I95 CT/NY evening rush hour

[mom2prince&princess]

Being a teacher, and having limited flexibility as to when we start our drive to Disney, I am looking for strategies as to when we should head out.


We are located in southeastern CT. Our family gets home from work/school by 3:30. Is it best to pack our van, eat dinner, and head out about 5ish? 6ish? Or pack the van, head out immediately and stop to eat later on. Or hang tight and leave later around 7 (if we can hold out that long!).

Are there typical rush hour times we should absolutely avoid in western CT/NY or does it not make a big difference in the end?

Any advice?

 

[edbo77]

Are you driving non-stop or looking to stop at a certain point? We leave MA (just south of Boston) around 4PM, so that puts me at the RI/CT line around 6PM. We might hit NYC around 730-8PM and we're usually behind rush hour traffic at that point.

 

[mom2prince&princess]

We plan to drive straight through.

 

[BigTigger]

Given you have to get across CT and your earliest possible starting time is at least 3:30 pm, you'll hit significant traffic on I-95 west of New Haven, at Norwalk/Rt 7, and near Fairfield. If you jump over to the Merritt you'll hit traffic near Rt 8 and intermittent from Bridgeport to Stamford. I'd recommend to pack your van, eat dinner, and head out about 5ish. This should get you to New Haven about 6 pm and the traffic should be clearing by then. I'd still recommend the Merritt over I-95 and you can pick that up near Milford. I'd also recommend you take I-287 across Westchester, over the Tappan Zee, and down through NJ to where it merges with the NJ Turnpike. It saves you tolls and is usually the quickest way - a bit more distance but less traffic. Listen to 1010 AM WINS for traffic on the 1's to make sure nothing major will impact that route. An alternative is the Merritt to the Hutchinson to the Cross Country parkways and then the Henry Hudson parkway over the Henry Hudson bridge to the West Side highway to the George Washington bridge to the NJ Turnpike south. Safe travels!!

 

[artesian]

Similar to what the PP said take the Merrit to the Tappan Zee. I would highly recommend using Waze also. I have found it will usually find the path of least resistance. Once you get over the bridge you have quite a few options to get back to 95.

 

[Jimsig]

Totally agree with BigTigger, thanks for saving me all that typing

 

[monorailsilver]

I live shoreline southeastern CT/southern Middlesex. I grew up and still have family in southern FFld county so I travell it often.

I would not leave at 3:30. That would put you smack dab in the middle of rush hour. I am normally coming home from trumbull in the afternoon and I make sure I leave by 2:30 at the latest and that is pushing it and I see build up on 95 south in the new haven area.

I would have dinner and leave at around 6. You'd get to new haven around 6:15-6:45 depending on your starting point (I'm thinking branford to new London) and traffic is usually pretty good by then.

I second waze. My husband is a waze geek and is striving for new hats...insert eye roll!

Another thing I would do because I did it too a few drives ago is watch the news/traffic. Unfortunately I don't get NY news in my area like I did growing up so I can only see CT traffic. But I watched the news a few days before our trip so I could see the traffic pattern.