suggested by Bill Snitcher of Linthicum. "From the north side of town just stay on Route 5 South (Mattawoman-Beantown Road). When Route 5 makes a sharp left toward St. Mary's County, just stay straight on St. Charles Parkway. Follow that till the end and you'll merge back onto U.S. 301 just north of La Plata. You will bypass the entire Waldorf commercial district. Most of it is wide-open highway."
-Michael Dresser
Comments
Years of experience show that the best strategy is to simply wait until early Thursday morning. When I traveled Wednesday night, I arrived late and exhausted.
However, if you must go Wednesday, I found that simply enduring the stop-and-go on Rt 40 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge to I-295N gives you pretty clear sailing the rest of the way.
Get off onto US 130 at Bordentown and take that into New Brunswick (Rt 1N) to Rt 18 then to I-287.
Posted by: Joel | November 25, 2009 10:09 AM